Year 2018 was a veritable roller-coaster ride for the Indian real estate. Despite signs of recovery across segments, the liquidity crunch – further exacerbated by the NBFC crisis – put all industry stakeholders on tenterhooks.
Such misleading claims prima facie give an impression that the property market in the Indian cities in general, and Delhi-NCR in particular, have peaked up on the eve of long festive season ahead. The claims nevertheless raise more questions than could answer as to how and why there has been sudden spurt in the sales velocity.
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Puravankara Limited, has announced a Home Exchange Plan – an initiative with multiple benefits for the home sellers who are looking to upgrade their homes.
Sorento had a delivery date of October 2017 but received its OC in April 2017. As the project has received the OC, customers buying a ready-to-move-in property from them will not have to pay service tax and VAT (or GST, as and when applicable) which amounts to a saving of a minimum of 5.5% on the base cost.
Be it Mumbai or Pune in the Western part of India or Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai in the South, the homebuyers seem to be convinced with the reality of GST and its implications with various stages of construction. It is hence not surprising that most of the homebuyers across the cities today wish to invest in ready to move apartments to save from the hassles of paying the GST.
As per Colliers Research, RERA and GST compliance will remain a challenge for several developers for at least the next six months. We expect a decline in the number of launches in H2 2017. However, the sales are likely to pick up during the festive season due to higher optimism among buyers after RERA.
Ready to move apartments are even bringing the fence sitting buyers back to the market now. With many ready to move and near completion projects available in the Mumbai market, the prospective homebuyers are now coming forward for the standing inventory with more confidence.
Reports of price correction, more often than not, seem to conceal more than it reveal on the pulse of the property barometer. The answer as to whether this is the right time to buy is not a simple yes or no, but it depends on a number of factors like whether a buyer is looking for first or second house, for living or investment, if investment then it is for the long run or short run etc.
The data available with Track2Realty suggests that more than half of the property transactions in the last three years have been with the under-construction property. However, purchase of under-construction properties is not as simple as it appears from the standpoint of construction timelines. The process needs extra caution from legal standpoint to make sure the second buyer is not caught between the developers’ vague commitments and the first buyers’ exit without the mandatory processes.
The expectation of an overnight change is because the Act is a result of years of expectations on part of the buyers. The developers, on their part, are also changing their business strategy overnight to play it safe with the new regulatory regime.