'28.5% higher area sold in Apr-Sep indicating realty revival'

As much as 14.7 million square feet of area was sold during April-September, registering a 28.8 per cent growth as compared to same period year ago, indicating a revival in the realty sector, a report said.

According to a study by Icra on the operational performance of 11 major listed realty firms, the sales value of the area booked has also improved 26.4 per cent to Rs 9,629 crore in H1FY19 compared to Rs 7,620 crore over the same period a year ago.

Also, the quarter-to-sell (QTS), which reflects the number of quarters required to sell the available inventory, declined to eight quarters in H1FY19, compared to 10 at the end of March 2018 and 14 as at the end of March 2017, the report said.

 

Icra noted that this improvement reflects better sales velocity within the sample set, while at the same time companies have been cautious towards new launches.

"Under the post-GST and The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) regime, there has been a marked shift in demand towards finished inventory and players with a proven track record of delivery thereby resulting in customers gravitating towards bigger players.

Sustained pick-up in demand coupled with steady new launches has resulted in an improvement of QTS," Icra vice president Shubham Jain said.

He noted that the customer collection trend has shown a positive trend, in-line with the sales trend.

"We believe it's a result of developers locking-in sales in the last couple of year's to push sales under schemes like possession linked plans, while focusing on deliveries," Jain added.

According to Icra, collection from customers stood at Rs 8,296 crore in H1 FY19 as compared to Rs 7,017 crore over the same period a year ago.

This growth of 18.24 per cent in collections can be attributed to the sales push observed in the earlier years where-in the collections were linked to possession-linked plans in projects that were at advanced stage of completion, it said.

The deliveries by the companies, in H1FY19 stood at 24.7 million square feet as compared 30.24 mn sqft, which was delivered in entire FY2018.

"The larger players enjoying a strong brand equity amongst the buyers will continue to benefit in the current phase of consolidation. Pick-up in new sales volume and value, declining QTS as well as growth in collections indicate that the players may be at a cusp of a plausible recovery," Jain said.

However, uncertainties pertaining to elections, rising interest rates, funding challenges and sluggishness in overall economy are some downside risks that are likely to prolong the recovery, he added.