'Home launches plunge 78% in 2017 from 2010 peaks over Rera, GST reforms'

Findings part of a study done by Knight Frank

Reforms like the Rera and GST and also the note-bank impact led to a steep decline in home launches in 2017, which plunged a full 78 per cent, say a survey.

According to a study by property consultants Knight Frank, homes launches in 2017 plummeted by staggering 78 per cent 1,03,570 units. In the peak of the realty boom in 2010 saw as much as 4,80,424 units being launched.

New launches across the eight key metros of Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, declined 41 per cent in the second half of 2017 to 40,832 units from 68,702 units in the same period in 2016.

"By the end of 2017, the residential sector had shrunk to a fraction of its size in less than a decade. Nevertheless the near-standstill triggered by the note-ban seems to have tapered with time," Knight Frank India chairman Shishir Baijal said in the report.

During the second half of the year gone-by, Hyderabad recorded the steepest fall at 84 per cent. The other IT/ITeS dominated markets like Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai fell by 58, 37 and 33 per cent, respectively, compared to the same period in 2016.

Sales declined marginally to 1,07,316 units in the second half of 2017 from 1,09,159 in the comparable period in 2016. But from the sales peak of 2011 when 3,68,568 units were sold, this is a step decline of 62 per cent in 2017 at 2,28,072 units.

"Select markets wherein Rera has matured, have seen developers re-launch projects at attractive prices which led to an uptick in sales in 2017. This strategic switch by developers led to a price reduction in most markets. It's a buyers' market today and, we hope the momentum holds steady in the near future," Baijal added.

The report notes that for the first time, the sector witnessed price correction in 2017. "The Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune saw prices falling by 2-7 per cent, while in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad this was 2 and 3 per cent, respectively," it said.

In case of office space, new completions increased 7 per cent in 2017 to 32.7 million sqft compared to 30.7 million sqft in 2016, but not at par with demand.

"Supply grew 13 per cent to 12.5 million sqft compared to 11.1 million sqft in 2016, and the report blamed the headwinds in the technology sector and supply crunch for this subdued growth".