Real Estate: Affordable housing did well despite demonetisation; RERA will boost confidence

Year 2016 was a mixed year for developers and discerning buyers, though the announcement of the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) brought a huge cheer to the industry in 2017. It has been a year for the end-users, while investors have largely kept away from the market. A lot of launches, therefore, have specifically targeted the end users — offers on the booking amounts, and stretched payment schemes have only sweetened the deals further, leading to good traction in sales.

In the first half of the year, the residential resale market fared very well, with a lot of end-users looking for ready to move-in options. This also played well for buyers, who are averse to risk related to the product quality, and project possession timelines.

The international properties market fared well in 2016 – Brexit provided an excellent opportunity for Indians to invest in the UK market. The benefit is not only with regards to the capital values, but the rental yields in these markets that are pretty exciting too, with markets like Manchester and Liverpool offering yield as high as 5-6 percent.

Across the country, the domestic markets have done well in the affordable segment. Effects of demonetization has shown largely on the luxury property market, primarily at the city centers; however, leading brands that cater to the affordable segments continue to do well. With regards to specific affordable micro-markets, affordability also comes with a range of amenities. Here the product is not much of a differentiator, however, the location is; MMR and NCR are good examples of such micro-markets.

In any other micromarket though, that has a mix of premium and affordable segment- parameters for affordability could be smaller sized homes, singular tower, fewer amenities, up to G+10 apartments. These products are existent in Tier II/Tier III and other metro cities like Bengaluru.

Some of the popular locations that have shown promise amongst other clusters are Thane (MMR), Gurgaon (NCR) and ORR (Bengaluru). There existing infrastructure, and an ongoing facelift shall see a lot more dynamics in the following residential clusters:

Thane (MMR): Thane has evolved as an excellent option for investment in the MMR. All support infrastructure like healthcare, education, retail and entertainment are within the cluster. With its existing infrastructure supported by accessibilities to all important clusters through roadways and rail, Thane has emerged as one of the most preferred destinations to invest in the MMR.

Gurgaon (NCR): One can look at Golf Course Road Sector 56, Golf course extension Sector 61, 66 and sector 67 and Sohna road sector 48, as most of the apartments in these locations come with a club, exciting retail, swimming pools, etc. Highlights of the location include vicinity to good schools and medical facilities. With rapid metro and widening of Golf Course Road, commuting and future appreciation is guarded.

ORR (Bengaluru): There are key micro markets adjoining ORR that have excellent support and Social infrastructure like Sarajapur Road, Bellandur, Panthur, Marathahalli, Haralur road and Mahadevapura that are highly preferred by IT employees. They are also well-connected with the other important clusters in Bangalore. Properties on main road of ORR location are very close to Leading IT tech-parks, like ECO Space, Embassy Tech Village, Prestige Tech Park, Salarapuria Soft Zone, Cessna Business Park and also surrounded with shopping malls

The real estate market looks extremely promising for the next year. The stage is now set for RERA to reinstate the much-needed confidence in the realty market. It is bound to instil immense positivity and confidence through its transparency and control mechanism.

[Source:-Firstpost]