Housing prices in India have continued to increase in the third quarter of 2023-24, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The All-India Home Price Index (HPI) of the RBI jumped to 3.81% in the December quarter of 2023-24 from the year-ago period. During the corresponding quarter last year, the annual growth in the index was 2.81%. In the July-September quarter of 2023-24, the annual price rise of houses had moderated to 3.5%.
The central bank released the HPI based on transaction-level data received from the registration authorities in 10 major cities on February 26, 2024. The cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai. Do note that the movement of prices of residential property varies widely from one city to another.
Among the 10 cities, six — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Kochi — recorded a rise in house prices during the latest quarter, the RBI said. With an 8.41% year-on-year increase in Q32024, Chennai witnessed the highest growth in the Housing Price Index. Kolkata came second with a 7.65% year-on-year rise during the December quarter. The home price index of Bengaluru surged to 6.34% in the quarter under review. The home price index improved to 5.10% in Ahmedabad.
Among metro cities, Delhi’s home price index growth decelerated in the third quarter of 2024. It moderated to 1.13% in the December quarter from 4.63% in the previous quarter. Mumbai housing price index dropped slightly to 2.02% in Q32024 from 2.35% in Q22024.
At 0.64%, Kochi saw the lowest annual growth in the home price index among the 10 cities.
| City |
Q32022-23 |
Q32023-24 **(P) |
YoY change |
| Ahmedabad | 318.74 | 335.01 | 5.10% |
| Bengaluru | 331.08 | 352.06 | 6.34% |
| Chennai | 275.26 | 298.41 | 8.41% |
| Delhi | 336.79 | 340.61 | 1.13% |
| Jaipur | 171.63 | 172.86 | 0.72% |
| Kanpur | 176.07 | 179.88 | 2.16% |
| Kochi | 333.29 | 334.41 | 0.64% |
| Kolkata | 296.42 | 319.09 | 7.65% |
| Lucknow | 400.95 | 413.34 | 3.09% |
| Mumbai | 292.87 | 298.79 | 2.02% |
| ALL INDIA HOME PRICE | 302.04 | 313.55 | 3.81% |
All India index is a weighted average of city indices, weights based on population proportion.
**(P) Provisional indexes which will be finalized by next quarter.
Source: Reserve Bank of India
Pause in repo rate hike has boosted homebuyers’ sentiment
The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) last increased the repo rate, by 25 basis points (bps) to 6.5%, in February 2023. Since then, the central bank has kept the repo rate unchanged. Home buyers were adversely affected with an overall hike of 2.5% on their home loans and were waiting for the interest rate to fall. However, back-to-back pause in the repo rate for the last year, the sentiment of homebuyers, said many experts. “This is a win-win situation for both builders and buyers,” said Rohan Khatau, Director of CCI Projects. “For builders, it means more liquidity and lower financing costs. For buyers, it ensures that home loans remain affordable.”Samyak Jain, Director of Siddha Group, said, “Homebuyers stand to benefit from this decision as it implies stable loan interest rates. The unchanged policy rates mean that the cost of borrowing will not increase, making it an opportune time for potential homeowners to secure loans at attractive rates.”
