Affordable housing stocks on a decline over sustained demand: Anarock report

New Delhi [India], April 14 (ANI): Affordable housing has taken a major hit post-pandemic as buyers in this segment adopted a cautious approach, with new supply and sales plummeting in recent years.
But the latest ANAROCK research highlights a promising trend - unsold inventory in the affordable housing segment (Less than Rs 40 lakh per unit cost) fell by 19 per cent across the top seven cities in the past year, from 1.40 lakh units (Q1 2024-end) to 1.13 lakh units (Q1 2025-end).
Meanwhile, luxury housing (per cent costing above Rs 1.5 crore) saw a 24 per cent surge in unsold stock, rising from 91,125 units (Q1 2024- end) to over 1.13 lakh units (Q1 2025- end), fuelled by robust demand and new supply.
City-wise, Bengaluru led the affordable category recovery with a sharp 51 per cent drop in unsold stock, followed by Chennai's 44 per cent decline.
Hyderabad was the only city to witness a 9 per cent surge in its affordable housing stock during the period--to approximately 1,815 units by Q1 2025's end.
Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Group, said, "Affordable housing faced the sharpest pandemic fallout, with sales and new launches shrinking in the top 7 cities. ANAROCK data shows that affordable housing sales share plummeted from 38 per cent in 2019 to 18 per cent in 2024, while its supply share dropped from 40 per cent to 16 per cent in the same period."
However, a 19 per cent dip in unsold stock hints at sustained demand led by end-users.
"In contrast, luxury housing soared, with its sales share rising from 7 per cent in 2019 to 26 per cent in 2024, and new supply share doubling from 11 per cent to 26 per cent," said Puri.
Nevertheless, Puri said the segment saw unsold inventory pile up due to increased supply and cautious investor sentiment amid the ongoing global economic uncertainty.
Anarock data shows that unsold stock of luxury housing - units priced over Rs 1.5 crore - rose 24 per cent annually from about 91,125 units by Q1 2024-end to over 1.13 lakh units by Q1 2025-end.
Among the top 7 cities, Chennai and Pune were the only cities to see their unsold luxury stock decline in the period, by 4 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.
While Chennai's current unsold luxury stock is at 2,453 units, Pune's is at 3,668 units. NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru also saw their unsold luxury stock rise.
"The build-up of stock in luxury housing, which has been the top-performing segment in the past 2-3 years, is largely due to significant supply additions in the last one to two years," argued Puri.

As of Q1 2025-end, a cumulative total of approximately 559,808 units are unsold across the top 7 cities.
Of this, approximately 112,744 units fall in the affordable housing category; the luxury segment has approximately 113,193 unsold units. Together, each of these two segments account for almost 20 per cent of the total unsold stock. (ANI)