Bengaluru home launches down 27%, at 5-year low in 2015, Knight Frank India

BENGALURU\MUMBAI: Bengaluru property market has witnessed 27% year-on-year decline in new residential launches in 2015 to touch a five-year low, said a Knight Frank India report.

“This can be largely attributed to the cautiousness shown by developers in the first half of the year, restricting their project launches. Absorption, although the lowest in three years, fell by just 7% in 2015 vis-à-vis 2014,” the report said.

New launches continued to fall in second half of 2015 from a year ago, to the tune of 13%, while sales witnessed a marginal recovery of 4% during the same period. On the other hand, H2 2015 performed better as compared to H2 2014, to the tune of 13%; sales witnesses a marginal recovery of 4% during the same period.

Weighted average price in Bengaluru property market saw 4% increase in the second half of the year.

While other micro markets in the city saw decline in new launches, South Bengaluru bucked the trend in second half of 2015. An increase of 30% from a year ago in new launches was witnessed in south Bengaluru. Almost 88% of the total new launches in 2015 in the budget housing segment with ticket size of below Rs 25 lakh were in south Bengaluru.

Majority of these launches were observed in the distant peripheral locations of South Bengaluru, such as Chandapura, Electronics City, Begur and Hosa Road.

North Bengaluru accounted for 45% of the total new launches in the premium housing segment with ticket size of above Rs 2 crore, in areas such as Hennur Road, Thanisandra and Hebbal. Interestingly, 66% of the total new launches witnessed in Bengaluru belonged to the ticket size of Rs 25-75 lakh.