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.
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.
Investing in relationship management to earn the trust & goodwill of the homebuyers is something that the Indian real estate has not adopted as an industry practice. CRM or Customer Relationship Management is something that every developer today boasts of, but this relationship hardly goes beyond attending phone calls of aggrieved buyers and online registration of grievances.
Some call it market intelligence and not due diligence where the focus should be more on the micro markets than general trends which could be misleading. However, there are many grey areas where in the absence of proper research and reliable data even the assessment of ground realities is not feasible.
In real estate, market dynamics is so more complex that all the marketing theories and economic rationale have already gone for the toss. The conventional financial definitions are often challenged by the imbalance of demand & supply. With real estate predominantly being a micro market business, each market has its own dynamics.
The prevailing sentiment among the home buyers is quite negative. The developers have definitely failed to identify the strategic and operational challenges that can goad the sector to adopt the best practices. There is no specified industry standard that can be widely accepted as best practice and the industry bodies are seen as builders’ lobbies.
During the CREDAI national convention few years back, a miffed real estate seemed to settle scores with the then Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath. Displaying stiff opposition to the proposed real estate regulator, the builders’ body went critique to say it is not actually a regulator bill, but builders’ harassment and public amusement bill.
The developers are by and large living in denial. The deep rooted psyche is that once the market conditions improve the buyers have no choice but to run for an asset class that is not only need-based but also a business where the demand far exceeds the supply. This medieval thought process is in fact the biggest roadblock in the way of best practices gaining ground in the Indian real estate.
A section of home equipment suppliers even admit that over-dependence on builder contracts that ensure bulk buying, going overboard on commitments and under-utilisation of retail network are the major reasons why they are trapped in a vicious circle today.