2017 was an eventful year for real estate in India. GST and demonetization impacted the real estate market greatly and then RERA came into effect, bringing a sea change into the Indian realty market. The big question now is that whether 2018 will usher in a revival of the real estate market in the country. RERA has now made it compulsory for developers to register their projects with regulatory authorities prior to marketing the same. Surveys were conducted by several experts and most people feel that markets like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune will be the major cities where there will be swift growth in real estate sales volumes. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata are also forecasted to do decently thereafter. Bangalore may witness a fast appreciation in property prices followed by Pune and Hyderabad.
A whopping 72% developers may launch new projects in Bangalore over the next 6 months while there may be 70% developers launching projects in Hyderabad and Pune. However, new launches have declined in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. Affordable housing is set to be the biggest market trend for 2018 and 45% of developers may be launching affordable housing projects. 34% of developers may focus on mid-range projects as well.
82% of customers in India now feel that RERA will offer greater transparency and accountability. Going forward, this will boost the real estate sector with higher consumer confidence. The regulation will bring in more investments as experts felt that RERA may lead to more FDI in the sector on account of a more organized framework and greater transparency in all business dealings. Around 41% of developers feel that GST has not made their operations uncomplicated while 38% of developers feel that GST impact in the long run may or may not be positive. Looking at all these survey results, one can assume that real estate may witness a slight revival of sorts in 2018 although this will be limited to a few cities which are witnessing growth.
