Real estate sales are falling. There has been a 50 per cent
rise in unsold housing inventory between June 2012 and December 2014. The top
six markets - Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR),
Delhi-National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR) and Pune - have nearly seven lakh
unsold units, according to Liases Foras, a real estate research fi rm.
Is real estate losing its title as the most-preferred asset
among Indians? The answer, looking at the data, is an unequivocal yes.
Between April 2014 and March 2015, sales fell 34 per cent in
nine cities, as per data by PropTiger.com, a real estate portal. These cities
are Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida
and Pune. Only 2.20 lakh units were sold in these cities in 2014/15, compared
to 3.35 units in the corresponding period last year. Gurgaon saw the sharpest
drop in sales, 57 per cent, while Pune fared better with a drop of 19 per cent.
The trend has surprised many observers. Real estate has
always been the most sought-after asset class, given the kind of returns it has
delivered in the past. Even after the fi nancial crisis of 2008, some
residential markets saw fast growth. And, when equities bit the dust after
2008, people further increased their dependence on real estate and gold.
This rise in demand between 2009 and 2013 saw prices double
in some markets. For example, Noida Extension, one of the key markets in the
National Capital Region (NCR), prices almost doubled from Rs 1,830 per sq.ft.
to Rs 3,476 per sq.ft. between March 2010 and March 2013, as per data by
PropTiger.com. Prices in Panvel, Mumbai, rose from Rs 2,904 per sq.ft. to Rs
4,898 per sq.ft. Similarly, prices in Whitefi eld, Bengaluru, went up from Rs
2,400 per sq.ft. to Rs 4,134 per sq.ft. during the period.
But things have worsened after 2013. Since then, prices have
stagnated or declined. The asset class turned out to be second-worst performer
in 2014/15, when equities returned 25 per cent. Prices in micro markets like
Dwarka Expressway, Noida Extension, Thane, Panvel, Whitefi eld, Shollinganalur
and Dombivali rose just 1-4 per cent.
Even premium residential real estate markets were hit hard.
As per a recent report by Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate consultancy:
"Areas in South and Central Delhi such as Vasant Vihar, Defence Colony,
Jor Bagh and Golf Links have seen prices fall in the range of 15-20 per cent
since 2013. Areas like Westend, Shantiniketan, Prithviraj Road, Aurangzeb Road and
Amrita Shergill Marg have prices correct by 10-15 per cent."
Builders were expecting that a new government at the Centre
and falling interest rates will help stimulate demand, but nothing of that sort
has happened yet.
There were 2.33 lakh unsold units in NCR and 1.72 in MMR as
on December 2014, a rise of 36 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively, from
June 2012. However, it is Bengaluru that has seen the highest rise of 142 per
cent in inventory since June 2012. The city has 1.01 lakh unsold units, as per
Liases Foras.
Source Frome : http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/money-today/bargain-for-discounts-when-buying-house-realty-huge-inventories/story/219651.html
