The residential realty market has matured and sales are picking up

The quality of residential construction has improved as there is greater competition. Indian homes have become cheaper in recent times. The real estate sector has fared well so far this year compared with last year, said Anshuman Chairman, India and South East Asia, of a real estate consulting firm. In the secondary market of the major cities, the prices of the residential properties have come down. In the primary market, the prices remained unchanged in the past two years. In the affordable housing segment, the supply is finally catching up with the demand which wasn’t the case two years back. In the residential market, there has been an increase in competition which has been really good for the consumer. Quality of housing has improved due to this and this has also led to an improvement in services. A rise in the number of shopping malls is expected in the coming years. a lot of malls are still struggling and some have even shut down. This could be attributed to lower purchasing power of consumers in India. Till the time per capita income increases in India, the purchasing power in India would not go up, be it retail, housing and other segments. The upcoming malls will have to focus on the demand of that market. One of the main challenges is how to accelerate infrastructure at a faster pace. If infrastructure improves significantly, commuting can be easier and thus help bring places closer. With this high price of land it is difficult to deliver affordable housing as well as affordable office and retail space. Another challenge is going to be digitisation of land records.