Even today, owning a home is a dream and priority for most people in India.
Buying a house is also considered a big investment.
But recent trends show that home sales have slowed down in major cities of the country including Ahmedabad.
According to the report of news agency PTI, 28 major real estate companies listed in the stock market have registered a decline of 21 percent in bookings in the April-June 2026 quarter.
A year ago, there were bookings worth Rs 50,900 crore in the June quarter, which has come down to around Rs 40,000 crore this year.
Citing high land prices, rising raw material prices, labor shortage and other reasons, real estate developers in Gujarat had recently announced a five to ten percent increase in house prices.
But the situation is such that they could not increase the prices as per their announcement.
According to experts, the reality is that such a situation has arisen that it is difficult to sell houses even at the current prices.
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According to data shared by real estate consultant firm Anarock Property via email, construction costs in India's top seven cities have increased by an average of 34 per cent between 2021 and 2025, leading to a nearly 59 per cent increase in housing prices in five years.
One reason has also been the Iran war and due to this alone the construction cost has increased by 10 percent.
These seven cities include Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.
According to an email from Anarock Research, land prices in the top seven cities have increased by 50 to 120 percent in 2021.
Delhi-NCR saw the highest increase of 70 to 130 percent, while in Bengaluru land prices increased by 60 to 120 percent during this period.
According to this report, due to the Iran-US war, steel prices have increased by 20 percent and the price of TMT rods used in construction has increased to Rs 72,000 per tonne, while the cost of fuel and site logistics has increased by 15 to 20 percent.
Due to the Middle East war, prices of finishing materials such as tiles, glass, hardware have increased by 8 to 12 percent, while mechanical, electrical and plumbing costs have increased by 9 to 13 percent.
The report also said that labour, which accounts for 25 to 30 per cent of the total construction cost, has increased by five to six per cent, while cement prices have increased by four to five per cent.
Consumers are hesitant
Pawan Bakery, managing director of Ahmedabad-based Bakery Group, said about the current situation in the reality market, "It has been observed that in view of the current economic uncertainty, some people are postponing home purchase for some time or are adopting a 'wait and see' attitude."
"However, in some areas, if people's budget and home prices are right, sales do happen," he says.
According to Pawan Bakery, "In the last one year, construction costs have increased due to the increase in prices of raw materials due to the war in the Middle East and other reasons. Things like aluminium, cement, steel have become expensive. Apart from this, there has also been a labor shortage in the real estate sector for the last three years."
He says, "The price of crude oil, which was once 60 to 70 dollars, has increased to 100 dollars per barrel, due to which a lot of cash has been drained from the industries. This has also affected the private sector."
Has the supply increased more than the demand in the cities of Gujarat?
Responding to this question, Pawan Bakery says, "Usually there is a supply of two to three years, which is considered good for the industry. But right now the supply is high and sales have slowed down. However, some developers have to start new projects because after purchasing the land, they have to work on it."
voice of real estate
Recently, builders associations in several cities, including Ahmedabad and Surat, had announced that they will increase house prices by 5 to 10 percent from July due to the rise in raw material prices.
However, in reality they have not been able to grow that much. Pawan Bakery says that some builders have increased the prices by 2 to 3 percent.
At that time, Rajesh Vaswani, president of CREDAI, an association of real estate developers, had said, "The prices of some raw materials have increased by up to 80 per cent. Till now this has not put any additional burden on home buyers, but now the prices will have to be increased."
Saurabh Patel, an Ahmedabad-based builder, says, "In many cities, including Ahmedabad and Surat, there is a shift from two-bedroom-hall-kitchen (BHK) homes to three-bedroom homes, and most of the new homes are also three or four bedroom."
Developers say that after purchasing the land at a high price, they now have no option to build two-BHS flats. For this reason, the launch of new projects in the affordable segment has reduced and the prices of three-BHS houses have increased. That's why people are not able to buy them.
Saurabh Patel said, "People's budget for a two-BHK flat is Rs 45 to Rs 50 lakh. But the price of land has increased so much that it has become difficult for the builder to afford it. Today, the builder has to spend more than Rs 60 lakh to build a two-BHK flat, so it is out of the customer's budget."
'Tiles, copper, cement everything became expensive
Saurabh Patel of Ahmedabad-based Signature Group told the BBC, "Since the war in the Middle East started, the prices of many goods have increased by 30 to 80 percent. These include tiles, cement, steel, PVC pipes, paint, ready-mix concrete, cement blocks, waterproofing materials etc. Suppliers have already placed orders for the purchase of these goods. But since the deal was done at the old price, the suppliers are delaying the delivery of the goods or asking for more money. Because of this, there has been a delay in starting new projects at some places."
Saurabh Patel says, "The biggest problem has arisen due to rising prices of steel, cement, copper and ceramic tiles. Apart from this, the cost of plumbing has also increased. As a result, house prices have increased and sales have been affected."
"Electrical goods have become costlier by 15 to 20 per cent due to the rise in copper prices. Additionally, the supply disruption in PNG has affected the production of tiles and now they too are becoming costlier," he said.
Regarding house sales in Ahmedabad, he says, "There has been a slowdown in sales, but it varies depending on the area. If flats worth Rs 1 crore are built in an area where there is demand for affordable houses priced below Rs 50 lakh, then naturally they will not sell."
Talking about the current situation of real estate, Monil Parikh, Director, Parikh Infracon Pvt Ltd, says, "It is true that house prices have increased due to rising raw material prices and labor shortage. Gujarat's housing sector has been largely dependent on laborers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. Now work is becoming available in these states too and they are getting wages at par with Gujarat, so they are avoiding coming to Gujarat for construction work. Because of this, it is important to pay more to the available laborers. It is falling."
He says, "According to the data of 2024, the real estate market of Ahmedabad is worth Rs 1.45 lakh crore, while the market of Surat is worth Rs 65 thousand crore, Gandhinagar is worth Rs 50 thousand crore and the real estate market of Rajkot is about Rs 18 thousand crore."
In response to this question, Monil Parikh said that developers usually wait until 70 to 80 percent of the houses are sold and only then start a new project.
He says that if a commercial property is not sold for a long time, the builders put it on rent, but this is not the case with residential properties.
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