V Nagarajan

India’s housing prices across top eight cities (Delhi-NCR, MMR, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad) continue to head northwards at 6% YoY amidst robust housing demand and quality launches by top developers, according to a joint report by Credai-Colliers-Liases Foras.

Since the beginning of 2022, housing prices have been on the rise on the back of increased demand seen since last year, paired with rise in input prices.

Delhi-NCR saw the highest increase in residential prices at 14% YoY, followed by Kolkata and Ahmedabad with 12% and 11% YoY increase respectively.

New launches have been on the rise since the beginning of the year as the market regains momentum after a hiatus, despite rising interest rates and input costs.  Overall, unsold inventory rose 3% YoY.

Owing to the spike in launches in the past few quarters, around 94% of the unsold inventory in India are under construction. A majority of the cities saw a dip in unsold inventory, with Bengaluru witnessing the steepest decline of 14% YoY, led by higher sales.  

“The real estate market across the country has witnessed a K-shaped recovery in terms of prices and the consumer sentiment continued to stay robust as the pandemic reshaped the importance of owning a home rather than renting one.

With the festive period expected to continue till the end of the year, we can expect sales to be northbound and the number of unsold inventories to decline as well.

While there has been a rise in housing prices in line with the global inflationary trends, the market can expect the prices to continue to rise owing to the robust demand.

The industry has embarked towards solidity after a let-up due to the pandemic and should be able to stabilse in H1 of 2023”, said Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President of CREDAI National.

“The rise in inflation and hike in input costs have put upward pressure on housing prices pan India. Several developers have launched projects and offered rebates during the festive period. While residential activities continue to remain strong, recessionary pressures may have an impact on the salaried class, who form a notable share in homebuying in the top Indian cities,” said Ramesh Nair, CEO | India & MD, Market Development | Asia, Colliers.

“The aggregated sales of three-quarters of this year are 16% higher than the aggregate similar three quatres sales of 2021.

Despite increasing interest rates and marginal property prices, there is still a parity between the prices and affordability; sales volumes are likely to stay strong.

The year 2022 is slated to pose highest ever sales in the residential market in India, said Pankaj Kapoor, Managing Director, Liases Foras”.

 In a related development, reports say that only three houses are being built per 1,000 people per year as against the rule of thumb of five dwellings per 1,000 people per year, implying an urban housing shortage of 10 million units. To keep pace with urbanisation, an additional 25 million units of affordable housing will be required by 2030, according to Assocham resurgent India report on housing finance.  

We are three children and our father has not mentioned my name in the Will.  Can I claim ownership in the property invested by him a few years ago in India?  Manoj Pattali, Sharjah

 Assuming that your father was a Hindu and the property was self-acquired by him, you cannot stake a claim because he has the right to will to any one, he wants.  

In the event of you are feeling that the will was prepared fraudulently or injustice has been done to you, as a class I legal heir, you can challenge the validity of the will through a court of law.    

My friend has moved from Gulf to India and is a resident in India.  Does he require RBI’s approval to buy immovable property in India?  Ritesh, Dubai.

A foreign national resident in India does not require approval from the Reserve Bank as per FEMA regulations.  

But approvals, if any, required in terms of regulations prescribed by other authorities such as the concerned state government, etc. will have to be taken by him.  

However, a foreign national resident in India who is a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal and Bhutan requires specific prior approval from Reserve Bank of India.