Residential project launches back on track

With the betterment of consumer sentiment and construction activities getting back on track, numerous developers across the country have decided to launch projects in the upcoming quarters. To recover from the Covid-19 outbreak, Prestige Estates, a Bengaluru based firm, has planned to start seven residential projects of over Rs 1,000 crore across south India during the second and third quarter of 2020-21. The company aims at creating feasible housing projects for the mid-income population of south India will enable the company to not only get its growth rate back on track but increase the sales numbers in the second quarter as much as more than double that of the previous quarter, as reported.  According to the Rajendra Joshi, CEO-Residential Business, Brigade Group, the demand for residential projects by bigger brands like Brigade will not cease to exist even in these difficult times. Thus, despite deferring a couple of their residential projects, the Brigade Group has decided to relaunch them in the second and third quarters. These projects are located in Bengaluru and Hyderabad and are worth Rs 1,000 crores. New projects will be launched once the pandemic pans out.  Anarock Property consultants strongly believe that branded players may amass approximately 75-80 percent of market share and that consolidation in the residential real estate sector is expected to make headway, despite a 56% decrease in residential launches in the first half of 2020 compared to 2019’s second half and a 49% fall in sales. With an investment of around Rs 3,000 crore, Puravankara has lined up 11 projects in FY21, out of which three have been launched recently. It was reported that their recent project gathered good traction in terms of bookings as well as inquiries. Consumers have begun to look for projects that will satisfy their post-pandemic needs, thus leading to an uptick in the demand for the same. With this, the Bengaluru based firm has marked their reentry into the Mumbai market. Having around 15 million square feet of launches planned in FY21, Godrej Properties are waiting for regulatory approvals, along with being cautious about the current dynamic market environment. On the other hand, Mumbai based Oberoi Realty Developers are eagerly looking forward to Diwali for launching their projects. As reported, Sobha’s upcoming residential projects have a total built-up area of 14.36 million square feet located across nine cities. They’re of the opinion that demand is slowly being revived from the Covid-19 situation back to the pre-pandemic levels. The reasons cited for this uptick since the last six months are the availability of completed units, the ‘work from home’ imperative and most importantly, a reduction in interest rates of home loans, according to the managing director of capital markets and residential business at CBRE India, Gaurav Kumar. The signs of revival are visible across all metro cities vis-à-vis the increasing sales digits in the mid-market segment. The managing director of fund management company ASK Property Investments Advisors, Amit Bhagat is of the opinion that developers need to be utterly cautious as the demand will increase gradually, thus it is advisable for them to plan launches in the second quarter of 2020-21 for affordable and mid-segment housing. To avoid overdependence on cash flows from pre-sales, it will be economical to do a financial closure with tied up construction finance.  Meanwhile, in a bid to boost the stagnant real estate market in Maharashtra, affected due to the COVID-19, the state government has reportedly decided to reduce stamp duty on housing units from 5 to 2 per cent until December 31, 2020.Global alternative investment manager, Brookfield Asset Management,  has recently taken over reality developer Penensula Land’s equity stake in its premium project, Salsette 27 in Mumbai.