HOPE IN TIMES OF FEAR - REAL ESTATE FESTIVAL SEASON SALES

YouGov India's recent survey states that 72% urban Indians were interested to buy a residential property this festive season. According to the CREDAI, transactions in realty picked up very well across cities with customers flocking to purchase flats, villas, plots and other properties during this auspicious season. A report by Anarock Property Consultants said that the festive quarter has seen at least a 35-40 per cent yearly rise in overall housing sales across the top cities. Likewise, the Knight Frank India report states that demand stimulation measures such as low rate of interest and festive schemes enabled the sector in posting strong sales during the Diwali period. WHAT THE DEVELOPERS HAVE TO SAY As per reports, the sales in the housing segment surged 113 per cent in the top seven cities even as prices rose in the month of September with the similar trends continuing during the festive time. NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES In October 2021, Mumbai recorded 10-year best property sale registrations. The daily registrations rate increased from 219 in August to 260 in September. In October it recorded 277 registrations when the auspicious Navratri festival was being celebrated. Amid Diwali festivities, 206 daily sales registrations were recorded. Launches in Pune picked up during festive months, with a total of 10,015 new units being launched in Pune during the July – September (Q3) 2021 quarter as compared to 2,810 units in (Q2) 2021 and 4,635 in (Q3) 2020. A total of 10,128 homes were sold in Pune in (Q3) 2021. In the same period last year, only 7,107 units were sold in this market. AS PER DEVELOPERS, THE REAL ESTATE SECTOR HAS MADE AN IMPRESSIVE REVIVAL DESPITE PANDEMIC INDUCED MARKET UPHEAVALS AND THE POSITIVE MOMENTUM WILL CONTINUE INTO THE NEW YEAR. Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, National Vice Chairman – NAREDCO and MD, Hiranandani Group, Mumbai said, “An array of festive bonanza supplemented with low home loan interest, choice of inventory, innovative flexi payment schemes, deal sweeteners by the developers make it an ideal time. As a matter of fact, the Covid pandemic has brought in a new segment of home buyers i.e. the next gen millennial to the fore.” Across Gujarat, realty registrations spiked witnessing as many as 743 real estate projects — residential, commercial, mixed development and plotted schemes, being registered with the GujRERA in September. This translates to 55% of last fiscal’s total 1,345 project registrations. The Durga Puja festivities coupled with 2 percent stamp duty rebate led to 4,683 apartment sales in Greater Kolkata or Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) in October 2021. The YoY growth of 87 percent surpassed the growth recorded in the previous month. In September 2021, as many as 4,846 apartment sales documents were registered in Greater Kolkata. During the festive months, residential sales went up by 20 per cent in Chennai and the residential prices went up after Deepavali in Tamil Nadu as per CREDAI Tamil Nadu. Similarly, average property prices in Bengaluru rose 2% - from ?4,975 per sq. ft. in Q2 2020 to ?5,060 per sq. ft. in Q2 2021. The new launch activity was high with majority of the launches concentrated in east and north Bengaluru, accounting for 46% and 34%, respectively. As per Hyderabad CREDAI, transactions increased by 25 per cent starting Dusshehra festival, providing much-needed boost for the realty sector. Prominent cities, including Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad in Delhi-NCR, boasted housing sales of 10,220 units in the third quarter and witnessed as high as 96% increase in housing sales and around 24% additional new launches. Gurugram city led the jump in housing sales with a 129% increase, from 1680 units sales in Q3 quarter to 3,850 units, followed by Noida, which saw a 116% increase from 670 units to 1,450 units. Delhi also showcased a growth rate of 100%, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida showcased 84% and 58% increase respectively. Manoj Gaur, CMD, Gaurs Group, Delhi NCR stated, “In the aftermath of the epidemic, the real estate market is seeing favourable buyer’s sentiment. From June 2021, when states began the progressive openingup process, home sales and new launch numbers started rising and the sector’s high expectations from the festival season are getting fulfilled.” FESTIVE SEASON TURN AROUND' TIME With the opening of lockdowns and recovery of economic activities real estate developers were betting big on this season for revival of fortunes. With the home buying sentiment on rise during festive times, realty firms are leaving no stone unturned in luring potential buyers. From discounts, and flexi payment plans to zero stamp duty and EMI holiday till possession, developers are going all with further sweetening the deal by doling out festive offers. Realty developer Smartworld’s two project Smartworld Gems and Smartworld Orchard, clocked combined sales worth Rs 2,000 crore within two weeks of the launch during this period. Another Gurugram based real estate consultant, Elite Landbase sold approximately 4,50,000 sq ft area during the festival season valuing Rs 425 