Land deals in India to drop by 20% this year

Hit by a demand slump in the residential sector, India is likely to witness around 25 per cent decline in land deals to around Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion), realty consultant Cushman & Wakefield said.

The firm also said most of the land purchases would be done by regional smaller players instead of big developers. "The market sentiment is very negative. This year we may see land deals worth Rs 15,000 crore happening across various locations in the country," Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) Executive Managing Director (South Asia) Sanjay Dutt told PTI on the sidelines of CII realty summit.   

According to C&W, India had seen land deals worth Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in 2011, he added.

Dutt said out of the expected transactions, Rs 7000-8000 crore (Rs 70-80 billion) have already taken place.

When asked about the locations, he said: "NCR and Mumbai will alone account for 60-70 per cent of the total deals, along with some top tier I cities. Some tier II cities will also witness some deals."

Most of the land purchases will be done by regional smaller players instead of big developers, he added. He further said organised players like Godrej, Mahindras and L&T will continue to purchase land as and when required.

Talking about the demand, Dutt said sales of housing units have fallen by about 30 per cent across the country in the last one year.

"Some places in Mumbai and NCR prices have gone up tremendously in the last two years. This has led to slowdown in demand," Dutt said.