The low consumer confidence has been linked as much to peoples’ lack of confidence in their own ability to pay as with the employment uncertainties. Collectively, the buyers’ risk aversion in today’s economy as well as the developers’ unfair business practices have eclipsed real estate like never before.
In this sixth year of gauging the public perception for Track2Realty BrandXReport 2017-18, what comes out as no surprise is the fact that Bangalore-based Sobha Limited continues to be undisputed market leader as far as commanding public perception is concerned.
A closer look at the given developer, Gaursons and the market that it operates in, clearly suggests that the sales figure is definitely not reflective of higher consumer confidence in the market that is notorious for the lack of best practices.
The Indian real estate market is not a single homogenous entity. There are seven major metro markets, each behaving differently, with different supply and demand dynamics. There are many different verticals within real estate – residential, commercial, retail, hospitality – and within those there are segments focused on different customer bases. With so many permutations, there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer. The urban southern markets in commercial office sector, has seen consecutive years of positive sentiment, take up and consequently rental growth.
Track2Realty Exclusive:Following nearly two years of sub-5% growth due to currency volatility, high inflation and fiscal deficits, poor investment and market sentiment scenario, India’s economy bounced back with a growth rate of 5.7% during the April–June period of FY 2014–15, up from 4.6% in the preceding quarter. With business prospects improving across key sectors, the economy is expected to display further improvements in the next quarter.
Track2Realty Exclusive: When we conceptualised the idea of having a jury to rate and rank the realty companies, added with our conducting a pan-India survey to understand what shapes the brand perception of real estate companies and how the leading companies fare on the given parameter, we felt something is still missing in our analysis.
Home buyers point out that it is not only lengthy litigation that defeats their cause but also the fact that the builder continues to challenge the orders of the District Commission in higher courts. Over and above that the builder can also file multiple false cases against the harassed home buyers. The home buyers hence demand that the way NCDRC admits the challenged judgment of the State Commissions on a case-to-case basis, the State Commissions should also adopt the same practice.
Projects worth INR 4,64,300 crore for a total of 575,900 units are already significantly behind schedule. These 5,75,900 units have been stuck since 2013 or before. However, what is even more disturbing than these staggering number is the fact that in many of the states RERA has been diluted to the extent that it allows the erring developers with the existing projects to get away with the fault lines.
REITs or Real Estate Investment Trusts might be the most debated and expected development in the Indian real estate, but a majority of Indians are yet not convinced how will it operate. Even more in number are questioning the opinion of experts as far as its lucrative ROI (Return on Investment) is concerned. The Indians believe given the market uncertainties REITs won’t be the game changer for the Indian real estate, unless the returns are really tempting.
The Consumer Confidence Report 20:20 finds that the developers who have been focused on the buyers with quality projects and meaningful dialogue have been rated higher by the consumers at a pan-India level.