India's top-city home sales slip 6% in Q2 as MMR softens and launches climb

Housing sales across India's seven largest cities fell about 6% year-on-year to roughly 90,715 units in the April-June quarter, the weakest three months since early 2023, according to consultancy Anarock. The firm tied the softness to uncertainty from the West Asia conflict and concerns over hiring in the IT and ITeS sector, which shapes demand in several major markets.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region stayed the country's largest market by volume at about 28,710 units, but that was down roughly 8% from a year earlier and about 12% from the previous quarter. Pune saw the sharpest fall among the big cities at around 15%. Even so, developers stayed on the front foot, launching about 1.06 lakh units nationally — up 7% year-on-year — while average prices rose about 7%.

The numbers point to a market tilting toward premium supply: homes priced between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 1.5 crore made up the largest single share of new launches, and unsold inventory across the seven cities rose about 10% to more than 6.16 lakh units. For MMR, softer volumes alongside firmer prices and rising stock is the combination to watch, since it can foreshadow longer sales cycles and more room to negotiate on the ground.

Quarterly consultancy estimates differ in method from registration counts and can be revised, so they are best read as a directional signal rather than a precise tally. The consistent message across recent reports, though, is a market that is launching briskly and selling more selectively.