THE GERA PUNE RESIDENTIAL REALTY REPORT THE YARDSTICK FOR PUNE REALTY VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 1 | JUL - DEC 2019
CONTENTS
FOREWORD 4
INVENTORY OVERVIEW 7
NEW LAUNCHES 9
DEMAND AND SUPPLY GAPS 13
CYCLE ANALYSIS 15
PRICES 18
AFFORDABILITY 20
10 SUB MARKETS WITH MAXIMUM PRICE CORRECTION 22
HOME SIZES 23
SALES OVERVIEW 24
INVENTORY OVERHANG 26
INVENTORY VALUE AND SQUARE FEET 27
BREAKUP OF THE MARKET BY JURISDICTION (PMRDA, PMC, PCMC) 30
CONCLUSION 32
ANNEXURES 33
APPENDIX 34 The Gera Pune Residential Realty Report | Volume 9 | Issue 1 | Jul - Dec 2019
FOREWORD
ROHIT GERA MANAGING DIRECTOR GERA DEVELOPMENTS PRIVATE LIMITED
The real estate industry prior to RERA used to be highly forgiving and flexible.
When it came to rules and approvals, developers did not have any deterrent to build following the rules, often leading to illegal construction affecting customers years later. Today development control rules are meticulously studied by customers with RERA giving transparency to customers, further, courts have come down heavily on illegal construction by developers. In addition to the development control rules, other laws governing development including those around the environment are now essential to follow meticulously.
In the past finance was easily available and rolling over debt, ever-greening of loans, moving money from one project to the next land parcel were all considered as standard industry practices for a large number of developers. Today, loan rollovers are virtually impossible, fiscal discipline is mandatory and RERA ensures funds cannot be taken out of the project. In case of default, use of construction finance for other uses is now considered a serious, often criminal offense.
In a buoyant market, the herd mentality around the product led to every developer imitating the next if the project did well. Today, customers are more discerning, they will not accept a mediocre product, the wrong product in the wrong location with the wrong specifications or pricing can cause a project to flop and expensively so. Successful product launches now are a product of deep understanding about the market based on customer needs and how much a customer trusts the developer.
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Customers are no longer willing to buy homes from any developer. Those with a track record are finally getting rewarded with early stage sales driven by high demand from customers. The developers who took customers for granted and did not invest on customer service and product quality have been emphatically relegated to the sidelines.
As a result of all these changes, many developers are facing an existential threat.
However, in the midst of all this change, there is a positive story that is developing. Developers who have adapted to the new order are being rewarded by customers with buoyant sales and price premiums. Finally customers have turned discerning, punishing those who have taken them for granted while rewarding those who have been customer focused.
The turn around in the market is visible from the perspective of the increases in new inventory added. Developer confidence seems to be returning with launches in the premium, premium plus and luxury segments.
Affordability has also increased substantially at 3.71 times annual income. This is certainly a strong increase in purchasing power. This is perhaps one of those lucky periods where customers with purchasing power have access to homes built by genuine developers with a strong track record and governance standards.
The stressful situation for a large number of developers is real, but it is due to customers moving en masse to quality developers and has little correlation with other narratives doing the rounds. What was earlier a commodity market has clearly transformed into a discerning consumer market in short span of time.
The stress can be explained by looking at the minimum number of projects that it took to sell 10,000 homes over the last few years. In 2017, it took 40 projects with the highest sales per project to cumulatively sell 10,000 homes. By 2019, that number has dropped to 17 projects. This means in 2017, the projects with the
5 The Gera Pune Residential Realty Report | Volume 9 | Issue 1 | Jul - Dec 2019
highest sales had an average sale of 250 homes in the year, however by 2019, this average has increased to 588 homes. This trend continues to show up to sales of 30,000 homes.
Essentially this means while some developers have grown their market share and taken a larger share of the sales, what is left to sell is divided over more developers, thereby leaving many developers in a bad shape.
The other impact is that discerning customers with a good credit rating have moved to these top developers while customers with a weak credit history have no other choice but to buy from other developers with an equally weak credit rating leading to a magnified impact. So there is a weeding out not only at the supply end but also at the demand end.
The sector seems poised at a cross road. We have seen an increase in supply that is more than the demand. If the union budget brings in any incentives for purchasing of homes through demand stimulation incentives, the industry could see a big change for the positive for many more developers. If however this doesn’t happen, the prolonged stress can lead to many more fatalities along the way leading to further consolidation of the sector.
ROHIT GERA
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INVENTORY OVERVIEW
Project launches accelerate by ~12% in the last 6 months. Gross inventory at a lifetime high.
FIG. 1 - INVENTORY OVERVIEW FIG 1 INVENTORY OVERVIEW 336186 350000 325843 3490 304905 3630 305689
3312 3557 292842 3525 300000 89887 240432 2683 104452 210094 250000 86900 79760
2335 104565
200000 165650 1813 67181 55337
150000 41329
100000 Total Residential Units
50000 0 0 1 1
Dec 12 Dec 13 Dec 14 Dec 15 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 Dec 19
Sold Stock (% of total stock) Inventory for Sale (no of units) No of Projects Total Stock
Total inventory is at an all time high, however number of projects at 3490 is still 5% below peak of 3733 in June 17 – indicates increase in the average size of project.
The inventory for sale has also risen after falling since June ’17 indicating supply outstripping demand.
The total number of units under development had reached a peak level of 327,670 units in Jun ’17. Since then, on account of a reduction in new project launches, the total inventory contracted for next 2 years and finally rebounded by ~3% to 301,731 units in Jun ’19 from 292,842 in Dec ’18. In Dec ’19 it grew further by
7 The Gera Pune Residential Realty Report | Volume 9 | Issue 1 | Jul - Dec 2019
~12% to 336,186 units surpassing the peak in Jun ’17. This suggests that the market has accelerated in the last six months in terms of construction activity. From a peak inventory available for sale at 107,402 apartments in Jun ’16 the inventory available for sale currently stands at 89,887 apartments. Inventory available for sale grew by ~12% as well over Jun ’19 (when it was 80,062 units). However, inventory levels are down by 16% to 89,887 units in Dec ‘19 from the Jun ‘16 peak.
Since the implementation of RERA, number of live projects in Pune has reduced from the peak of 3,733 projects in Jun ’17 to 3,490 in Dec ’19. As of Dec ’19, the total number of projects on hold (where work has commenced and presently stopped) has reached 249 (the figure of 3,490 live projects excludes these 249 projects). These 249 projects consist of 40,023 apartments and based on our prior data, 23,466 apartments are sold. This means approximately ~24,000 families are stuck with incomplete projects at present.
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NEW LAUNCHES
New Launches at a 4-year high
At a city level, new launches have increased significantly by 37% (FIG 2). This indicates optimism amongst the developer community. As highlighted above, there is an overall increase of 37% in new launches (99,541 apartments launched in the 12 months ended Dec ’19 compared to the 72,503 launched in the 12 months ended Dec ‘18). Due to this increase, new launches have hit a 48-month-high (it was at 93,978 units in the 12 months ended 2016). FIG NEW UNITS LAUNCHED FIG.(Number 2 - NEWof units) UNITS LAUNCHED (Number of units)
124000
11 1 1 104000