HOUSING PRICES UP 7%

Housing prices have increased by up to 7.1 per cent in 12 major cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, in January-March period of this year due to a surge in demand, National Housing Bank said today. Prices witnessed an increase ranging from 1.3 per cent in Bhopal to 7.1 per cent in Surat in comparison to that in the previous quarter of October-December, 2013, the quarterly update of NHB Residex said. Prices, however, fell in 12 other cities, ranging from -0.6 per cent in Vijayawada to -5.7 per cent in Patna. Indices for Faridabad and Kochi remained stagnant. Ahmedabad saw a prise rise of 6.1 per cent, Chennai 5.8 per cent and Kolkata 5.1 per cent. Lucknow saw 4.9 per cent rise, Raipur 4.4 per cent, Mumbai 3.2 per cent, Nagpur 2.9 per cent, Dehradun 2.7 per cent, Hyderabad 2.2 per cent, Delhi 1.5 per cent and Bhopal 1.3 per cent. Cities which witnessed a decline include Jaipur (-3.8 per cent), Guwahati (-3.75 per cent), Bengaluru (-3.6 per cent), Meerut (-3.5 per cent), Bhubaneshwar (-3.47 per cent) and Ludhiana (-3.3 per cent). Prices fell in Chandigarh by (-2.7 per cent), Coimbatore (-1.7 per cent), Indore (-1.6 per cent), Pune (-1.3 per cent) and Vijayawada (-0.6 per cent). The residex for the quarter January-March, 2014 constructed for 26 cities has taken into account the price trends for residential properties in different locations and zones in each city. It is based on the transaction data received from Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI).