No study on effects of demonetisation on realty prices, says government

New Delhi: The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has not carried out any study to ascertain whether demonetisation brought down realty prices, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4269855” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] In a written reply, Union minister Hardeep Singh said that there was also no study to find out whether launch of new projects dipped after the announcement of demonetisation. To a query whether it is a fact that high currency note ban had helped in reducing real estate prices by 5-10 percent, Puri said, “No such study has been carried out by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.” The comments assume significance in the backdrop of media reports stating that the real estate sector witnessed a drop in prices by 5-10 percent post-demonetisation. It was also reported that launch of new projects since January has been less across top 10 cities including Noida, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. To another query, Puri said there was a dip in Delhi metro ridership in October which could not be solely attributed to increase in fares but depends on multiple factors like vacation, season and festivals.