India’s Housing Sales Dip Below 1 Lakh Mark for First Time in 18 Quarters; Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR Emerge as Key Outliers: PropEquity
New Delhi, March 30, 2026:
India’s residential real estate market faced a notable cooling period in the first quarter of 2026, as housing sales across the top nine cities fell below the 100,000-unit threshold for the first time in 18 quarters. Data released by NSE-listed real estate analytics firm PropEquity on Monday, March 30, 2026, reveals that total absorption dropped to 98,761 units, marking a 13% year-on-year (YoY) decline and a 6% slide from the previous quarter. Analysts attribute the slowdown primarily to a significant crunch in new launches, which fell by 19% YoY to 92,411 units.
Despite the broader national slump, Bengaluru has emerged as a major real estate hotspot, securing the top position for both sales and new supply among the country’s leading markets. The city recorded 17,991 units in sales, reflecting a 16% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth and a 3% increase compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, Delhi-NCR stood out as the leader in supply growth, recording a massive 89% YoY surge in new launches. While the capital region saw a 13% YoY growth in sales with 12,141 units, it experienced a marginal 1% dip on a quarterly basis.
Commenting on the market dynamics, Samir Jasuja, Founder & CEO of PropEquity, said, “Housing sales continued to moderate in the first quarter of 2026 with Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru emerging as outliers. This reduction is on account of low supply across most cities. Close to 22,000 lesser units were supplied in Q1 2026 as compared to the same period last year.”
The supply landscape has seen a significant shift, with Delhi-NCR rising to become the second-largest market in terms of launches with 17,227 units. This represents a rare instance where the region has surpassed traditional high-supply markets like Pune, Hyderabad, and Thane in a post-pandemic environment. However, the high valuation of these new projects in the north has created a slight disparity between supply and actual absorption.
Explaining this trend, Jasuja added, “While Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru saw similar level of housing supply in Q1, the former witnessed lesser absorption as compared to the latter as high-ticket launches impacted the sales in Delhi-NCR. Also, it is for the first time post-covid that Delhi-NCR has seen more supply than Pune, Hyderabad and Thane – the traditional high supply markets.”
Outside of the Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR pockets, the decline was widespread. Markets like Pune and Thane, which typically lead in volume, saw YoY sales drop by 25% and 24% respectively. Mumbai and Hyderabad also faced significant headwinds, with sales falling 20% and 16% YoY. As the industry looks toward the rest of 2026, the recovery of these major hubs will largely depend on whether developers can bridge the supply gap that characterized the beginning of the year.
