new delhi the residential real estate market in the national capital region ncr slumped to its worst performance in a decade with sales plunging 43 in julydecember 2014 compared with the same period the previous year according to a report prepared by consultancy firm knight frank india however while sales volumes were down to only 40575 units in the second half of 2014 as against 71421 in the corresponding period in 2013 prices rose by 3 on an average with sales down the number of launches in ncr the countrys biggest real estate marketduring the second half of 2014 declined by 24 to 73143 units against 95768 units in the same period of 2013 other key markets in the country like mumbai and bengaluru performed much better compared to ncr in mumbai sales volume fell by 9 to 67715 units in bengaluru sales were down only 3 at 55701 units but even in these cities the number of launches declined sharply in mumbai launches were down 43 during the period while in bengaluru it was down 13 overall the sales volume in the top six citiesncr mumbai bengaluru pune chennai and hyderabad declined by 17 to 234930 units in the second half of 2014 and new launches by 28 to 268950 units but the knight frank report was optimistic of a turnaround in the first half of 2015 it predicted a 4 increase in the overall sales of residential units in six cities in janjune 2015 compared with the same period last year however it will be a while before new launches pick up it predicted a 4 decline during the first half of 2015 against the same period in 2014 because of the large unsold inventory prices the report said will rise in the first half of this year mumbai is likely to witness the sharpest rise at 10 followed by bengaluru at 3 and ncr at 2 how the sector performs will depend a lot on the announcements in the union budget shishir baijal chairman and managing director of knight frank india said 2014 has not been a great year for indian real estate as stated in our latest report jointly developed with ficci however he added we expect 2015 to be the year of recovery and stabilization the current economic indicators look positive though the real impact will only be felt by the second half of this year a surprise rate cut by rbi has marked the beginning of the new year and going forward the make in india campaign reits fdi relaxation and smart cities among others augurs well for giving the muchneeded boost to stakeholder sentiments the good news is that commercial real estate demand picked up substantially in the second half of 2014