When the going was good the developers did not bother much about the quality of talent; nor did they ever took a conscious call to introspect from the inside of the company and work their way out to create a competitive professional culture.
The senior living sector in India is at a crossroad. With the relaxation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) restrictions on investments in the sector and increasing population of seniors (over 100 million seniors in India at present) to cater to, there clearly exists an untapped opportunity for investment and development in this sector.
For the last four years everyone within the built environment of Indian real estate, homebuyers included, wanted a real estate regulator but the consensus eluded.
The pan-India survey by Track2Realty finds that that close to two-third, as many as 58 per cent of the real estate professionals admit to suffer some form of depression or general anxiety disorder due to demanding schedules, high stress levels and lack of performance-linked rewards.
A house hunt has always been tedious and challenging for anyone in this country. Imagine the travails of finding 100 apartments to live in. Yes! This has been the thought process when the editorial team of Track2Realty embarked on a journey to find 100 best housing projects relevant for investment in the year ahead.
At a time when attracting the best talent is as challenging as retaining them, and lack of quality professionals affecting the fortunes of many sectors, including the Indian real estate, it is appalling to note that the developers have yet not learnt the value of professionals.
A few may have succeeded but most of the developers have failed to position themselves right during the slowdown. In the process Track2Realty finds that the brand realty has taken a severe beating, losing the trust of both the end-users and the investors. The brand positioning that differentiates between the two different realty companies is today negligible with developers’ focus to sell. That, unfortunately, is not working for them and commanding premium over the brand reputation today is a far cry. Our team speaks to a cross section of developers, analysts and brand experts who may differ with each other but nearly all agree that sector has to come out of the Catch 22 situation.
From being the governance wild child to maturing into a market influencer, India’s real-estate sector has transformed in the past decade, with a paradigm shift from family owned businesses to corporates along with a few companies listing on stock exchanges. The change began with the government opening doors to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2005 and then welcoming the next wave of stability as corporate houses brought image restoration for the sector. Led by corporate entities, realty companies soon adopted corporate governance wherein transparency began to trickle down into the system as a norm slowly.
In an opaque real estate market where house hunt has been a travail and challenging for most of the Indians, Track2Realty takes up the challenge of finding not one but 100 most promising housing projects in the country. From Bangalore to Chennai, Mumbai to Ahmedabad, and Gurgaon to Kasauli; it has been a worm’s-eye view of thousands of housing projects to find 100 best that could stand out as the investment magnet in this first-of-its-kind study.
The stock market is not only showing the investors’ confidence index going up. It is also indicating the way forward for the Indian real estate. After all, investor sentiment on the bourses have often led to the recovery of the real estate market as the investment grows to the next level of confidence for a long term investment. It may be too early for concluding whether the stock recovery is here to stay and lead to revival of the fortunes of the real estate, yet Track2Realty finds the debate has gained ground. While the developers are optimistic about the money sooner than later coming into the sector, the critics have their own reasons to advice wait & watch policy, if not outright denial.