Pune

Real estate prices in top 36 cities of the country have continued to show signs of recovery with highest price growth of 15.7% recorded in Vizag during the quarter ended June, showed the National Housing Bank's housing price index NHB RESIDEX. 

NHB's Housing Price Index (HPI) recorded an overall year-on-year increase in 36 cities, decrease in 13 cities and no change in one city, while it showed increase in 14 cities, decrease in 26 cities and no change in 10 cities on sequential basis. 

All the 8 tier 1 cities witnessed a rise in indices on annual basis with Delhi showing a substantial 8.1% rise followed by Chennai at 7.4%, Pune at 6%, Bangalore at 5.1% and Mumbai at 3%. This is a significant growth recorded in prices after the last year's October-December quarter that was marked by the government's demonetisation move. 

Real estate prices in tier I and tier II cities have been witnessing growth at a faster pace than top property markets in the country. According to India's official housing price index, cities like Vizag, Kochi, Faridabad, Surat, Howrah, Raipur and Nagpur recorded rise of over 9% to nearly 16% during the first quarter. 

Annual growth in HPI ranged from 15.7% in Vizag to negative 10.6% in Bhiwadi at the end of the quarter ending in June, whereas, the quarterly growth in HPI ranged from 4.5% in Vizag to negative 6% in Bhiwadi. 

NHB RESIDEX was an initiative of the National Housing Bank (NHB), undertaken at the behest of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance. The housing price index, HPI @ Assessment Prices is based on banks' and lenders' data for 50 cities, while HPI @ Market Prices for under-construction properties will cover 47 cities. Both indices use 2012-13 as base year. 

Of the 29 tier-2 cities being covered, significant rise in indices was seen in Vizag at 15.7% and Kochi at 12.8%, while significant fall in indices was seen in Coimbatore at 6.6%, Ranchi at 5.9% and Chandigarh at 5.9% on annual basis 

On annual basis, among the 13 tier-3 cities, Howrah at 10.2% and Pimpri-Chinchwad at 6.9% showed maximum increase in indices while Bhiwadi at 10.6% showed maximum decrease. 

Marginal increase in index was witnessed in Noida with 0.9% rise, Ludhiana at 1.4% and Vasai-Virar with 1.6% growth, while the index remained stable in Greater Noida, NHB Residex showed.