New Delhi, Oct 5: Housing sales across India’s top nine cities declined 6 per cent year-on-year to 1,03,170 units in Q3 2026, according to real estate data analytics firm PropEquity.
The moderation came as developers adopted a more cautious approach to fresh supply, with market conditions increasingly varying across cities and buyer segments.
New launches fell 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 98,165 units from 1,15,010 units in Q2, while absorption remained above one lakh units. As a result, housing absorption exceeded fresh supply by nearly 5,000 units during the quarter, indicating a sharper correction in supply than in demand.
The correction in new supply was broad-based, with launches declining 28 per cent QoQ in Thane, 22 per cent in Chennai, 19 per cent in Delhi-NCR and 17 per cent in Pune.
The sharper reduction indicates that developers are becoming more measured about adding fresh inventory across several major markets.
Arhanth Dinesh, Managing Director, Krishvi Group, said, “Developers are currently dealing with delays in approvals across India, while also focusing on preserving cash and clearing existing inventory. Q2 was generally very weak across India, with the war and negative market sentiment also affecting the market.”
Beyond approval delays and inventory clearance, Dinesh pointed to cost and land availability as factors that could influence future pricing. He said larger land parcels on the periphery have now extended into micro-markets, and greater availability of land could prevent a significant change in land costs if construction costs remain stable.
The sales correction across several established markets comes as residential prices have already risen substantially. Chennai and Pune recorded the sharpest annual sales declines among the major markets at 17 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, while Thane, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR also saw absorption decline.
Amit Modi, Director, County Group, said, “I wouldn’t call this a demand ceiling yet, as Q3 followed a particularly strong Q2, so some moderation in quarterly momentum was expected. Having said that, rising prices have made buyers more conscious of affordability and the value proposition on offer.”
The affordability pressure is also changing how buyers evaluate projects, with decision-making taking longer at certain price points. Modi said demand remains present, but buyers are becoming more selective, making the pace of absorption increasingly dependent on how closely projects align with their expectations.
The divergence between supply and sales across cities is particularly visible in Hyderabad, where new launches surged 68 per cent YoY while sales grew 11 per cent. Meanwhile, Pune, Chennai and Thane recorded annual declines in absorption, underlining the uneven nature of demand across the nine-city market.
Umang Jindal, CEO, Homeland Group, said, “Hyderabad’s 68 per cent rise in launches against 11 per cent sales growth shows that strong city-level demand does not necessarily translate uniformly across projects or segments. Developers need to assess each project’s positioning, configuration, ticket size, amenities and target buyer, rather than relying only on broader city-level trends.”
Jindal said developers therefore need to calibrate not only the quantum of supply, but also the product and timing of each launch. He added that micro-market intelligence would be critical to maintaining healthy absorption as demand varies across locations, ticket sizes, configurations and buyer profiles. (BVI)
