About 40% of all the new launches in 2018 were under the affordable segment. Cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and NCR witnessed maximum launches in the affordable segment that is below INR5 million. Mumbai on the other hand witnessed more launches in the mid segment housing, in the range of INR 5-10 million.
Gross leasing activity is recorded at 50 million square feet in 2018, highest in last eight years driven by buoyant leasing in Bengaluru and NCR. Compared to the previous year, gross leasing increased by 17% as occupiers continued to expand and consolidate. The top 3 sectors contributing to gross leasing were IT-ITeS with 43%, flexible workplaces with 14% and BFSI with 12% share.
National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO has requested Government to address the key concerns of the real estate industry and home buyers, offer tax incentives across housing segments and boost buyer’s confidence through a slew of measures in the upcoming interim Union Budget 2019-20.
It would be pertinent to note that raging infernos spared no one – be it rich or poor, residents of newly-built high-rises or the squalid slums, all fell victim to the scourge of flames which enveloped their structures, turning their cherished homes into death traps.
Young qualified professionals either do not opt for the sector, and even when they do so, they find it hard to continue in a business where the eco system is all about probability and uncertainty; forget about the lack of work culture. And hence, in most of the corporate offices of the developers it is easy to find old and grey-haired people than the vibrancy of the young work force.
While 2018 lived up to a fair number of expectations, there were a few misses too, particularly in the case of clarity on GST norms. Key highlights of 2018 were the creation of positive sentiments in the market by way of a robust office space absorption by emerging segments, as well as increase in the number of new launches and sales in the affordable housing sector.
Year 2018 was a veritable roller-coaster ride for the Indian real estate. Despite signs of recovery across segments, the liquidity crunch – further exacerbated by the NBFC crisis – put all industry stakeholders on tenterhooks.
The gross leasing activity in India was recorded at 36.4 million sq ft for the first nine months of 2018, up 26% YoY. Pan-India demand for Grade A office space was driven by the technology sector (48%) in Q3 2018, followed by banking and insurance representing 19% of the total leasing volume.
Housing Shortage in the urban areas is particularly high in Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) at 10 million units, followed by 7.4 million units in Lower Income Group (LIG).Until now, Central assistance to the tune of INR 13,583 Crore has been released and Interest subsidy of INR 1,859 Crore has been credited. Under the PMAY(U) scheme ( as per 8thJuly 2018 release by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India), 51 lakh units have been approved, 28 lakh units have been grounded and only 8 lakh units have been completed.
Irony is that even though the sector has succedded to some extent in attracting the young talent by poaching on professionals from established and matured sectors like IT/ITeS, banking, finance and telecom etc, the retention of these professionals have been quite challenging.