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.
In India, when the going was smooth a number of leading developers tried to foray into multi-city operations. Most of them had to exit the expansion strategy sooner than later. It rather proved to be the first nail in the coffin for some of these market leaders by size.
This is probably one of the wishful thoughts of the developers that have been over projected round the year (NRI investment being the other). But a ground zero study of the property market across the key cities indicate that the online property portals offering real estate deals may have made inroads like never before, this definitely is not the end of traditional brokerage or substitute of traditional format of selling through taking clients to see it and believe it.
Excuses galore within the sector and there is a big question mark over the execution and delivery capability of the developers. The execution failures have given a lending credence to the criticism that the developers just can not deliver on time. Delivery has emerged as a major issue even though the developers continue to blame it on external factors.
The choice of high profile NRIs in terms of real estate investment is more of emotional urge to come back to the hometown than the locations that are attractive as job magnets. No wonder, more than three-fourth of NRIs, as many as 78 per cent, wish to invest in their hometown.
It is the lack of proper disclosure that often results in litigations. Across the world, disclosure laws vary from state to state, even down to the city and local governance level. Though disclosure norms are very poor in India, the developers who conceal relevant information about the housing project can still be taken to courts for failure to disclose.
The slowdown was predicted much ahead to the introduction of GST and RERA and we were prepared for it. Whenever there is a new law or regulation, changes are bound to impact any market and we must cautiously tread the transition phase. At the same time, the impact usually does not last long as people adapt to changes quickly. We continue to see good traction in our business despite these market challenges. Our business is based on certain core values, which we amplify to face tough challenges.
The transition of the real estate market has changed the dynamics of the sector completely. After the advent, multiple policies and regulation of the real estate industry has seen a paradigm shift with systemic checks and streamlined process.
The satellite towns and periphery locations of major cities across the country has been stigmatised as the last refuge of the struggling home buyers. The collective consciousness looks at these locations meant for buyers who have no choice but to compromise with their wants and needs. These locations often have not helped their cause with poor infrastructure and connectivity, thus lending credence to the critics’ aspersions as down market locations.
The Union Budget for 2016-17 has overall been a good…