Property sales fell as prices jumped across top cities in 2024; what does 2025 hold for homebuyers?

Deepak Patel, an IT sector employee based in Hyderabad, had postponed his plans to buy a larger flat for the last three to four years, hoping the prices would drop. But every time he asked his preferred builders about the prices, he was disappointed to hear that they had gone up.

"I had been waiting for the prices to drop for 3-4 years. But it kept going up," Patel said. But something interesting happened in 2024.

Earlier, builders' agents would always try to rush Patel into buying within a few days. But this year, he got more than a week to decide by submitting a post-dated cheque for ₹50,000, on the condition that the builder would return the cheque if he decided against buying. This allowed him a few more extra days to vet a residential project in the Osman Nagar area of Hyderabad and arrange money for it.

Both the demand for new flats and their prices were seen increasing in Hyderabad and other cities till last year.

However, the year 2024 dented the property market with a slowdown in demand as well as supply of new units, not just in Hyderabad but across the top seven cities, according to a report by Anarock Research.

Housing sales in the top seven cities witnessed a 4% decline in 2024 compared to the previous year, the report stated. Approximately 4,59,650 units were sold this year against 4,76,530 units in 2023.

However, city-wise data shows that the year-on-year (y-o-y) demand drop was steeper in some cities in 2024 as compared to 2023.

While Kolkata witnessed a 20% y-o-y drop in residential housing sales, Chennai saw an 11% decline. Cities like Delhi-NCR and Pune witnessed a 6% decline each while Hyderabad had a 5% drop in sales.

However, housing sales in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Bengaluru remained somewhat stable with a 1% and 2% increase in sales respectively.

Source: Anarock Research

Housing supply trends

The supply of new residential units also decreased significantly in some cities. The report shows a 28% decline in the supply of new units in Pune, a 24% drop in Hyderabad, and a 15% fall each in the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) and Kolkata. However, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Chennai witnessed 44%, 30%, and 4% increase, respectively, in supply of new units.

Source: Anarock Research

Property price trends in 2024

The slowdown in demand and supply of new flats in some cities didn't stop the upward march of housing prices.

The y-o-y comparison of prices in the fourth quarters of calendar years 2024 and 2024 shows an overall jump of 21% in prices.

Delhi NCR witnessed a 30% jump in the prices. Bengaluru and Hyderabad followed the national capital region with 28% and 27% jump in prices per sqft respectively.

Even MMR, Pune, Chennai, and Kolkata witnessed price hikes of 21%, 14%, 14%, and 13%, respectively.'

Source: Anarock Research

What to expect in 2025

Housing prices in 2025 are unlikely to match the steep growth witnessed in 2024, according to Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Group.

In what may please the homebuyers, Puri believes the residential prices are likely to stabilise in the coming year.

“Compared to 2023, 2024 saw a 21% rise in the average price in the top 7 cities. 2025 is unlikely to match this steep growth, though. Average residential prices hikes will stabilise in the coming year, though there will be steady growth amid increased input costs and high demand," Puri said.