Real Estate Market in India

The real estate market in India is reportedly in the saddle after the recent slump. Industry insiders say that the market is poised for a quantum leap in the coming years. They attribute a host of reasons for the new trend. In the global market, India and China are expected to register a growth of 7-10 percent. This overall economic growth of the country is bound to reflect in the real estate market which is directly linked to the growth in the national economy. There are other reasons for the new fillip in the market. Primarily, there is greater demand for residential houses, flats and apartments in India now. This is mainly due to the decline in property prices following the recent global economic downturn. Another reason for the new demand is the falling interest rates. Banks and financial institution are vying with each other offering property loans at competitive interest rates. Increase in the income level of the prospective segment has also had its sway in the growing demand. The Central Government's revised pay structure, a better paying public sector, NRI investment are some of the other contributory factors of his new trend.

As already observed, there is a new fillip in the real estate market in India now. This is mainly because middle income segment evinces more interest in buying residential units now than before. It all began with developers realizing that affordability is the sine qua non for a ready market. As middle income population forms the chunk of the prospective buyer segment, construction companies experimented with "no frills" apartment units of smaller units. Reportedly, affordable housing units have a better demand than other varieties. Now, both the listed and unlisted players are in the line of affordable houses. Among the listed players, DLF, Unitech, Puravankara, Omaxe, etc. have such housing projects at multiple locations across India. Among the unlisted group targeting the segment are the Tata Housing, Delhi-based Raheja, Mumbay-based Matheran Realty, Lodha Group, etc.

In the affordable housing sector, India property market is reported to have a major thrust in the coming years. As reported by the global real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank, across the major cities in India, there will be the need of 2 million affordable housing units in the coming years. Also it is estimated that 80 per cent of the demand for this type of units will be from the Rs.3-5 lac category. All these augur well for a market that has borne the brunt of the economic downturn and is recuperating to make new strides in the national economy.