The New Facet of Real Estate Post Covid

Realty+ in conversation with Sankey Prasad, Managing Director & Chairman at Colliers International India   What are the trends likely to emerge in commercial real estate due to the COVID-19 situation? Occupiers may review their density norms and account for higher space per employee, led by social distancing protocols. Some developers and occupiers may have to go in for retrofitting of buildings and workplaces to accommodate social distancing and make the workplace healthier. Innovation in seating arrangements, staff rotation, remote working is expected to continue until COVID is contained. Facets such as Air quality, natural lighting, scanners to detect health will assume greater significance in commercial buildings. Overall, the focus on wellness, health and hygiene will increase, both for occupiers as well as developers.   What will be the impact of further consolidation in the real estate sector on project launches & sales? While RERA had spurred consolidation in the industry, we believe that the current ongoing pandemic may further consolidation. This could give a respite to projects that have been stuck due to financial constraints. However, project completion could be delayed this year due to the lockdown and returning of migrant population to their hometowns.   Will the window of Rs. 50,000 cr. under TLTRO offered to NBFCs help reduce liquidity deficit for the developers? A window of Rs. 50,000 cr. under TLTRO will help infuse liquidity to NBFCs, which could be used for lending to the real estate sector. The RBI, in April, also allowed non-bank financial companies to extend the date for commencement of commercial operations (DCCO) for loans given to commercial real estate by additional one year, without considering it as restructuring. This should give some breather to developers and help them manage cash flows.