MUMBAI, June 4 -- India's residential real estate market, long buoyed by strong demand and rising property prices, is beginning to show signs of structural stress. Fresh research by non-broking real estate analytics firm Liases Foras points to a widening gap between supply and actual construction activity, raising concerns that the sector may be heading toward a period of churn driven by execution delays, rising costs and inventory build-up. Data accessed by Hindustan Times shows that only 55% of India's marketable housing supply was under construction as of March 2026, a sharp decline from 75% in March 2017. Marketable supply refers to the total quantity of homes put up for sale by developers in a market. In March 2017, the country's eight largest urban housing markets collectively had 3,601 million square feet of marketable supply, of which 2,700.75 million square feet was under construction. The gap between supply and construction remained broadly stable at approximately 25% for nearly four years. Since March 2021, however, the divergence has widened considerably. By March 2026, the total marketable supply had increased to 4,010 million square feet, but the active construction volume had dropped to 2,205.5 million square feet, nearly 500 million sq ft lower than 2017 levels. "Between 2017 and 2026, the overall marketable supply grew by 11%. This clearly indicates a 20% decline in the construction pace, and it has nothing to do with the ongoing West Asia war," said Pankaj Kapoor, founder and MD of Liases Foras....