Monday, March 29, 2010

Mumbai Property Registrations Drop in Feb

Property registrations in Mumbai (upto Dahisar in the north and Mulund in the east) remained steady but first signs of slowdown in transaction volumes are evident. After achieving a peak of 9,118 registrations in Dec 2009, Mumbai saw 6,022 registrations in Feb 2010, which represents about 6% MoM drop compared with 6,398 registrations in Jan 2010 and is the lowest number of monthly registrations since July 2009. We believe the rapid 30%-50% price increase across Mumbai will continue to dampen demand and we see no major upside risk to volumes in H1CY10.

Prices across Mumbai have almost crossed the peak levels in Q1CY08 and have risen by 30%-50% from lows seen in CY09 across micro-markets, making homes unaffordable for buyers even in an environment of improved job security and salary hikes. Developers have again chosen to focus on super-premium projects with ticket sizes of more than Rs50mn in southern and central Mumbai, where penthouses and duplexes are in vogue.

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