Modi magic: Realtors expect revival in property market

Hailing clear majority for Narendra Modi-led BJP in the polls, real estate experts on Friday said a stable government at the Centre will help revive the property market.

Investor sentiment will improve in the realty market leading to rise in housing and office space demand, they said.

"The formation of a stable government not dependent on coalition partners will hopefully mean faster decision making and economic reforms. If GDP growth picks up, one of the early beneficiaries would be the real estate industry," CBRE South Asia Chairman & MD Anshuman Magazine said.

Knight Frank India Chairman & Managing Director Shishir Baijal said the economic and political stability would act as a catalyst for revival of the real estate sector in India.

Hailing the election outcome, realtors apex body CREDAI Chairman Lalit Jain said: "We have a huge expectation from the new government as Modiji has demonstrated good governance in Gujarat".

Jain said the sentiments would immediately improve and that will drive the property market. "We expect efficiency in approval process and easier bank funding which are the two major concerns for the industry."

The realty sector has been facing a huge slowdown in demand over last few years due to high interest rates on home loans and lower economic growth.

Parsvnath Chairman Pradeep Jain said: "We are optimistic about the reform and changes this government will bring in to boost the economy. For the real estate in particular, we firmly believe that the sector will be given industry status this time which will ease all fund inflow."

Magazine said, meanwhile, that "economic fundamentals have to be tackled, infrastructure projects implemented with a sense of urgency and housing mortgage interest rates have to decline before we would see any significant impact on the real estate market".

Global property consultant JLL India Chairman & Country Head Anuj Puri said that in order to boost affordable housing, the new government may look at helping on quicker land acquisition, faster approvals, easy and low cost funding availability and better infrastructure.

Cushman & Wakefield Executive Managing Director (South Asia) Sanjay Dutt said: "A stable government will lift the sentiments of the investor community who form a dominant role which will impact housing and office sales. Hence, both end-users and investors are also expected to increase their investments in the sector and contribute to its growth."

Consultant DTZ Chief Executive Anshul Jain said the demand is expected to pick up in the latter half of this year.

"Next 5–6 quarters are expected to be the game changers. Availability of funds will ease and interest rates are expected to come down as inflation cools. This will have a direct impact on the supply side of the real estate," he added.