Hyderabad has been one of the brighter spots in the realty sector according to the Economic Survey - 2021-22 which was tabled on Monday in Parliament by Finance Minister N. Sitharaman.
While there was a nationwide downturn in the realty sector in the aftermath of the two waves of COVID-19 over the past two years, Hyderabad was among the few big cities that bucked the trend, shows the economic survey data.
The number of housing transactions in Hyderabad that plunged by -37.6% during the first wave in April-June 2020, surged by 37.9% during the second wave in the April-June period in 2021.
The housing price index too, showed an upswing with a 21.3% surge in April-June 2021 in comparison to the 12.3% hike in April-June 2020.
Only Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad in Gujarat fared better than Hyderabad, shows the data which is relative to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.
While the number of transactions declined across the country, there was no equivalent decline in prices due to COVID-19 shock. Relative to the blow to real estate sector due to the first wave of Covid-19, the second wave saw a marginal decline in housing transactions. While the number of transactions declined all over the country during the first wave of COVID-19, the second wave saw an increase in number of transactions in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Noida, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru relative to the pre-pandemic levels.
The housing sector is one of the largest employers in the unorganised sector in India and an upturn or a downturn has a cascading impact on industrial sectors ranging from cement to iron. The statistical document notes an uptick in the construction sector. “This has allowed the consumption and production of steel and cement consumption to revert to pre-COVID levels. Statistics provided by the Reserve Bank of India and leading real estate companies’ show significant revival in the Indian residential real market in 2021 in terms of growth in sales, prices and new launches,” notes the policy document.
