COVID-19 Impact: Housing Sales Down 43%, Office Space Leasing Fall 70% in July-September Quarter

New Delhi, Oct 8: India's top eight cities have witnessed 70 per cent fall in gross office space leasing and 43 per cent dip in housing sales during July-September quarter compared with the year-ago period on lower demand amid COVID-19 pandemic, Knight Frank India said on Thursday.

However, housing sales jumped over three fold and office space leasing rose 81 per cent compared with the April-June quarter, which was severely impacted due to the nationwide lockdown to curb coronavirus disease.

"Numbers are encouraging for the July-September quarter. But we are not out of the woods yet," Knight Frank India CMD Shishir Baijal told reporters through a video press conference.

"Bounce back in the July-September quarter is very promising. Pipeline in commercial leasing is promising," he said. while

Baijal expressed confidence that demand next year would bounce back to 2019 level and might even surpass.

According to the data, housing sales fell 43 per cent in July-September 2020 to 33,403 units across eight major cities as against 58,183 units in the year-ago period.

The gross office space leasing in these eight cities declined to 4.7 million sq ft during the third quarter of this calendar year from 15.7 million sq ft in the same period last year as corporates deferred expansion plans.

As per the city-wise data, housing sales in Mumbai fell to 7,635 units in July-September 2020 from 14,733 units in the year-ago period. Office space leasing in the city dropped to 1 million sq ft from 2.7 million sq ft in the city.

Sales of residential properties in Delhi-NCR market declined to 6,147 units from 12,000 units, while office space leasing dipped to 0.9 million sq ft from 1.8 million sq ft.

In Bengaluru, housing sales went down to 4,912 units from 9,023 units. Office space leasing in this IT city fell to 1.1 million sq ft from 3 million sq ft. Housing sales in Pune decreased to 4,918 units from 7,648 units, while office space leasing in the city fell to 0.2 million sq ft from 1.3 million sq ft.

In Chennai, sales of residential properties declined to 3,085 units from 4,389 units. Office space leasing dropped to 0.7 million sq ft from 3.2 million sq ft. Housing sales in Hyderabad fell to 1,609 units from 4,760 units, while office space leasing in the city declined to 0.5 million sq ft from 3.7 million sq ft.

In Kolkata, housing sales have risen to 3,921 units from 3,041 units but office leasing fell to 0.2 million sq ft from 0.7 million sq ft. Housing sales in Ahmedabad were down to 1,176 units from 2,553 units while office leasing in the city dropped to 0.1 million sq ft from 0.5 million sq ft.

Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist & National Director – Research, Knight Frank India said: “Strong demand stimulus like the one by the Maharashtra government and historic low home loan interest rates have been the key reason for the current uptick residential sales."

"These measures have compelled end-users, those looking for good deals for their property, to make their purchase decision. Developers also took the opportunity to make a strategic offer, especially on their unsold inventory, to support the sales velocity," she added.