Housing sales slightly up in Jul-Sep, new supply rises 3 pc across top 8 cities: Report

New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) Sales of residential properties across the top eight cities rose slightly to 96,827 units in July-September on strong demand, according to a realty portal Housing.com's latest report.

Housing sales stood at 96,544 units in the year-ago period.

A total of 94,419 new housing units were launched across the top eight residential markets during the third quarter of this calendar year, compared to 91,863 units in the corresponding period of the preceding year, Housing.com said in a statement on Wednesday.

Praveen Sharma, CEO of REA India, said, "The price rally over the past half-decade has dampened sales in the affordable housing segment, a category vital for the sector's long-term sustainability and growth".

"While demand and supply in the premium and high-end segments remain robust, supported by strong consumer sentiment, supply in the affordable housing category has been constrained despite steady underlying demand." He said a two-pronged approach is essential; firstly, developers should be encouraged to boost supply in the affordable housing segment, and secondly, affordability for end-users must be improved.

REA India, part of Australia's REA Group, owns the Housing.com portal.

According to data, the housing sales in Ahmedabad fell 11 per cent to 8,297 units during July-September from 9,352 units in the year-ago period.

However, sales in Bengaluru rose 23 per cent to 13,688 units from 11,160 units.

In Chennai, sales grew 51 per cent to 5,389 units from 3,560 units.

But sales in Delhi-NCR fell 14 per cent to 8,668 units from 10,098 units.

In Hyderabad, sales increased 5 per cent to 12,138 units from 11,564 units.

Kolkata saw an increase of 43 per cent to 4,007 units from 2,796 units.

In the Mumbai region, the housing sales fell 4 per cent to 28,690 units from 30,010 units.

Lastly, the housing sales in Pune fell 11 per cent to 15,950 units during the July-September period from 18,004 units in the corresponding period of the preceding year. PTI MJH BAL BAL