The first nine months of 2023 have witnessed a whopping 115 per cent annual increase in luxury home sales, led by Hyderabad and Pune, shows data analysed by real estate consultancy firm Anarock.

Luxury houses are priced upwards of Rs 1.5 crore. Of the 3.49 lakh units sold in India's top seven cities- Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai- in the first nine months of 2023, about 24% or approximately 84,400 units were luxury homes.

In the same period of 2022, just 14% (approx 39,300 units) of 2.73 lakh units sold in the same period of 2022 were in the luxury category, implying a 115% annual rise in the number of luxury units sold between January to September 2023 against the corresponding period in 2022.

Hyderabad saw luxury housing sales increase by a whopping 260 per cent in this period with 13,630 units sold in the first nine months of 2023, from 3,790 units sold in the year-ago period. Approximately 44,220 homes across all budget categories were sold in the city in the first nine months of 2023, with the luxury share at 31 per cent.

Pune saw the second-best yearly growth of 191%, with approximately 6,850 luxury homes sold in the first nine months of 2023 against 2,350 units in the same period of 2022.

Chennai saw luxury housing sales rise by 143% in this period and Kolkata saw luxury housing sales increase by 69% annually - from approx. 950 units sold in 9M 2022 to approx. 1,610 units in 9M 2023. Of approx. 17,280 units sold in the city across all budget categories in 9M 2023, luxury accounted for just 9%.

"MMR, NCR and Hyderabad outperformed the other cities in luxury housing sales in the first nine months of 2023, with these three cities together accounting for approx. 63,390 units sold. In the same period in 2022, just 30,820 luxury homes - less than half of the current year's 9-month tally - were sold in these three cities. Interestingly, none of the top 7 cities saw any deceleration in luxury housing sales. In fact, they all went into overdrive," said Anuj Puri, Chairman of Anarock Group.

In the July-September quarter, for the first time in India, sales of high-end homes priced above Rs 1 crore surpassed demand in the affordable segment, priced below Rs 50 lakh, according to a report by real estate consultancy Knight Frank. The number of homes sold in India during the quarter reached a six-year high, with a sale of 82,612 units. This figure was 12 per cent higher than the 73,691 units sold in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.