There is bad news for prospective home buyers who have been waiting for a price correction to take place to book their dream homes.

A report released by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a global leading real estate services firm, noted that residential rates in the city have once again begun to grow steadily after a prolonged phase of stagnation.

The report said that property prices in Mumbai have gone up by 3.2 per cent in the last three months. This is the highest quarterly rise seen since January 2011 when quarter on quarter rates had increased by a mere 0.8 per cent continuing its sluggish growth over the next three quarters.

The report predicts that prices are likely to go up further. Figures show that unlike the one-year period since July 2008 when property prices in Mumbai had shown negative growth in the wake of the slowdown, this time around prices would increase, but not in a meteoric manner.

There has been a nine-month waiting period during which consumers expected a price correction to take place. However, builders were able to generate cash flows by selling one or two units at discounted rates through across-the-table negotiations and then they continued sitting on to their price points,” said Ashutosh Limaye, explaining why Mumbai never saw an across the board price correction despite the sales velocity being on the wane.

He added that not only have prices increased, but absorption rates too have picked up between January and March this year.

A correction is now unlikely. Prices might fall only in areas beyond Kalyan or Vasai-Virar where large townships offering hundreds of flats have come up. In these cases, the large inventory may exert a downward pressure on prices,” Limaye said.

On a nation-wide level, the JLL data shows that residential prices have increased by 29 per cent since the last trough seen in June 2009.