India is witnessing a drop in the inventory of affordable housing by 19 per cent in the top-seven cities, while the luxury segment’s inventory has increased by 24 per cent, according to a report by Anarock Research
India’s affordable housing sector recorded a significant shift in the first quarter of 2025, with unsold inventory dropping 19 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) across the country’s top-seven cities. The number of unsold homes priced below Rs 40 lakh fell from 139,905 units in Q1 2024 to 112,744 units by the end of Q1 2025, according to Anarock Research.
In contrast, luxury housing, defined as units priced above Rs 1.5 crore, saw a 24 per cent jump in unsold stock, rising from 91,125 to 113,193 units in the same period.
This data reflected diverging trends in the housing market. While demand for budget homes continued to be driven by end-users, luxury inventory is swelling due to increased supply and tempered investor appetite.
"Affordable housing faced the sharpest pandemic fallout, with sales and new launches shrinking in the top-seven cities. Data shows that affordable housing sales share plummeted from 38 per cent in 2019 to 18 per cent in 2024, while its supply share dropped from 40 per cent to 16 per cent in the same period. However, a 19 per cent dip in unsold stock hints at sustained demand led by end-users,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Group.
Luxury homes, however, have surged in both sales and new supply.
Puri added: “Luxury housing soared, with its sales share rising from 7 per cent in 2019 to 26 per cent in 2024, and new supply share doubling from 11 per cent to 26 per cent. Nevertheless, the segment saw unsold inventory pile up due to increased supply and cautious investor sentiment amid the ongoing global economic uncertainty.”
Across categories, total unsold housing stock in the top-seven cities declined marginally by 4 per cent, from 580,895 units in Q1 2024 to 559,808 in Q1 2025. The mid-range segment (Rs 40–80 lakh) posted a 10 per cent annual drop to 157,741 units, while the premium category (Rs 80 lakh–Rs 1.5 crore) remained flat at approximately 176,000 units.
City-Level Trends
Bengaluru led the recovery in the affordable segment, slashing its unsold stock by 51 per cent, followed by Chennai at 44 per cent and Pune at 28 per cent.
Kolkata and the Delhi-National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR) saw declines of 20 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively. Hyderabad was the lone city to buck the trend, registering a 9 per cent increase in affordable housing inventory to 1,815 units.
In the luxury bracket, Chennai and Pune were the only cities to see improvements, with unsold stock shrinking by 4 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively. Other metros witnessed sharp increases: Delhi-NCR (+78 per cent), Kolkata (+96 per cent), Bengaluru (+57 per cent), Hyderabad (+6 per cent), and MMR (+6 per cent).
The report also attributed the luxury build-up to developers aggressively expanding offerings in this segment over the last two years.
“The build-up of stock in luxury housing, which has been the top-performing segment in the past 2-3 years, is largely due to significant supply additions in the last one to two years,” said Puri.