Real estate sentiment scores at a year-high in Q4

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 27 (ANI): The 27th edition of Knight Frank-FICCI-NAREDCO real estate sentiment index Q4 2020 (October to December) survey released on Wednesday shows the current sentiment score entering optimistic zone at 54 points, marking a significant jump of 14 points over the previous quarter.

The future sentiment score also witnessed a robust surge to 65 points in Q4 from 52 points in Q3. Geographically, the western region saw the sharpest jump in future sentiment index to 66 points from 47 points.

With respect to stakeholders, both developers and non-developers including banks, non-banking finance companies and private equity funds recorded an improvement in future sentiment score in Q4.

On the macroeconomic front, 82 per cent of survey respondents opined that economy will grow further in the coming six months as opposed to 57 per cent respondents with the same view in Q3. The survey was conducted from January 7 to 14.

Similarly, the share of survey respondents with the opinion that economic health will worsen in the next six months went down substantially to 7 per cent in Q4 from 31 per cent in Q3 2020.

In terms of credit availability, 87 per cent of the Q4 2020 survey respondents believed that the funding scenario will either improve or continue to remain the same over the next six months.

Besides, 77 per cent of the Q4 survey respondents were of the opinion that residential sales will increase over the next six months, up from 66 per cent in Q3 2020.

With regards to the office market, 60 per cent of the Q4 survey respondents believed that office leasing activity will increase over the next six months.

"As we begin our journey into 2021 with a positive outlook, it is important to closely watch the performance of key economic indicators in coming months to check sustainability of growth seen in the last two quarters of 2020," said Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director of Knight Frank India.

"Equally crucial is the development of the vaccine and its widespread availability for the masses. These two factors will largely determine the performance of real estate sector in coming months," he said in a statement. (ANI)