Housing Sales In Major Cities Soar By 50 Per Cent In 2018 But Liquidity Crunch Continues To Haunt The Market

The Indian real estate market seems to be on the path to recovery, with housing sales jumping by close to 50 per cent in 2018 across major cities, reports Mint. Stable prices and an upsurge in demand for affordable apartments are credited for the growth, but a continued strong upward trajectory is doubtful due to the ongoing liquidity crunch.

Experts on the property market believe that the Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) liquidity crisis that has taken hold of the economy is likely to dampen growth prospects in the sector in the first half of 2019. The sector could witness renewed growth in the second half of next year provided the NBFC situation is improved and the GST rate on under-construction housing is reduced.

Data from JLL India shows housing sales rising by 47 per cent in 2018 across seven cities, while PropTiger showed growth of 25 per cent in nine cities. Compliance with the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act (RERA) has also been improving with more than 20 operational Tribunals and 35,000 registrations of construction projects till now.

However, lakhs of home buyers are still left battling developers whose projects have defaulted, such as Amrapali, Jaypee group and Unitech. Long litigation fights are ongoing in these cases.

The commercial real estate sector has also been on an upward trajectory during 2018, with the co-working space generating immense interest from corporates. Net leasing of office space has risen by 16 per cent to 33.3 million square feet in 2018, reports JLL India.