crore. Century Real Estate, a leading developer in South India, clocked in their highest monthly residential sales ever in October. According to company officials, achieved 32% growth in sales revenue compared to previous monthly sales records and has achieved a 38% Y-o-Y growth in H1. According to developer Trehan Group that develops luxury independent floors in Gurgaon, it has sold 120 luxury floors during the festive season as homebuyers preferred quicker deliveries. Krisumi Corporation, India’s first Indo Japanese venture in real estate, has clocked bookings worth Rs 51 crore on 27 units of its maiden project- Krisumi Waterfall Residences, Gurugram in September 2021. Builders have also taken the opportunity to launch new projects such as Pride Group launched the new phase at Pride World City during the Navratri season in Pune. Boutique real estate firm 1 OAK promoted by Singapore based Greenfield Advisory Pte. Ltd launched their premium apartments – Willow at Upper Shaheed Path in Lucknow in October. FESTIVE PERIOD FROM AUGUST TO NOVEMBER HAS BEEN A GAME CHANGER AS DEMAND FOR HOUSING PEAKED, MOSTLY BECAUSE OWNING A HOME OR A PROPERTY HAS BECOME A FOCAL POINT OF MOST INDIAN’S IMMEDIATE AND LONGTERM FUTURE PLANS. Urbanrise, launched Cloud 33, a premium residential community at Bachupally, Hyderabad. Runwal Group, Mumbai’s leading real estate developers, announced the launch of residential tower- Park View, in their project Runwal Avenue in Mumbai. Prestige Group too marked its entry in Mumbai with the launch of Prestige Jasdan Classic in Byculla West’ These are just some of the instances of realty sector optimizing the positive home buying sentiments during the auspicious times. The latest report by Square Yards highlights that new project launches saw a quarterly rise of 68% at the Pan India level with MMR recording the highest share with 27% followed by Hyderabad at 23% and Pune at 20%. Harshvardhan Patodia, CREDAI National President and Chairman & Managing Director, Unimark Group, Kolkata says, “Customers are visiting the site and sales are back on track. The market is experiencing an upsurge and has re-bounced to a great extent.” Properties in the budget bracket of Rs 30-60 Lakh and Rs 60-100 Lakh were the most searched by online property seekers in Q3, 2021. Interestingly properties sized less than 1000 Sq. Ft. formed almost 50% of the online searches in Q3. However, searches for larger homes inched up by varying degree. While a quarterly rise of 7% was noted for the 1000- 2000 Sq.Ft. category, homes larger than 2000 Sq.Ft. recorded a rise of 5% in online demand in Q3 compared to the previous quarter. Maximum searches for ultra-luxury properties sized above 4000 Sq.Ft. was noted in Bengaluru with 31% share while Hyderabad was second at 26%. Southern cities of Hyderabad and Bengaluru displayed an inclination towards plotted developments with more than 50% inventory for the same in each city. Irfan Razack, Chairman & Managing Director, Prestige Group, Bengaluru added, “With the real estate in the city gaining pace during the festival season and the demand for home ownership gaining momentum, Prestige aimed to lead the curve with the completion of Prestige Courtyards and Prestige Cosmopolitan.” THE REAL ESTATE SECTOR MADE AN IMPRESSIVE REVIVAL DURING THE FESTIVAL TIMES FROM METROS TO SMALLER CITIES AND ACROSS SEGMENTS FROM LUXURY TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING. THE PROGRESSIVE POLICY INTERVENTIONS AND POSITIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE RESIDENTIAL SECTOR INDICATES THAT MOMENTUM IN HOME BUYING WILL CONTINUE TO PERSIST IN THE COMING YEAR. Going by the trends so far, the prospects of the residential property sector in the festive season have been quite favourable with leading brokerages stating that housing demand in the main seven cities increased by at least 40% during the period. Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Group shared, "In Q3 2021, significantly improved job security and robust hiring in the IT/ITeS and financial sectors piggybacked on record low home loan rates and growing homeownership sentiment. The ongoing WFH culture continues to influence residential sentiment on two major fronts - overall housing demand and unit sizes. The fastpaced vaccination drive is an added sentiment booster, especially in terms of increased site visits." THERE IS AN UNPRECEDENTED NUMBER OF GENUINE BUYERS WALKING ONTO PROJECTS SITES, ALONG WITH MUCH HIGHER CONVERSION RATES INTO BOOKINGS. POST THE LOCKDOWNS, HOMEBUYERS ARE LOOKING TO INVEST IN LARGER & BETTER QUALITY HOMES/PLOTS FROM TRUSTWORTHY GRADE A PLAYERS “The ongoing festivities have complemented the already positive outlook that home buyers had exuded over the past year or so. The same is reflecting on the property registration numbers, wherein we are seeing best levels in consequent months of September and October. Even while the government stamp duty incentive has been rolled back, a combination of positive factors like multi decade low home loan interest rate, affordable property prices, and developer offerings on new products and payment flexibility has pushed fence sitters too to take the purchase decision sooner than later," said Shishir Baijal, chairman and MD, Knight Frank India