If the Indian real estate was gasping for breath since long, Cronavirus has further pushed it to the ventilator. Track2Realty in an online poll finds that the challenge is no more limited to the unsold inventory, liquidity crisis & buyers’ reluctance, but to keep the existing buyers stay afloat. Job losses and salary cut threatens to make foreclosure a reality now.
For generations, real estate leaders were cautious in changing their business models. But in recent years there has been a significant change. So far the numbers have been on the lower side, but Covid 19, has initiated companies to adopt digital solutions at an unprecedented pace. According to a survey, digitisation is taking precedence across the sector and more than 90 percent of the occupiers and developers are aiming to bring a technological shift in their business operations within the next five years.
Catering to India’s housing demand, SOBHA is the only Indian real estate company to make it to this prestigious list of growth drivers for the APAC region among other construction companies listed. The evaluation was based on companies having: revenue of at least $100,000 generated in 2015; revenue of at least $1m generated in 2018; being independent; headquartered in one of 11 territories in Asia-Pacific (Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines) and whose revenue growth between 2015 and 2018 was primarily organic.
For the media business also, the time has come to close this purpose gap — the distance between an organization’s stated aims and its lived behaviour. The longstanding view that the sole purpose of the media is to be the medium of information dissemination and thus maximize shareholder (read advertisers) value would quickly give way to a more balanced way of thinking. There is cut throat and hardly any differentiation in the content and message of an end number of media outlets today. Fortunately, that is our biggest strength with Track2Realty, whether it is in creating differentiation or minimising the purpose gap.
Private Equity funds, domestic and multi-national, have become major players in the Indian real estate market, investing tens of thousands of crores. While Blackstone and Brookfield have hitherto been largest foreign investors in Indian real estate, a gamut of Japanese Private Equity giants are also making waves. Heavyweight Japanese Corporations such as Mitsui Fudson, Mitsubishi Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and Genkai Capital too have made big-ticket investments in Indian metro cities.
The habitual project delaying and absurd justifications of the builders in calling everything as Force Majeure has got another alibi – Corona. It has sparked a fresh debate within the built environment of the Indian real estate as to whether the Corona pandemic could be treated as Force Majeure in the sector.
I&L space take-up in 2019 was dominated by small-sized transactions (less than 50,000 sq. ft.), which held a share of about 42%. The share of medium-sized transactions (ranging between 50,000 sq. ft. and 1,00,000 sq. ft.) rose from 26% in 2018 to 30% in 2019. Large-sized deals (greater than 1,00,000 sq. ft.) accounted for 28% of the leasing activity during 2019. The number of large-sized deal closures in Hyderabad, in particular, doubled in 2019 as compared to 2018.
For the real estate, it seems the government message is that if you wish to revive than learn to survive on your own. Unfortunately, in a market loaded with housing inventory, added with the liquidity crunch, the over-supply could only be absorbed with the revival in demand. There has been no announcement as to how the government would ease the stuck up projects after its initial stressed funds.
According to the World Bank, India ranks at 63rd among 190 countries, and the ranking is anticipated to improve further in the coming years backed by progressive government policies. Meanwhile, the real estate sector has shown remarkable resilience despite the bearish phase of the economy. Below is a lowdown of how the real estate story unfolded in 2019:
Track2Realty picks up Investment Magnet Cities of India through a comprehensive pan-India survey. The idea is to identify the top real estate destinations for the home buyers in the country.