MUMBAI: Retard in the real estate market notwithstanding, land deals in India are thriving. According to a current study, the total value of such deals, in the first three months of 2008, have touched around Rs 23,000 crore, while another Rs 10,000-crore worth deals are in the pipeline.
A study by top brokerage JPMorgan shows that Delhi-based developer BPTP’s Rs 5,000- crore land deal in Noida was the largest deal in the January-March period, while the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s land auctions in Bandra Kurla Complex had fetched around Rs 4,000 crore.
The deals in the pipeline include the Indian Railway’s fifty acres worth Rs 10,000 crore that is scheduled to be auctioned later. Also, a one hundred fifteen crore deal between the Balaji group and Prestige group is likely to be completed soon.
In Mumbai, a two hundred fiftycrore deal by Hindustan Composites is in the concluding stage, in which developers such as DLF , Kalpataru and K Raheja Corp are the lead bidders. The JPMorgan report comes at a time when it is predicted that a tightening in global liquidity and a slowdown in the economy, could put the brakes on the real estate sector which witnessed a sharp rising growth in the past two years.
As a reflection of this slowdown, developers’ plans including malls, complexes and residential projects are all being kept under wraps. Property prices and rentals have been falling which was also seen in the loss of investor interest and an erosion in the market capitalisation of large listed players such as DLF and Unitech. The slowdown is also aided by the fall in stock markets as there is now a lack of capital among investors to invest in real estate projects.