Summary of this article
Four major markets contributed 77% of Q1 housing sales.
Premium homes above Rs 1 crore dominated residential demand.
Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru recorded strong year-on-year sales growth.
The Indian residential market continues to expand in the first quarter of the financial year 2026 (FY2026). The market's growth was mainly attributed to four core cities of Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi-NCR. The movement in these markets accounted for nearly 77 per cent of housing sales across the country's top seven cities, as per a report by JLL. The concentration of sales in these four markets highlights their contributing importance to the Indian residential sector.
Overall performance
Housing sales across the top seven cities stand at 70,631 units in Q1 2026, which makes it an 8 per cent increase on a year-on-year basis. Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR together remained the core contributors to the overall market activity, which is supported by strong employment growth, with infrastructure development and even end-user demand.
Among the top seven major markets, Delhi-NCR recorded a 30 per cent year-on-year increase in sales, while Bengaluru shared an 18 per cent growth rate. Chennai was the fastest-growing market in this quarter, with total sales of 61 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Pune, on the other hand, recorded a 14 per cent decline, reflecting a slower and softer demand in market activity.
Change In Housing Demand
The report indicates a significant shift in housing demand. Homes priced above Rs 1 crore accounted for 71 per cent of the total sales in the first quarter of FY2026, as compared to 59 per cent a year earlier. The prices between the Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 3 crore segment were strong as well, with sales rising 67 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This premiumisation is also seen on the supply side. New launches grew by 13 per cent on a year-on-year basis, with 90,023 units being launched across the seven cities.
Bengaluru led the launch activity with 27,055 units, while Delhi-NCR recorded a 64 per cent year-on-year increase in the new launches. This reflects that developers continue to remain confident about the long-term outlook of the market in Bengaluru.
Prices of residential projects have also increased significantly in these cities, increasing by nearly 8 per cent to 20 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Strong demand for well-located homes, given that land concentration is already a problem.
The FY2026 Q1 data presents a strong housing market with two distinct characteristics of continued growth and increasing premiumisation. While the four largest markets continue to dominate the totality of the sales, demand is increasingly moving towards the higher-value homes. For the Indian residential sector, the concentration of major activity on Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi-NCR highlights the dominance of big metropolitan markets.
