Property Prices To Stagnate Further, Hurt By Coronavirus Wave: Poll

While house prices were expected to rise 3.0 per cent on average next year, it was a downgrade from 4.5 per cent growth predicted in the previous poll.

Indian house prices will stagnate this year, hurt by a devastating second wave of the coronavirus which has crushed demand and offset government tax rebates and incentives for property developers, a Reuters poll showed. Asia's third-largest economy has become the global epicentre of the pandemic, with around 26 million cases and about 290,000 deaths so far, pushing several states to reimpose restrictions, stalling business activity. That means average house prices will stagnate this year, according to the May 11-19 poll of 12 analysts, a downgrade from an already modest 1.3 per cent rise expected in the previous poll in January. Four analysts penciled in a decline in house prices this year. The latest forecast for no growth in house prices suggests a decline in real terms with Indian consumer price inflation running over 4 per cent and expected to average 4.9 per cent this year.