Housing Sales Dip Below 1 Lakh Units for the First Time in 18 Quarters

For the first time in 18 quarters, housing sales in India’s top nine cities dipped below the one lakh mark in the January-March 2026 period, as supply constraints weighed on demand, real estate data and analytics platform PropEquity has reported.

Sales declined 13 percent year-on-year and 6 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to 98,761 units during the January–March period, data released on March 30 shows. New launches also dropped sharply, falling 19 percent year on year (YoY) and 8 percent QoQ to 92,411 units, signaling a broader slowdown in market activity.

The decline comes after a sustained post-pandemic recovery phase and reflects a moderation driven largely by fewer project launches across cities, industry experts said. They attributed the slowdown primarily to a supply-side contraction.

“Housing sales continued to moderate in the first quarter of 2026 with Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru emerging as outliers. This reduction is because of low supply across most cities. Close to 22,000 lesser units were supplied in Q1 2026 as compared to the same period last year,” PropEquity founder and CEO Samir Jasuja said. The sharp drop in launches across most cities limited inventory, directly affecting sales volumes.

Despite the overall slowdown, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR emerged as exceptions. Bengaluru retained its position as the top-selling market with 17,991 units, registering a 16 percent QoQ and 3 percent YoY growth. Delhi-NCR recorded sales of 12,141 houses, up 13 percent YoY, although sequential sales were down a percent.

All other major cities reported a decline in sales, with steep drops in Pune (down 25 percent YoY), Thane (24 percent) and Mumbai (20 percent). Hyderabad was down 16 percent from last year, Navi Mumbai 14 percent, Kolkata 8 percent and Chennai 4 percent.

On the supply side, Delhi-NCR was the fastest-growing market. It recorded 17,227 unit launches in Q1, an 89 percent YoY and 8 percent QoQ increase. As many as 17,782 houses were launched in Bengaluru, a 10 percent QoQ increase but a 24 percent YoY decline. Chennai saw a 12 percent sequential rise in launches at 2,909 units, though supply remained sharply lower on an annual basis, down 62 percent. Mumbai registered a 17 percent YoY decline and 23 percent QoQ drop in new launches.

All other cities including Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Thane, Navi Mumbai, recorded a double-digit decline in new launches during the quarter.

“While Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru saw similar levels of housing supply in Q1, the former witnessed lesser absorption as compared to the latter as high-ticket launches impacted the sales in Delhi-NCR. Also, it is for the first time post-Covid that Delhi-NCR has seen more supply than Pune, Hyderabad and Thane—the traditional high supply markets,” Jasuja added.

Analysts said the data suggests the housing market may be entering a phase of consolidation after a multi-quarter growth cycle. With launches slowing and inventory tightening in several cities, sales momentum will likely depend on fresh supply pipelines and pricing strategies. While demand fundamentals remain intact in markets such as Bengaluru and NCR, the broader slowdown highlights the increasing role of supply dynamics in shaping India’s residential real estate trajectory, they said.