A year back at the end of 2016, the doom mongers were out in force. In our office sector there were those who were predicting a slump in demand, uncertainty around the new Government in the US, the scare stories around automation and AI, the performance of the top 5 Indian ITeS companies, exaggerations around layoffs and even the dramas of corporate Boards of great Indian technology companies.
The more liberalized FDI regime now further attracting global capital flow to Indian real estate sector. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) system will also have a major impact especially in sell to build model in Real Estate. And the Benami Property Act will surely curb the parking of black money in real estate.
The year 2017 turned out to be a landmark year for the economy at large and the real estate sector in particular. Several historic reforms and policies were rolled out. Beginning with the Union Budget, the affordable housing received a huge impetus in the form of infrastructure status.
The government seems to be determined to link the property transactions with Aadhar Number with the pretext that the linking of Aadhaar to property will ensure that all parties to the deal are present in their individual capacity. The possibility of using fake identities is virtually ruled out.
One of the most significant trends the Indian real estate sector saw in 2017, was the infrastructure status given to affordable housing. The government’s vision of achieving Housing for All by 2022 appears a lot more achievable, with steps taken like effectively revising the qualifying criteria.
The first quarter of the year 2017 started with demonetization, a bold move undertaken by the government which was directed towards enhancing the liability of all the transactions and to make everyone and everything in the realty market accountable.
It is true that the GST burden is today a huge deterrent in the housing market and a large share of homebuyers are now waiting for the project to be ready as the ready to move apartment won’t attract GST burden. The problem, however, is with millions of buyers who are in the mid cycle of construction and the GST has suddenly added to their already over stretched budget in the housing market.
The report states that 10,785 acres or around 18% of lake area has been encroached in 1,547 lakes in the two districts and also names over 75 companies in a list of offenders. The report blames almost all the prominent developers in the city. This includes developers like Prestige Group, Sobha Limited, Bagmane Group, NICE (Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited) and Oasis Apartments, among others.
A closer look at the given developer, Gaursons and the market that it operates in, clearly suggests that the sales figure is definitely not reflective of higher consumer confidence in the market that is notorious for the lack of best practices.
With the Government of India approving an increase in the carpet area of houses for the two middle-income group categories, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban, the industry stakeholders are getting euphoric as if this is the panacea for the ills that the afflicted the business.