Will Rera, festive season boost India's realty sector?

At least 50,000 units of new residential property are set to come up over the next three years

With as many as 125,000 residential units up for sale over the next three years, the struggling realty sector is hoping for a combined boost from implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera), positive market sentiment and the coming festive season.

“There is massive demand for housing all over India and the government aims to meet this by 2022.

"Developers are responding by launching affordably priced projects.

"The new launches have seen a steady increase in the past couple of quarters, primarily driven by projects below Rs 6 million ticket price,” said Santhosh Kumar, vice-chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants.

At least 50,000 units of new residential property are set to come up over the next three years (another 74,000-odd) are supposed to be ready but yet to find buyers).

Experts say a trust deficit was earlier caused by developers not delivering on time and building units that were not sized well but this is fading away.

Most of the new projects coming up are from developers able to and pass the stringent Rera regulations.

“Now, mostly trusted developers are launching optimal-sized projects, in a regulated environment,” said Sharad Mittal, head, real estate funds, at brokerage Motilal Oswal.

Sector experts say the inventory available in the market includes units where delivery was delayed.

“If we take out those long-delayed projects, we will realise that available stock to buyers is not high. Multiple schemes launched by governments to promote affordable housing has also made developers go back to the drawing board and launch smaller-sized apartments,” said J C Sharma, vice-chairman at Bengaluru-based realty major Sobha.

Newly launched projects, it is estimated, will take three to four years for completion.

By then, a lot of the ready-to-move-in supply will have been absorbed.

“Also, newer launches would help keep prices in check. So, developers with ready-to-move-in units will have to reduce prices or offer some freebies in projects which are not selling,” added Kumar.

The industry is also banking on the festive season, to begin late August (and on to February).

“This season will definitely be better than the previous ones of the past three years. The market has changed a lot for the better and buyers are again willing to make purchase decisions in the right projects.

"Most of the confusion related to Rera and GST (goods and services tax) have also settled – this is expected to encourage buyers to consider new launches and under-construction projects,” said Kumar.

Photograph: Reuters