New home launches up by 43% in January-March: report

Over 55,000 housing units were launched in January-March period in top eight cities of the country, up by 43 per cent from the previous quarter.
     
Global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield said in its latest report that 55,438 units were launched in the first quarter of 2014 calendar year in the eight major cities of the country against 38,898 units in the previous quarter.
     
These eight cities are -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.
    
"There has been a 43 per cent increase in Q1 2014 new residential unit launches from the previous quarter. The total estimated unit launches were recorded at 55,500 units across major eight cities of India with Bengaluru recording the largest number of units launched, an increase of 22 per cent from the previous quarter," C&W said in a statement.
     
Mumbai and Bengaluru together constituted around 50 per cent of the total unit launches in Q1 2014.
Barring NCR and Ahmedabad, all other cities saw a rise in total units launched in Q1 2014 over the previous quarter. NCR saw the sharpest decline in launches of new residential units with a drop of 18 per cent over the previous quarter.

Commenting on the report, C&W executive managing director South Asia Sanjay Dutt said, "Developers have taken a conscious decision to launch projects in the first quarter of 2014 as they anticipate sales to improve this year in the second half foreseeing economic stability that will most likely prompt purchase decisions from end users."

Moreover, he said some developments which were held up for approvals have also seen the light of the day, notably faster environmental clearances and approvals that have enabled developers to launch their projects in this quarter.

However, Dutt said, "as concerns about the inflationary trends in the economy and an expected adverse impact of the El Nino remain, we believe that a cautious approach needs to be maintained for residential markets that are not primarily driven by end-user demand."

"With the general elections already past the half-way mark, the industry and buyers are eagerly looking forward to some positive policy changes to boost the housing sector by the new government that emerges."