MUMBAI: Indian shares fell on Tuesday ahead of key economic growth data, while a rally in technology stocks lost steam and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries dropped after the company posted a loss for the March quarter. The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.58 percent at 16,563.20, as of 0427 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.73 percent to 55,517.99. Indian home prices to accelerate again despite higher rates Indian house prices are set to accelerate this year to a pace not seen in half a decade, according to a Reuters poll of property analysts who also warned that higher interest rates will crimp affordability, especially for first-time buyers. A lack of demand has kept India’s property market relatively quiet during the pandemic compared with other world markets that rocketed as households scrambled to buy more living space. While those markets are now cooling, the release of pent-up demand in India, as most employees return to workplaces amid improving vaccination rates and fewer COVID-19 cases, has stirred the Asian country’s housing market along with a return of large institutional investors. Home prices were expected to increase 7.5 percent nationally this year, the fastest growth in five years, according to a May 11-27 Reuters poll of 13 property analysts, an upgrade from 5.0 percent expected in a March survey. Average house prices were forecast to rise 6.0 percent next year and in 2024. Those forecasts come despite expectations for higher interest rates after the Reserve Bank of India earlier this month surprised markets with a 40 basis point repo rate hike to 4.40 percent and hinted more are coming soon. Over 60 percent of respondents to an additional question in the survey, eight of 13, said affordability for first-time homebuyers would worsen over the next two years. India’s Q1 GDP growth seen at one-year low on weak consumption Soaring prices and the subsequent hit to consumer spending and investments are likely to further dampen India’s economy, as the central bank faces a finely balanced struggle to tame inflation via rate hikes without hurting growth, economists said. Asia’s third-largest economy is estimated to have grown 4.0 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, a Reuters poll showed last week. That would be the slowest pace in a year, following 5.4 percent growth in the previous quarter. Forecasts for the data, due at 1200 GMT on Tuesday, ranged from 2.8 percent to 5.5 percent in the May 23-26 survey of 46 economists. The economy’s near-term prospects have been darkened by a spike in retail inflation, which hit an eight-year high of 7.8 percent in April. The surge in energy and commodity prices following the Ukraine crisis is also exerting a drag on economic activity. The latest Reuters poll shows over a quarter of economists, 14 of 53, expect the RBI to hike by rates 35 basis points to 4.75 percent in June, while 20 expect a larger move ranging from 40-75 basis points, including 10 who forecast a 50-basis-point hike. (With input from Reuters)