Activity
levels are gaining traction in the near moribund housing market as a
flurry of interest rate cuts, price drops and the building industry's
focus on affordable housing start to lure buyers back into the market.
A cross section of banks, property developers and real estate
consultancies confirmed that the rise in activity levels since the
start of the year had picked up momentum in the last three months, with
some in the sector saying that sales were up by as much as 25-30% since
April, after witnessing a growth of 10-15% during the first quarter of
2009.
India's property market started showing signs of serious
trouble nearly a year ago with first the American sub-prime crisis and
later the Lehman bankruptcy playing havoc. The overpriced projects by
builders found few takers which was worsened with the IT industry
facing a major setback.Builders were stuck with high-end apartments
which had no takers. There was a severe drop in sales with people
wanting to conserve resources. As a result, property prices too fell
30-45% since peak of 2007, according to industry estimates. But today
the scenario is different, with builders getting a mix of mid end and
affordable housing into their portfolio.
Raminder Grover,
CEO-Homebay Residential, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, says the revival
in sales has been, conservatively speaking, to the tune of around 25%
across the mid-to-high income segments, according to his company's
sales records. Rohtas Goel, CMD of Delhi-based Omaxe too says there has
been a 30% increase in sales thanks to factors such as a reversal in
general economic sentiment after the elections and more options
available in affordable housing. Statistics too would appear to bear
this out. India's largest real estate developer DLF says it has sold
almost 1,500 flats in various cities since April, notably some 400
flats in its mainstay market Gurgaon, 700 in Bangalore, 100 plots in
Indore, 200 flats in Hyderabad and 50 in Cochin. Rival Unitech has
managed to sell more than 4,000 units in the last two and a half months
in the National Capital Region, Chennai and Mumbai.
Omaxe has
also sold almost 500 apartments in its Omaxe Eternity project in
Vrindavan. Niranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranandani Developers says
there had been a sale of 7,000 apartments across the industry, mainly
in Mumbai suburbs, over the last 60 days. Despite indications of
improving demand, builders don't seem to be in a hurry to raise prices.
They are conscious that demand was up due to price cuts and the
affordable housing strategy. Builders are loathe to do anything that
could incipient recovery. "We will not be looking at a price increase,"
says DLF's group executive director Rajeev Talwar. The company says it
has cut prices by up to 30% from peak levels of 2007. Others point out
that the demand is coming from the low-end housing segment comprising
house prices under Rs 25 lakh. "Buyers have come out of the waiting
mode...By December, the situation is expected to become much better,"
said Mr. Goel of Omaxe.
Mr. Hiranandani of Hiranandani
Developers also agreed that affordable housing was selling the most
right now, saying that while the overall market had improved, this
particular segment was doing really well as buyers realised that the
market has bottomed out. Bank officials spoke to also confirmed the
trend of rising demand, and noted an increasing demand for home loans.
Largely the demand is coming from the sub Rs 30-40 lakh category.
Resale market is also showing high growth. However, there is lesser
demand for new projects as well as in yet to be completed ones," said
Kamlesh Rao, senior vice president at Kotak Mahindra Bank. "While
during January-March, there was a growth of 10-15%, now it is around
15-20%." He is not alone.
Officials at UCO Bank, Axis Bank and
the country's top mortgage lender HDFC too agree that an improving
sentiment had helped drive housing sales. "We are witnessing an
increased interest from our clients. The condition has definitely
improved over the last 3-4 months," says Sujan Sinha, senior VP and
head of retail assets at Axis Bank. An HDFC spokesperson felt the
growth is up month on month mainly due to decline in interest rate and
the growth of affordable housing. "We are confident that we will
achieve the 20% annual target growth," he said.
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