The real estate developers across the country might be living in denial but the distress sale is a predominant reality in the Indian housing market. More and more Indian home buyers are actually getting better deals in the resale market. This is leading to a stressful situation for the developers reeling with the inventory overhang and yet not ready to cut down the prices.
Projects worth INR 4,64,300 crore for a total of 575,900 units are already significantly behind schedule. These 5,75,900 units have been stuck since 2013 or before. However, what is even more disturbing than these staggering number is the fact that in many of the states RERA has been diluted to the extent that it allows the erring developers with the existing projects to get away with the fault lines.
Access to land is a critical factor for economic growth and poverty reduction. For government, industry, and citizens to be able to use this asset effectively and to minimise disputes, it is important to have access to reliable land and property records. Digitizing these land records is critical for ensuring India’s economic growth, as accessible, high quality records not only helps increase the visibility and availability of land for large-scale investment opportunities, but at an individual level, also makes it possible for the public to transact land and use it for seeking credit in a dispute-free environment.
It is single women and not the married ones who are the real demand drivers of the housing market in India. Contrary to the general perception that marriage is a catalyst for women to look up to house ownership, it is the single women across the cities of India that are more attracted to the property. The choices of single women are as much goaded by the safety of their own roof over head as with the investment horizon.
The changes in the land laws in Jammu & Kashmir has mostly been debated from the political standpoint. However, it has a direct linkage with the way the property market would shape up in a tourist destination that has thus far been seen as a hostile destination. The moot point today is whether the changed land laws would lead to any tangible difference in the property market over there. Will the developers actually flock to land scouting in this part of the world?
The Nifty Realty Index that touched a low of 162.13 on 19th May in the post Covid mayhem has now scaled up to 280.00 (First week of December). The BSE and Nifty also surged more than 50% since the March lows, thus making the Indian stock market one of the best performers across the world. India’s only REIT, Embassy Office Park that scaled down at INR 319 is back in the range of 350 with a forecast of crossing 400. The second REIT, Mindspace Business Pak that was over-subscribed 12.96 times in the month of August this year, is also on its growth curve.
SOBHA Limited claims to have achieved best ever quarterly sales volume of 1.13 million square feet of Super Built up Area valued at INR 8.88 billion, with an average price realization of INR 7,830 per square feet during Q3-21. Sales volume, total sales value and Sobha share of sales value during Q3-21 were up by 27% ,29% , 28% respectively as compared to Q2-21.
The economists and the real estate analysts are unanimous over the inevitability of the real estate recovery in India. What is nevertheless being debated is when will the sector revive to its normal course of business. What is even more important is to assess what would be the shape of the recovery. In classical economic definition, three of the commonly used recovery shapes are V, U & L shapes. V-Shaped is a strong recovery after the debacle, U-Shaped is a slower and long-drawn recovery, while an L-Shaped aftermath is where the previous peak is not recovered.
There is no denying that the world has changed for the real estate in this part of the market. Of course, there are acceptances with degree varying, denials and even reluctance to adapt to the new normal. However, what can’t be argued is the fact that the market forces are clearly signaling the paradigm shift from the existing denial & resistance to change.
It was expected to be a future ready budget and the overtones in the power corridors were also self-congratulatory in advance. It finally turned out to be pretty ordinary budget for the real estate sector. The stakeholders are nevertheless looking for the silver lining here and there. The most critical stakeholder, the home buyer, is pretty disappointed with the Union Budget 2021-22.