Real estate revival: could be a Diwali cookie for builders

Property developers can have a good holiday season this year with near-record sales. With a series of new launches planned between now and the end of the year, the builders believe the business will be optimistic. While new launches were expected from the second week of October, signs of interest from home buyers have seen progress. Anjana Sastri, Director (Marketing), Sterling Developers, Bengaluru, said that she has been seeing many first-time homebuyers who have not been able to make a decision due to the closure, but are now eager to seal the deal in the holiday season. . Sastri noted that "there is a good stock of move-in ready apartments as well as almost a full stock and it is likely to be of great interest during the holiday season." Analysts say a modest price hike and historically low mortgage rates of 6.5-7% should keep sales momentum strong. ICICI Securities analysts point out that developers are subject to price discipline by increasing 4-5% similar to new phases of ongoing projects. Vimalendra Singh, director of sales and services for Mahindra Lifespace Developers, told FE that lower interest rates, relatively stable property prices, the trend of remote work, and additional incentives in terms of schemes and discounts are expected to contribute. to purchase. decisions in all sectors. "We have planned launches in each of our focus markets in MMR, Pune, and Bengaluru in fiscal year 22 and we are also working towards a gradual launch of our 'Luminare' project at Gurugram," said Singh. Meanwhile, the new projects are already attracting interest. For example, Godrej Properties sold Rs 580 crore of inventory in Phase II of the Woods project, Noida, on launch day. Prestige Estates managed to sell more than 800 parcels of land spread over 1.7 million square feet at a price of Rs 5,000 per square foot or a sale value of Rs 850 million in September at The Great Acres. This is part of The Prestige City project (12.8 million square feet) in Sarjapur, Bengaluru. The brigade launched 12 new projects covering 4 million square feet in August, including new phases in existing projects, in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai. It is understood that the company has reported monthly sales of more than 400 million rupees each in August-September. Furthermore, Sunteck Realty's launch of Vasind in the eastern suburbs for MMR is expected to generate sales bookings of Rs 100 crore in the second quarter of fiscal 22. The recent launch of Mahindra Lifespaces in Chennai also saw sales of more than 200 units with an average ticket volume of Rs 40 Lakh within a month of release. The real estate consultancy JLL published the results of a survey that covered more than 2,500 potential home buyers and highlighted that more than 80% of potential buyers expect to make a purchase in the next three months. This would put the residential market firmly on a recovery path. Samantak Das, the chief economist at JLL, noted that if the impending Covid-19 wave can be contained, consumer confidence will improve further with the holiday season. Das expects new launches to increase in the coming months as developers invest in their own land banks. Also Read - As home loan rates dip, real estate players see promise