Property prices fall in a majority of Indian cities

A new housing report in India has revealed that property prices fell in 22 of the 26 cities surveyed during the second quarter of 2013.

Nagpur India

Nagpur, India

The National Housing Bank report found that only Nagpur (3.07 per cent), Lucknow (2.19 per cent), Surat (1.43 per cent) and Dehradun (0.55 per cent) recorded house price increases in the three-month period between April and June.

The sudden price decreases come on the back of some consistent growth across most cities over the last two years, but RV Verma, Chairman and Managing Director of the National Housing Bank, is not surprised by the declines in property value and believes there is still room for more price correction yet.

“We have seen a price decline across cities – it was due for some time,” he told the Business Standard. “It shows developers are now prepared to take some cuts in their margins, despite a rise in input cost. This will enable them to clear their huge inventory, have liquidity and increase demand,” he added.

According to the NHB data, the biggest price fall in the second quarter of 2013 was seen in Ludhiana, where house values fell by 5.99 per cent. Indore recorded the next largest price decreases (5.64 per cent), followed by Vijaywada (5.43 per cent), Hyderabad (4.55 per cent) and Kolkata ( 4.06 per cent).

In the major cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, property prices decreased by 1.49 per cent, 0.45 per cent and 2.26 per cent respectively.