RICH PICKINGS

AFTER SCALING NEW PEAKS SINCE THE PANDEMIC, THE HOUSING MARKET SLOWED SIGNIFICANTLY IN 2024. ONLY THE PREMIUM END OF THE MARKET IS DRIVING SALES NOW

- BY ARNAB DUTTA

YOUNG AND UPWARDLY mobile professionals have for long equated success with ownership of a premium home—perhaps a three- or four-bedroom condo in a gated community with acres of greenery and a clubhouse that comes with a gym, swimming pool and spa.

Many of them were forced to put their dream purchase on hold as the pandemic raged between early 2020 and 2022, taking a heavy toll on lives and livelihoods.

As the effects of Covid-19 receded, home sales made records in 2022 and 2023. The pandemic led to the introduction of a work-from-home culture and middle-class buyers bought roomier apartments to accommodate a home-office even if they had to borrow more.

Last year, the music stopped playing and the party lost its zest. Economic uncertainty at home and overseas, conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East, the re-election of Donald Trump as US president and his threats of a steep hike in tariffs rocked financial markets and dampened housing demand.

More bad news has come in April. Trump executed his threat of reciprocal tariffs against the biggest trading partners, including India, on April 2, plunging the world into new economic and trade uncertainty and triggering apprehensions of a global recession.

“While the October-December festive period saw a quarter-on-quarter increase in sales, there was a year-on-year decline in both sales and launches in most regions,” says Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO of real estate advisory firms Housing.com and PropTiger.com. “Factors such as global economic uncertainties, major state elections and price increase across the country led to both developers and buyers adopting a wait-and-watch approach,” he adds.

DEVELOPERS RATTLED

It’s an all-too-familiar story that has played out periodically in India’s housing market.