Housing sales fall 6.1 per cent as cautious buyers weigh India’s property market

MUMBAI: The housing market may be built on bricks, but buyer confidence is proving a little harder to cement. Residential sales across eight major Indian cities fell 6.1 per cent year-on-year to 91,729 units in Q2 2026, as buyers turned more cautious amid seasonal weakness, economic uncertainty and concerns around technology-sector jobs, according to PropTiger’s latest Real Insight Residential report.

The slowdown was particularly sharp in Pune and Bengaluru, where sales declined 20.8 per cent and 9.2 per cent, respectively. The report attributes part of the weakness to the pre-monsoon slowdown, while broader economic and geopolitical uncertainty also weighed on sentiment. In technology-heavy markets, concerns over AI-led workforce changes and layoffs appear to have made buyers, particularly those looking at homes below Rs 1 crore, more hesitant.

Yet developers have not exactly hit the brakes. New residential supply across the eight markets rose 6 per cent year-on-year to 89,161 units, putting more homes into a market where buyers are becoming increasingly selective.

Pune recorded the steepest annual fall in transactions, with sales dropping to 12,642 units. Ahmedabad followed with a 20.2 per cent decline to 7,541 units, while Bengaluru sold 14,186 homes during the quarter. Delhi-NCR and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) both recorded a 7 per cent annual contraction.

Not every market was feeling the chill. Hyderabad bucked the trend with sales rising 14.6 per cent year-on-year to 13,196 units, while Chennai delivered an even stronger 36 per cent jump to 7,183 units. Kolkata also posted a 22 per cent quarter-on-quarter improvement, although its sales remained 8.6 per cent below the year-ago period.

If sales volumes are softening, property prices clearly have not received the memo. The average sales-weighted price across the eight markets rose 1 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 10,153 per sq ft, keeping the figure above the Rs 10,000 per sq ft mark for a second consecutive quarter.

Bengaluru saw one of the sharpest price increases, with average values climbing 26 per cent year-on-year to Rs 9,931 per sq ft, despite the fall in transactions. MMR remained the largest market by sales volume, with 24,112 homes changing hands at an average Rs 15,422 per sq ft, up 20.4 per cent annually.

Pune, meanwhile, crossed another pricing milestone, with its average reaching Rs 8,084 per sq ft, a 13.7 per cent year-on-year increase.

The divergence between prices and volumes highlights the growing affordability squeeze. Buyers are facing higher property prices even as uncertainty over employment and household finances encourages them to delay or rethink purchases.

That pressure is particularly visible in technology-driven housing markets. Bengaluru and Pune have both seen softer transactions as technology companies reassess roles and workforce requirements amid the expansion of AI. Hyderabad, however, has proved more resilient, helped by its diversified base across IT, pharmaceuticals and data centres. Housing launches there rose 21.6 per cent annually.

The wider economic environment has offered some support. The RBI repo rate stood at 5.25 per cent, while easing inflation and continued government capital spending have provided a relatively stable backdrop. Changes in GST rates on selected construction materials have also helped developers manage costs, although the report suggests these savings have largely cushioned construction expenses rather than translated into widespread price cuts.

The next big test arrives with the festive season in Q3. PropTiger expects Kolkata’s recovery to continue, while Chennai could benefit from improving supply conditions. Infrastructure and connectivity projects in Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai could also provide a lift to demand.

For now, however, India’s housing market is caught between two very different signals: buyers are slowing down while prices keep climbing. Whether Q2 was simply a seasonal pause or the beginning of a longer spell of cautious homebuying could become clearer when the festive quarter puts the market back in the spotlight.