Real estate: ‘Organised players with strong delivery track record will gain market share’

The Indian real estate sector has been beaten down after the government’s reforms such as demonetisation to crack down on black money. There has also been confusion post implementation of Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

To discuss the implications of all the recent reforms on the developers and buyers, News18 held third edition of its Global Indian Realty Summit (GIRS) in association with St. Angelo’s VNCT Ventures in Mumbai on Thursday.

Experts say that while there could be short-term challenges for developers in transitioning to the new tax (GST) regime, long-term benefits are expected for both the developers and buyers.

“If you buy the right property with the right developer in an upcoming location today, you can make up to 15 percent returns in real estate, which in my view is equivalent to any other good asset class,” said VNCT Ventures Managing Director, Nagu Chidambaram, who was part of the expert panel at the summit.

Other experts invited to the panel were Agnelorajesh Athaide, Chairman, St. Angelo’s VNCT Ventures; Gulam Zia, Executive Director - Advisory, Retail & Hospitality, Knight Frank India; Srinivasan Gopalan, CEO, Ozone Group; Avikshit Moral, Partner, Juris Corp; and Harsh Roongta, Chartered Accountant & SEBI registered Investment adviser.

Commenting on the investment sentiment in the country, Vikram Goel, CEO, HDFC Realty said: “With salaries rising over the last 5 years and interest rates on home loans coming down, buying your own home has become very affordable. Now is a really good time for an end-user to buy property.”

RERA was rolled out from May 1 with an intention to clean up the realty sector. Experts believe that the reform is a game-changer.

“RERA is a game changer for the real estate industry and I see the next few years as the most defining ones for Indian Real Estate. Professionally-run developers like us are facing no challenges in registering our projects with RERA,” said Agnelorajesh Athaide, Chairman, St. Angelo’s VNCT Ventures.

In the long run, the reforms would ensure cleaning up of the sector and could bring about the needed consolidation. It would in fact be positive for organised players that have good delivery track record and have clean books.

Chief executive and managing director, ASK Property Investment Advisors, Amit Bhagat said: “There's a lot of consolidation still left on the industry. Non-serious players or those sitting on parcels of land hoping to become developers have given up that ambition. Branded players and developers with a strong delivery track record will grow and gain market share.”

The expert panel was also opened later giving attendees an opportunity to raise queries to the panel.

(Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.)