Mumbai, Jun 27 (IANS): Residential sales across top seven cities in India tamed down marginally in the second quarter this year, amid increasing property prices and a high base record of the previous quarter.

Housing sales witnessed a quarterly drop of 8 per cent and stood at nearly 1,20,340 units in Q2 2024 across the top seven cities -- against about 1,30,170 units sold in Q1 this year.

However, on a yearly basis, there has been a 5 per cent rise in residential sales, according to latest Anarock Research data.

The two western cities - Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune - accounted for over 52 per cent of the total sales in the top 7 cities with over 62,685 units sold altogether in these cities in Q2 2024.

NCR is the only city to see a quarterly rise (of 6 per cent) in housing sales in the quarter against Q1 2024.

New launches across the top seven cities continued to break previous records with a 6 per cent rise -- from about 1,10,870 units in Q1 to 1,17,170 units in Q2.

MMR and Pune saw the maximum new supply, accounting for 54 per cent of the total new launches, according to the report.

Individually, the two cities saw 31 per cent and 1 per cent quarterly increases in their new supply, respectively.

Notably, Delhi-NCR witnessed a 134 per cent jump (on-quarter) in new supply in Q2 against Q1.

“The quarterly decline seen in housing sales is essentially because of the all-time high base considered in the previous quarter, when more than 1.30 lakh units were sold,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Group.

Most importantly, this drop is also due to the significant hike in property prices over the last one year, which in turn has prompted many investors to take a breather, he added.

Delhi-NCR witnessed the highest quarterly residential price jump of 10 per cent in Q2 while Hyderabad saw the highest yearly jump of 38 per cent in average residential prices.

“However, if prices are kept in check henceforth, housing sales may not be majorly impacted in the upcoming quarters,” said Puri.