With large project launches and offers, realty players get set for a bumper festive season

• The festive season will give a further fillip to the real estate sector that’s been on an upswing all year, say experts.
• Most developers expect this year’s festive sales to be anywhere between 10-20% higher than last year.
• More large-sized projects were launched by developers to gain from the festive mood.
  

Indian real estate players are witnessing bumper festive season sales, with new launches, offers and more. The auspicious festive season generally sees almost a quarter of annual home sales. And, it seems to have gotten off to a good start.

According to Knight Frank, the property registrations in the first nine days of Navratri were 37% higher than the last year in Mumbai with 4,594 registrations. Experts expect all the top seven metro cities to see a strong sales growth in the season that extends through mid-October to mid-December.

The consumer sentiment has already been strong this year. The first nine months of 2023, home sales touched 91% of 2022 annual sales across the top seven cities. This is the highest it has been since 2008, according to JLL.

“With sales volumes holding strong so far this year, moderately increasing property price and stable policy interest rate would serve as the key catalysts for the housing market for the remainder of this year,” said Shishir Baijal, CMD of Knight Frank India.

Developers already witnessing a surge

Real estate developers have been looking forward to the festive season to hit top gear in sales. Ramani Sastri, CMD of Sterling Developers said that they are expecting a significant growth this year. “As we approach the festive season, we are already witnessing a surge in inquiries and we are expecting around 20% growth compared to last year’s festive season,” he added.

Lincoln Bennet Rodrigues, chairman & founder of The Bennet & Bernard Company said that there is an over 8-10% increase in the number of properties being purchased or booked. “During this time of the year, 30-40% of our annual sales occur. Needless to say, as a developer, we are looking forward to the upcoming festive days,” he added.

To gain from the sentiment, developers have stepped up on new launches too. As per Anarock Research, as many as 711 residential projects comprising approximately 1.16 lakh units were launched across the top seven cities in Q3 2023.

In the same period last year, 701 projects were launched comprising 93,290 units. “While the difference between the number of projects launched in both the periods was not very significant, the number of units launched in Q3 2023 was at least 24% more than Q3 2022. Thus, the underlying trend is that this year in Q3 2023, many large-size projects were launched,” Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Group told Business Insider India.

More launches with schemes

The festive quarter is expected to see even more launches. Last year, during the festive quarter of October to December (Q4 2022) as many as 93,000 units were launched across the top seven cities. “This year, we may see at least 10-15% yearly growth which means it will again be above one lakh units,” said Puri.

Most developers are also sweetening the pot with schemes, incentives and discounting to push more sales for the festivals.

“These promotional offers encompass free modular kitchens, furniture, flexible payment plans, GST and stamp duty waivers, as well as giveaways like gold coins, cars, and even international trips,” says Swapnil Anil, executive director & head of advisory at Colliers India. Banks too are upping their ante with Low EMI Schemes, Fixed EMI Schemes, and Attractive Interest Rates and more say experts.

The real estate sector has been on an upswing since the pandemic and festive period has re-energised it, with people willing to buy or upgrade their homes. Unlike other sectors, where the post-pandemic boom effects are fading away, the property market is only going from strength to strength.

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