Ever since the beginning of the year 2023, the real estate industry stakeholders are going gaga with the narrative of a turnaround year. It is not that such misplaced optimism has not hurt their cause in the past, but the leading voices of the sector seem to believe that a false narrative would goad the home buyers to make a beeline at the sales office. The industry narrative is hence tilted towards what could easily be vouchsafed as misplaced optimism.
Puravankara stock has been pretty under-valued, claims Abhishek Kapoor, CEO of the company. According to him, it is the perception battle that Puravankara has to weather as the intrinsic value of the stock and the performance of the company is at par with the top real estate companies of the country. In an exclusive interview with Ravi Sinha, Puravankara CEO explains why and how the brand would change the perception in the next few years. Excerpt of the interview:
2021 was expected to be the year of recovery for the Indian real estate that weathered the black swan of Covid in the preceding year. Throughout the year the developers put up a brave face and the industry data of the top listed developers was enough to keep the prophets of doomsday in silence. However, the closer look at the sector and the large universe of the developers raises more questions than what it could answer during the turbulent year. Track2Realty looks in to look ahead.
Will the festive season of 2021 change the course of real estate is something that most of the analysts are curious to see. The festive season has just started and it is too early to guesstimate the exact sales volume & value growth at this point of time. But with a closer look at the Indian housing market one can probably vouchsafe that there are more catalysts of optimism than pessimism. How far this optimism is sentiment driven and to what extent the economic fundamentals support the business take-up is something that needs to be evaluated.
While the pandemic Covid-19 had hovered like a black swan for the economy in general and the real estate market in particular, the developers across the country also woke up to the unexpected but pleasant reality that the client conversion rate had improved post the pandemic. A Track2Realty analysis.
The Nifty Realty Index that touched a low of 162.13 on 19th May in the post Covid mayhem has now scaled up to 280.00 (First week of December). The BSE and Nifty also surged more than 50% since the March lows, thus making the Indian stock market one of the best performers across the world. India’s only REIT, Embassy Office Park that scaled down at INR 319 is back in the range of 350 with a forecast of crossing 400. The second REIT, Mindspace Business Pak that was over-subscribed 12.96 times in the month of August this year, is also on its growth curve.
It was expected to be a future ready budget and the overtones in the power corridors were also self-congratulatory in advance. It finally turned out to be pretty ordinary budget for the real estate sector. The stakeholders are nevertheless looking for the silver lining here and there. The most critical stakeholder, the home buyer, is pretty disappointed with the Union Budget 2021-22.
Union Budget every year is the time when all the stakeholders of the Indian economy look up to the Finance Minister with optimism. Track2Realty noted that across the industries the wants & needs of the demand & supply side are not as juxtaposed as with the real estate. While the developers lobby hard to get the best deal out of the Union Budget, the buyers have their own set of choices and concerns. The Finance Minister is expected to walk a tightrope to balance the concerns of various stakeholders.
New homes supply and sales showed a significant improvement in the fourth quarter of 2020 (Oct–Dec) in line with the ongoing economic recovery with government’ initiatives and increased market confidence providing an added growth impetus.
Beyond the pessimism & optimism and, to some extent, more than expected recovery post the Covid-19 lockdown, the fact remains that 2020 has been by and large the most unforgettable year for the economy in general and the real estate market in particular. The old timers in the business even maintain that this has been even worse year than the global economic collapse after the Lehman crisis in 2008.