Mumbai: Home sales across the top seven cities declined by 47 per cent to 1.38 lakh units in 2020, according to a report by Anarock Property Consultants.

In 2019, overall sales across the major cities were nearly 2.61 lakh units. The new housing supply in 2020 declined by 46 per cent against the preceding year, nearly 2.37 lakh units in 2019 to nearly 1.28 lakh units in 2020.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune were the showstoppers in overall residential activity in 2020.

"While residential real estate bottomed out in 2020 against the previous peak of 2014, there are strong revival signs in Q4 2020 - with home affordability being at its all-time best," said the report.

Amid varied offers and discounts, the top seven cities saw robust sales of nearly 50,900 units in Q4 2020, rebounding to nearly 86 per cent of the corresponding period in 2019.

In 2019, the festive quarter saw overall home sales of 59,160 units. MMR and Pune drove residential sales with the two cities accounting for more than 53 per cent of the overall share.

On the supply front, the top cities added 52,820 units in Q4 2020, as against 51,850 units in Q4 2019, increasing by 2 per cent Year-On-Year (YoY). Hyderabad outpaced other cities and added a massive new supply of 12,820 units in the quarter, followed by MMR with more than 11,910 new units.

Due to increased new launches across cities, unsold inventory declined by 2 per cent on a yearly basis, from more than 6.48 lakh units in Q4 2019 to more than 6.38 lakh units in Q4 2020. However, in comparison to the peak levels of 2016, when unsold stock stood maximum at nearly 7.91 lakh units in the top seven cities, it declined by a significant 19 per cent.

Anuj Puri, Chairman of Anarock Property Consultants, said, "2020 has been an unprecedented year due to Covid-19 causing all-round upheaval. However, the residential segment was quick to pick up momentum in the last two quarters of 2020 on the back of growing home ownership sentiment - catalysed by the exigencies of the pandemic."

He said this pent-up demand was further accelerated by the ongoing discounts and offers. The prevailing lowest-best home loan interest rates and limited period stamp duty cuts in states such as Maharashtra also helped in more sale of the property.