Better returns, a mature and transparent market are some of the factors that have made investors flock to the country’s commercial real estate. With commercial segment remaining the most favoured among all kinds of asset classes, high-net-worth investors and the uber-rich are now looking at pre-leased assets, primarily office assets, with hope.
While consolidation has been an ongoing phenomenon for some time, recent mergers, acquisitions and joint developments are underscoring this trend like never before. The Indian residential sector saw a series of disruptions in the last two to three years, with revolutionary reforms like DeMo, RERA and GST remarkably altering the way real estate business is conducted. A natural by-product of this upheaval was consolidation, with fly-by-night developers completely vanishing and small players merging with big ones.
Construction for 4.9 million units has begun and 2.6 million units of which have been completed. Given the past trend, additional 1.64 million houses are likely to be sanctioned by December 2019, making it highly possible to achieve the 10 million houses target by 2022. Projected subsidy disbursement over next 3 year for the same is projected to INR 1 trillion.
Steady economic growth, favourable policy environment, growing preference of global occupiers for Indian offices and listing of first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in the country have put the India office market on a growth path, according to the half yearly update (H1 2019 – January to June 2019) by JLL India.
ANAROCK research indicates that out of the total new supply in H1 2019 – approx. 1,39,480 units in the top 7 cities – over 53% (73,930 units) were launched by branded developers, and 47% by non-branded entities. In H1 2018, branded developers’ share was 52% and during H1 2016 – before DeMo and RERA – non-branded developers had a 60% share (approx. 95,600 units) of the total of 1,59,090 newly-launched units in the top 7 cities. Branded developers accounted for 63,490 units (40%) of the total supply in the period.
MMR has been one of the major retail hubs in the country with most brands, big and small, eyeing to capture a piece of this vital market. The unrelenting demand for more retail space in the financial capital has prompted mall developers to boost their development pipeline. As per ANAROCK data, nearly 13.6 mn sq. ft. of new mall space is likely to come up in the entire MMR by 2022.
The reasons for vacancy levels of homes which could feed the rental market across the country are largely region-specific. However, distorted property rights (in the absence of a sound rental policy), weak rental contract implementation and low rental yields are some of the major factors that prompt homeowners to leave their houses vacant rather than rent them out.
The slowdown in Indian residential real estate over the last few years caused most high net-worth individuals (HNIs) to shun luxury housing and look at other investments within or outside real estate. However, ANAROCK’s latest study indicates that HNIs are now using the tail end of the slowdown in India’s luxury residential market to their advantage.
In terms of the overall brand gain for the year, Embassy has been way ahead of the competition curve post the REIT listing. Embassy has jumped from its last fiscal ranking at Number 5 to now at Number 2. As a matter of fact, Embassy is just 0.4 brand score behind Sobha Limited. Moreover, Embassy has taken a lead ahead of Sobha in terms of NRI perception. Moving forward, Embassy Group with diversified portfolio could have an edge over Sobha Limited.
Large foreign funds have expressed an interest to own a share of the Indian real estate pie. Nikko Am Straits Trading Asia, North Carolina Fund, Hwang Asia Pacific REITs and Infrastructure Fund, Eastspring Investments and Canada-based Sentry Global have received SEBI approval to invest in India as developers and real estate investors, revealing the underlying interest in REITs. Our research indicates that continuous institutional flow of funds has provided the initial momentum to REIT.