Nearly 5 lakh homes unsold in 2017: Good time to buy property in these 7 Indian cities

Are you thinking about buying a home in 2018? If yes, then a survey says it may be a good time to buy property in seven Indian cities — Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad.

According to a survey conducted by flats and property consultant JLL India, about 4.4 lakh homes were unsold in these seven cities in 2017. Out of the total unsold housing stock, the consultant reportedly said, 34,700 units are ready-to-move-in flats.

With unsold properties at 1,50,654 units, Delhi NCR tops the list of cities with unsold houses or homes. Chennai has the highest share of completed unsold inventory — nearly 20 percent.

While Mumbai has about 86,000 unsold units, while nearly 70,000 units remained unsold in Bengaluru. Pune reported 36,000 unsold flats. Hyderabad witnessed unsold inventory of about 28,000 units. Kolkata had the lowest volume of unsold inventory at about 26,000 units.

Piled-up unsold inventories would result in stable housing prices, news agency PTI quoted the consultant as saying. It could mean that average buyers planning to purchase property in these cities may have better chances of getting discounts and bargains.

It is believed that changes in the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), the impact of demonetization, and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are the reasons for the slowdown in the demand for homes and in construction activities.

"The residential market has been on a wait-and-watch mode for some time on account of many structural changes that have happened." JLL India CEO and Country Head Ramesh Nair told PTI.

"We expect sales velocity to start picking pace in the second half of the year mostly on account of stable prices making entry attractive," he added.