Track2Realty releases Brand X Report 2015-16

News Point: In the 4^th edition of Track2Realty Brand X Report many emerging players have made their inroads as larger players lose their brand positioning. Sobha, Prestige, Godrej and Tata are brand performers of the year.

It has indeed been a challenging year for the Indian real estate sector and hence the findings of brand performance are quite interesting. The most notable trend is the fact that the brand positioning of the company and its sales figure do not necessarily reflect the consumers’ trust.

Sobha Ltd and Prestige Estates have yet again been leading the brand race, while the corporate conglomerates like Godrej and Tata have further strengthened their brand upsurge. Another corporate group Mahindra Lifespaces is also picking up in its standing as a credible real estate developer.

Overall it has been the year of companies like Sobha, Prestige, Godrej, Tata and Oberoi and they are clearly the brand winners of the fiscal year. The outstanding brand performer of the year has clearly been Sobha Limited which has beaten everyone to emerge on top as a National Brand; Top South Indian Brand; Top Residential Brand; Top Super Luxury Brand; and, more importantly, voted as Most Trustworthy Brand by the Consumers in a pan-India survey.

The company has left its footprint in almost every segment that it operates. Even in terms of the Employer Brand in the business, they are second only to Godrej which has a long corporate legacy of professionalism.

However, the roads ahead and challenges for Sobha are not over and the margin of difference is not much. It is no longer like DLF being the market leader and others way behind it. Players like Prestige Estate, Embassy, Brigade or Puravankara are continuously striving to dethrone the market leader, Sobha.

If the fiscal year 2014-15 was witness to the emergence of regional players on the national map, the year 2015-16 has been no different. The South Indian developers have yet again been the brand performers. As a matter of fact, five companies from South Indian markets among the Top 10 indicates that the year has been witness to brand consolidation.

The jury verdict this year is loud & clear: the developers who are committed to transparency and fair trade practices are the ones to gain consumer satisfaction and are hence scaling up to the brand index. The South Indian real estate has indeed been the market to watch out for as far as the consumer trust and best practices in the sector are concerned.

The reality in today’s market, on the contrary, makes realty major by market size DLF slipping to 3^rd position as the National Brand. Size alone is not defining the brand trustworthiness in today’s real estate market. The study noted that DLF could no longer afford to live in denial with market realities. They may be living in the glory of having delivered millions of square feet in the last few decades but then this self-certification is definitely not a brand differentiator today. Though they are still Number One Brand in North India, Office Space segment and Retail segment but clearly nowhere near their past glory now.

It is not that only DLF has lost its cutting edge. As a matter of fact, there are very many larger developers who till a few years back were dominating the market but are nowhere in the Top 10 list today.

Brand leadership appears to be a fiercely competitive battle zone now. Year after the year a couple of brands force their way into the elite league. This year Brigade makes it to Top 10 National Brand for the first time. Puravankara is also rising very steady and is a brand to watch out.

Even some of the regional brands like Lodha in Mumbai or ATS in Delhi-NCR are knocking the leadership doors very hard. The steady performance of SARE Homes suggests this is one brand worth watch out.

Another outstanding performer of the year is Mumbai-based Omkar Realtors & Developers which has not only improved its brand positioning in the Western region but also proved to be a branded player in the Super Luxury segment.

This fiscal year the biggest upheaval has been noticed in North India where two new players, Ambience and Mahagun, have made their entry into the Top 10. At the same time, some prominent names like Jaypee Group, Wave, M3M and IREO failed to make it to the leadership chart. Developers like Emaar MGF or Unitech are already out of the leadership race in this region.

Another segment where major changes were noticed has been Redevelopment space. Players like Wadhwa Group, Rustomjee and Rohan Lifespaces could make it to Top 10 this fiscal year.

This fourth edition of Track2Realty Brand X Report also gives an insight on the overall performance of the sector in the last few years. This is because for the first time we have introduced a new feature where we are tracing the historical journey of the brands. It is now easier to navigate the performance of the companies not only in this fiscal year but in the historical perspective as well.

300 pages Track2Realty Brand X Report 2015-16 has been released and the copies are available for sale. Interested parties can book their orders with marketing@track2media.com