India’s unsold home inventory is piling up in premium segments: Report

New Delhi: Unsold residential inventory across eight major Indian markets rose 4 per cent year-on-year to 525,695 units at the end of the first half of 2026, extending the accumulation trend seen since 2020, according to a report by Knight Frank India.

The report, however, highlighted a mixed picture across price segments, with lower-priced housing continuing to see absorption while inventory increasingly gets concentrated in premium and luxury segments.

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Unsold inventory in the sub-Rs 50 lakh category declined 7 per cent year-on-year to 171,363 units, while inventory in the Rs 50 lakh-Rs 1 crore segment fell 3 per cent to 134,841 units. The decline reflects limited new supply and continued absorption in these segments.

In contrast, inventory in the Rs 1-2 crore segment increased 12 per cent year-on-year, while the Rs 2-5 crore category recorded a sharp 43 per cent increase to 65,671 units. Inventory in the Rs 5-10 crore segment rose 23 per cent, while the Rs 20-50 crore category surged 52 per cent.

Knight Frank said the rising inventory and increasing concentration in premium segments warrant close monitoring. At the same time, the age of unsold inventory improved to 13.5 quarters in H1 2026 from 14.3 quarters a year earlier, indicating that older stock is gradually being absorbed as homebuyers increasingly prefer properties closer to completion.

The Quarters to Sell (QTS) metric, which measures the estimated time required to clear existing inventory based on the average sales pace of the previous eight quarters, stood at 6.0 quarters in H1 2026, compared with 5.8 quarters at the end of 2025. The increase was attributed to rising inventory combined with largely flat sales.

At the city level, Ahmedabad recorded the highest QTS at 8.1 quarters, followed by the National Capital Region at 7.6 quarters. Pune recorded the lowest QTS at 4.0 quarters, indicating stronger absorption, while Chennai stood at 4.5 quarters.

The Rs 2-5 crore segment presents a notable trend. Despite inventory rising 43 per cent, sales in the segment increased 19 per cent year-on-year in H1 2026, giving it a QTS of 4.4 quarters. This suggests demand is broadly keeping pace with supply at current prices, although the pace of inventory accumulation remains a factor to watch.

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At the ultra-luxury end, QTS stood at 14.2 quarters for the Rs 20-50 crore segment and 9.7 quarters for homes above Rs 50 crore. Knight Frank cautioned that these figures should be interpreted carefully because the combined inventory in these segments is only around 2,081 units, making the metrics more sensitive to individual project completions and transactions.