New Delhi, Apr 1 (IANS): The average residential property prices across the top seven cities increased in the range of 2-5 per cent in Q12022 when compared to Q12021, mainly due to increase in the prices of construction raw materials, realty consultant ANAROCK Research's latest data revealed.

Hyderabad recorded the highest 5 per cent annual jump on an average, it said in the statement.

Notably, housing sales in Q12022 (January-March) are at an all-time high since 2015 with around 99,550 units sold across the top seven Indian cities.

"This is a 71 per cent yearly rise against approx. 58,290 units sold back in Q12021. The two leading realty hotspots -- Mumbai and Delhi NCR -- accounted for over 48 per cent of the total sales in the top 7 cities, with NCR witnessing an over 114 per cent yearly jump, the realty consultant said in a statement.

The bull run in the housing market continued in the first quarter of 2022, with approx. 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 71 per cent year-on-year growth in sales, thus recording all-time high quarterly sales since 2015," said Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Group.

"The impact of the third Covid-19 wave was significantly lower than of the preceding two waves. The unrelenting appetite for homeownership amid the pandemic has coupled with a growing certainty of impending price rises to speed up housing sales velocity."

Coming to the number of inventory available, when compared to Q12021, the increase in overall absorption in the top seven cities in Q12022 resulted in an overall reduction of 2 per cent in the available inventory by Q12022-end which is from 6.42 lakh units in Q12021-end to 6.28 lakh units by Q1 2022-end.

Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR witnessed the highest reductions in available inventory in Q12022 when compared to Q12021, by 11 per cent, 10 per cent, and 9 per cent, respectively.