Early signs of uptick in real esate industry

JAIPUR: After years of decline, the

real estate

project pipeline has witnessed signs of recovery with realty market research firm Grant Thornton projecting 4,500 housing units adding to the inventory in 2018.


Gathering information from secondary sources, Grant Thornton said that 7,800 housing units were built in 2013 but thereafter the new supply started falling to as low as 3,210 in 2016. The trends showed a small uptick in 2017 at 3300 units indicating initial signs of optimism by the developers.

“Most of it is now driven by affordable housing segment. After demonetization, the market went into a tailspin and whatever demand is coming of late is from actual users. Sops under Mukhya Mantri Jan Awas Yojana is attracting new buyers to the market,” said Gopal Gupta, chairman of CREDAI Rajasthan at a real estate summit organized by FICCI-Rajasthan.

In order to provide time-bound clearances to affordable housing projects, the state government last month allowed architects empanelled by urban development department to approve the building plans for projects up to 40 metre high.

In the similar vein, state chief secretary

D B Gupta

assured the builders community gathered at the event government support for affordable housing projects under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in line with the vision of ‘Housing for All by 2022’.

While RERA has brought in transparency and put a lot of safeguards for consumers, builders feel that same comfort still remains elusive for them. Before registering with RERA, developer still have to face delays in obtaining approvals and clearances.

“It almost takes two years to get all approvals in place. The delay has a big cost on the projects. If a single window clearance system is put in place for such approvals, builders can save the escalating cost which will ultimately benefit buyers in the form of reduced cost,” said a developer.

Over past couple of years, affordable housing has been a focus area for the government. Numerous policies aimed at boosting the segment and promoting private sector participation have been announced, including awarding

infrastructure

status to affordable housing, 100% deduction on profit, increasing livable area of the units and relaxing completion timelines.

But overall industry is still not out of the woods. After demonetization, RERA and GST, the sector has witnessed a defining churn in its history. To officials of Grant Thornton said that the consolidation is still not over and it will take about a year more to emerge from the current slowdown.