INDIA Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) on Monday said it expects housing prices to appreciate by 8 per cent this fiscal, mainly due to rise in demand from end users.

“The current housing sales uptick and increased demand is end user driven and not speculative. Hence, the hike in prices will be sustainable and is likely to be incremental. Prices were up 6 per cent pan-India in FY22,” the rating agency said in a statement.

Furthermore, the surge in the housing sales in India has not been accompanied by a sharp rise in prices so far, the agency added.

“After a prolonged period of decline, prices stabilised in the past few years. Ind-Ra expects the price appreciation of

residential property in FY23 to be around 8 per cent at

pan-India level, led by Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad,” the statement noted.

Ind-Ra expects housing sales to rise by around 12 per cent YoY (year-on-year) in FY23.

“In FY22, for the top eight real estate clusters, housing sales increased 42 per cent YoY on a pandemic-impacted lower base,” the rating and research agency said.

In FY23, Ind-Ra expects well-known and trusted developers to witness better sales, and affordable housing segments to continue to claim around 50 per cent share of the total sales,” the statement further said.