New Delhi, Feb 20 : Home sales in India's eight prime housing markets increased 13 per cent year-on-year in 2021 as compared to the overall sales in 2020, said PropTiger.com, a leading online real estate brokerage firm. Real estate activity in India's leading markets intensified towards the second half of 2021, after a grim 18 months as the economy was consistently battered by multiple waves of the pandemic, the brokerage said. A much sharper growth was seen in terms of new supply in 2021 as against 2020. Accordingly, a total of 2.14 lakh units were launched in 2021 compared to 1.22 lakh units in the preceding year, with an increase of around 75 per cent. "This improvement in key growth metrics for the sector, the second-largest employment generator in India after agriculture, could largely be attributed to support measures launched by the government in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, improved consumer sentiment, stable prices and historically high housing affordability," the brokerage said in a statement. According to the brokerage, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad were the top growing cities, with sales rising 39 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively, in 2021, followed by Chennai at 25 per cent. Mumbai and Pune markets grew at 8-9 per cent during the calendar year, it added. Sales in the national capital Delhi rose just one per cent, according to the brokerage. /IANS