New Delhi, July 7 : Property prices across top eight cities in the country declined 1-5 per cent in April-June quarter amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Magicbricks Propindex Report Q2. The report said that in April prices slumped by 2-9 per cent, but later recovered. It said that as India's economy has started getting back to a 'new normal' following the COVID-19 outbreak and the national lockdown, the real estate sector has also started to witness some green shoots as homebuyers are back in the market, though in lower numbers across tier-I cities. It suggests that the property buyer market sentiments are on the path to recovery with the buyer searches on the property portal set to surpass the pre-COVID levels, indicating robust underlying fundamentals on the demand side. Commenting on the PropIndex, Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks, said: "India's real estate sector is on road to recovery. Prices have shown a marginal decline whereas demand has been steadily coming back. Actions have been taken by the government on the recovery package and the RBI has also reduced repo rates by more than 100 basis points since the lockdown. This augurs well for the industry. "Our data suggests that search activity is almost back at pre-COVID levels and this is therefore the right time for developers to grab the attention of the homebuyers through attractive deals and offers," he added. The markets of Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru -- India's best-performing markets in the pre-COVID-19 phase -- witnessed maximum price decline but least drop in consumer demand, indicating that homebuyers are now active in these markets and are looking for exciting deals. Gurugram and Noida in the National Capital Region (NCR), which were already facing headwinds for quite some time, resisted downward pressure on price. Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) fared slightly better compared with other regions, despite being worst-hit by COVID-19. The average price decline was in the range of 0.4 and 0.8 per cent. The Chennai residential market clocked a 2.3 per cent year-on-year growth, but the recent pandemic brought a 3.1 per cent decline in prices in Q2 2020. Around 87 per cent of the city's demand falls under the 2- and 3-BHK configuration, showing domination of mid-segment consumers. In Delhi, prices dropped across most budget categories, with the highest price decline witnessed in the premium properties costing more than Rs 15,000 per square feet. In Q2 2020, affordable houses, especially 2- and 3-BHKs, which cost below Rs 10,000 per cent square feet, witnessed better traction compared with other configurations, making up for a substantial three out of four property searches in the national capital. /IANS