New Delhi: The Indian realty landscape with conducive government policies and multiple incentives registered 20 per cent hike year-on-year sales in January to March, according to 99acres.com report released on Wednesday.

The quarter witnessed the launch of about 600 new residential projects in top eight metro cities. Despite increasing COVID cases, Mumbai led all cities for the third quarter in a row with a 38 per cent share in new and re-launched projects.

Hyderabad surpassed Pune and took the second position with a 21 per cent share. Interestingly, Delhi NCR again contributed the least with a three per cent share in the overall new unit additions.

“Based on properties listed on 99acres, none of the eight metro cities recorded a downward revision in average listing prices of residential apartments in January to March 2021 against the previous quarter,” said Chief Business Officer Maneesh Upadhyaya.

“Buyer responses also reported 7 per cent surge in the same period on 99acres. Owner listings posted on 99acres also went up by 20 per cent in Jan-Mar 2021 against Oct-Dec 2020,” he added.

In the first quarter of 2021, Delhi and Mumbai top the chart for luxury housing.

Most of the demand for property priced more than Rs 1 crore was driven by these two metros followed by Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

However, understandably, affordable housing (within Rs 40 lakh) remained the most popular choice with Kolkata leading the demand followed by Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune.

The premium market picked up some pace, especially on the back of NRI demand in cities like Bangalore and Pune.

The average property prices went up by a percent across cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, and maintained status quo in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune.

The rental market continued to be grim as the slightest hope of reopening of offices and educational institutions was slayed by a fresh spike in COVID cases.

With vacancy rates rising consistently across cities, the rental values suffered a dent of 10 to 15 per cent. The fast-paced dissemination of the COVID vaccine, however, may turn tables in the next two quarters for rental spaces.

The Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector led the office leasing market with 20 per cent of total leasing across the top eight cities.

The Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector followed with a 15.4 per cent share in office leasing.

While Chennai led all cities with a 35 per cent market share, Pune and Delhi NCR followed with 20 per cent and 18 per cent respective shares.