Average housing prices appreciated marginally by 1 per cent year-on-year across seven major cities during the January-March quarter and are likely to rise further on the higher cost of raw materials, according to property consultant Anarock.

According to latest data, the average housing prices in seven cities increased to Rs 5,660 per sq ft in the first quarter of the 2021 calendar year from Rs 5,599 in the year-ago period. The data is of residential properties available for sale in the primary market.

In the Delhi-NCR market, prices appreciated 2 per cent to Rs 4,650 in January-March from Rs 4,580 per sq ft in the corresponding period last year. Housing prices in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were up 1 per cent to Rs 10,750 from Rs 10,610 per sq ft during the period under review. In Bengaluru, rates increased 2 per cent to Rs 5,060 per sq ft from Rs 4,975 per sq ft.

Pune saw a one per cent appreciation to Rs 5,580 per sq ft from Rs 5,510 per sq ft, while Hyderabad witnessed a 1 per cent rise to Rs 4,240 from 4,195 per sq ft. Housing prices in Chennai were up 1 per cent to Rs 4,990 per sq ft from Rs 4,935 per sq ft. In Kolkata, prices rose marginally to Rs 4,400 per sq ft in January-March 2021 from Rs 4,385 per sq ft in the year-ago period.

“Average property prices in the top seven cities have remained range-bound for the last few years but in the first quarter of 2021, we saw some movement with most cities recording a rise of 1-2 per cent over the first quarter of 2020 – except Kolkata, where prices remained stagnant,” Anarock Director and Research Head Prashant Thakur says.

Going forward, he says, property prices could rise further, particularly in the second half of 2021. “At the onset, this price rise was long overdue and if not for Covid-19 in 2020, we would have seen an escalation,” Thakur says.

He mentioned that robust housing sales in cities like Bengaluru, Pune and MMR are reason enough for prices to rise. “Also, this price rise will not just be because inventories are getting cleared or demand is improving but also because input costs (of cement, steel etc) are going up and there is also upward pressure on labour cost. Hence, the price rise is inevitable,” Thakur says.

Anarock recently reported that 58,290 homes have been estimated to be sold in the top seven cities in the first quarter of 2021 in comparison to 45,200 units in the first quarter of 2020.

MMR and Pune together accounted for 53 per cent of housing sales in the quarter, driven by the reduction in stamp duty by the Maharashtra government.