New Delhi, April 5 (IANS): Deviating from a usual trend of tepid realty sales ahead of general elections, home sales in the first quarter (Q1) of 2019 rose by 12 per cent across seven metro cities in the country compared to the previous quarter, an Anarock report said on Friday.

Around 78,520 units were sold during the January-March period, said the report. Overall supplies also increased during the period across the cities.

"The top cities recorded new launches of around 70,490 units in Q1, 2019 (as opposed to 55,600 units in Q4, 2018), a quarterly increase of 27 per cent," it said, adding that the rise in sale and launches "defies conventional election period trends".

Affordable housing accounted for 44 per cent of the total new supply.

Overall unsold inventory across the top cities, however, saw a meagre 1 per cent decline in Q1, 2019 over the previous quarter. Unsold housing stock stands at 6.65 lakh units as of Q1, 2019.

Pune and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were the top performers with new housing supply, increasing by 160 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively. Housing sales in the two leading western region cities saw the maximum increase in the quarter by 24 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, said the report.

The other cities where the survey was done were the National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.