Home Buyers back in the Real Estate market after a long lull : NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BANGALORE: Builders in the National Capital Region were pleasantly surprised to see potential homebuyers thronging their site offices over the weekend, reminding them of the situation 12-18 months ago, before the fortunes of the housing sector began to decline. Some friendly measures in the budget for 2014-15 announced last week, the general improvement in sentiment after a stable government came to power in May and a rising stock market have brought back hope in the real estate market. Property brokers and experts say home sales have improved, though moderately, by 5-10% over the past two months. With fear and uncertainty receding, customers are coming back, said Samarjit Singh, managing director of IndiaHomes, a real estate brokerage firm that has offices across the country . Till about two months ago, customers were not even willing to have a conversation, he added. What is also contributing to this positivity is the subdued rise in property prices over the past few quarters and improving affordability among buyers, especially in the mid-income segment. A big driver for the housing market is a sense of job security among buyers, which is back to quite an extent, said Keki Mistry, vice chairman and CEO of HDFC, Indias biggest mortgage lender. The sense we are getting from builders is that enquiries are increasing. Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director, south Asia at property advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield said there might not be a surge in home sales soon but an improvement in job confidence could help drive one before long. With the new government and a good budget, there is expectation of investments in various old and new businesses that will create jobs and improve consumption across the country . Rising office space leasing by companies for expansion of their businesses and a buoyant stock market have already perked up sentiment. Eventually, profit booking in equities will start to reflect positively on real estate sales, said Dutt. The increase in the deduction limit for interest on loan for self-occupied properties from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh in the budget may not be the only trigger, but it has certainly enthused buyers. It helps in improving affordability for those who are looking at buying a house, said Pankaj Kapoor, managing director of property research firm Liases Foras. There is almost 10-15% rise in enquiries for home loans compared with the January-March quarter, said Gagan Banga, vice chairman and managing director of Indiabulls Housing Finance. Brokers in different parts of the country are surprised at the number of enquiries they have got in the months of May and June, which have traditionally been slow months for the real estate sector because people do not prefer to venture out in the heat to look at projects. But this time it was different. People wanted to see projects de spite the heat, said Abhay Khemka of Gurgaon-based real estate brokerage firm Khemka Investments and Properties. The game of real estate is about sentiment, he said.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 09:49:35 +0000