As many as 26.4 mn square feet of real estate space was reported to be sold in the financial year 2018. This registered a 50.1% growth over the corresponding period a year ago.
The total sales value of the overall area booked also improved to $2.4 bn in the financial year 2018 compared to $1.8 bn a year ago. This registered a growth of 35.1% for the period under consideration, according to ICRA.
Improving demand from homebuyers as well as a preference for an established real estate brand that has a proven track record of delivery has resulted in customers gravitating towards bigger players. Thanks to this, there is improvement in demand and steady new launches, said ICRA.
The operational health of the real estate sector has improved significantly during the financial year 2018 as compared to 2017, going by the key parameter changes of major listed realty players. As per an ICRA note, a key indicator in this regard is the quarter-to-sell (QTS), which acts as a reflection on the number of quarters required to sell the available inventory as well as a denominator of the real estate sector’s recovering operational health.
In FY 2018, QTS has improved to 10 quarters at the end of March 2018, from 14 quarters at the end of March 2017. This improvement is a reflection on the improving velocity of sales, according to the report.
“Notable pick-up in demand coupled with steady new launches has resulted in an improvement of QTS. In the post-RERA era, we expect the organised players to gain market share. Further, new sales outstripped new launches for the first time over the last four years ending FY 2018,” stated Manav Mahajan, assistant vice president, ICRA.