Those who know Puravankara family are not surprised. After all, he grew up in a home where every dinner discussion was about business and opportunities, which would invariably veer towards brick, mortar and realty. He was mentored by a passionate and focused visionary father whose passion and perseverance made Ashish understand what it takes to build vibrant communities and enriching lives by offering families their dream of buying a home.
Mumbai real estate, often criticized for getting saturated, has been rather blessed with a number of hidden jewels. The city is sitting over some of the under-valued and lesser-known micro markets that are set to transform into property hotspots pretty soon. The cynics who thought that the peninsular city is left with no scope of horizontal growth have probably not visited any of these places.
The attraction for North Bangalore has been so profound for this location that most of the properties launched in recent times have been in North Bangalore only. It has definitely started overshadowing other hot property destinations like Outer Ring Road, Sarjapur and Whitefield.
The company, through the acquisition of Zenify in May 2017, has also recently entered the family rental solution business. This round of funding also saw participation from its existing investor IDG India and Tiger Global.
Market dynamics are changing and we are aware that urban population is rising, more so in India. There is massive shortfall in infrastructure and urban housing. Due to climatic change and rising environmental concerns, more resilient buildings which are environment friendly will be required. There is also a perceptible change in the way people live, work and play. People are living longer; households are getting smaller; there is increased mobility; and of course technology is transforming the way people think demand the kind of homes they want and carry on with their lifestyle. Keeping all these in mind, we have taken new initiatives at Sobha to stay ahead of the curve.
An analysis by Track2Realty vis-à-vis the volume of office space consumption per household – not only in India but also internationally in London, Singapore, New York, Tokyo etc concludes that there is equilibrium when the office space consumption is around 60-65 sq feet per household. In India it is rather surprising that the ratio per household even in a city like Mumbai is 25 sq feet. Kolkata has a dismal only 14-15 sq feet office space per household. In Delhi-NCR it is again 20-25 sq feet per household.
Sobha Limited has reported a 6% quarter-on-quarter increase in its net profit during the Q3 FY18. Its profit after tax (PAT) increased from INR 50.3 crore in Q2 FY18 to INR 53.4 crore in the quarter ending December.
It seems the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has failed to address the struggling and ailing real estate sector from the standpoint of both the homebuyers as well as the developers. However, what is all the more interesting is the fact that the developers are not overtly complaining. It is only the homebuyers who are sulking while the developers are trying best to put up a brave face.
The hopes of middle class homebuyers have dashed and they blame the Finance Minister for presenting an election-oriented budget. Many even question the direction of the government where the focus has suddenly shifted towards the rural and farm sector in the last full budget presented by this government.
The real estate markets across the major cities is today witness to a new spate of consumer activism which is more political in its functioning than consumer centric. Worse even, many of them even operate as the de facto consumer courts in advising others in how they should take on the builders.