Tag: Realtors

Business

Realtors welcome continuation of low home loan interest rates in latest RBI MPC

Dec 9, 2021 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Ar Nayan Raheja, #Dhiraj Bora, #low home loan interest rates, #Pradeep Aggarwal, #RBI MPC, #Realtors, #Uddhav Poddar

The real estate sector did not receive anything significant in the recent RBI MPC, but realtors are taking comfort in the RBI’s decision to maintain the status quo in the repo rate. According to realtors, “The apex bank is clearly confident about economic growth in the recent MPC. As the economy recovers from the pandemic, the central bank has pushed for a steady policy environment. In FY22 and FY23, a progressive unwinding of liquidity, stable energy costs, and the government’s handling of the pandemic will be critical to growth.”

Thanking the apex bank for continuing with the accommodative stance, Pradeep Aggarwal, Founder & Chairman, Signature Global Group, Chairman, ASSOCHAM, National Council on Real Estate, Housing and Urban Development, said, “The low home loan interest rate has been a crucial demand by real estate, and the RBI has helped the sector by maintaining the status quo. We would suggest that the buyers take advantage of the current situation because later prices might go upwards under the pressure of increased costs.”

The RBI maintained a low repo rate that would be helpful for the real estate sector. “We have to understand that real estate does not work alone but depends on the growth of all other sectors/industries. The accommodative stance that RBI has taken will boost the economic environment and lead to a conducive situation for the real estate sector too. Looking at the increased demand for real estate, we urge the state governments to reduce stamp duty to be a gift to the homebuyers,” said Ar Nayan Raheja of Raheja Developers.

The value of the real estate as an asset will continue for a long, and strengthen with time as the industry begins to recuperate; low home loan interest rates have worked really well for the sector. Additionally, more push is needed with support from govt. to bring back the influx of fence-sitters in the market. Navdeep Sardana, Chairman & Managing Director, Elite Landbase, said, “Since May 2020, the RBI has kept the repo rate unchanged, which is understandable. A tightened fiscal policy is counterintuitive in a time when the emphasis is on growth and spending. However, it is also a time, when a shift is needed from a number-centric fiscal approach to a more holistic and sector-specific policy roadmap. In real estate, there is a pressing need for tailormade subsidies and discounts to help the sector recover fast. We have seen how stamp duty reduction has boosted housing sales in the past and similar measures can be icing on the cake. Likewise, credit subsidies to developers and reviewing of GST on raw materials can also be highly helpful and optimize the overall housing supply chain”.

Realtors feel that though real estate needs several measures, it will be good to implement the announcements made in the last few months to achieve progress. LN Jha, Director, SKA Group, said, “As the inflation is pegged at 5% (within the safe zone of 2-6%), RBI’s decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4% was very much on the expected lines. Simultaneously, the sustenance of accommodative stance also bodes well for the emergence of a strong economy, out of the sustained revival path. With new variants being found, these are crucial times that require a high degree of monetary and fiscal support and RBI is dealing rightly with it. This decision will have a long-lasting impact in ensuring consistent growth to the entire real estate sector and its ancillaries.”

Uddhav Poddar, MD, Bhumika Group, said, “While the MPC expectedly maintained status quo on the policy rates, we would have hoped for a reduction in rates to uplift the sentiment, especially when customers have started regaining their faith back and have begun treading towards making high-end purchases. Lower EMIs play a critical role in order to rekindle demand and making real estate assets more appealing. RBI has also enhanced the transaction limit to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2 lakh for UPI payments for RBI’s Retail Direct scheme, which will be giving a significant boost to the particular segment.”

“Though we had hoped for real estate-specific announcements, we recognize that the RBI needs to focus on all sectors to achieve economic development. Maintaining the repo rate in real estate will help a lot in terms of retaining buyer sentiment. While a stable repo rate is appropriate, the necessity for industry-specific measures cannot be neglected,” said, Dhiraj Bora, Head – Marketing & Communication, Paramount Group.

Business World

Introducing India’s First Gamified Realty Sales Enablement Prop-tech Platform- KAGAAY

Nov 6, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Bankers, #Housing sector, #Investors & Buyers., #KAGAAY, #Ms. Swapna More, #real estate, #Realtors, #realty

KAGAAY – A Real Estate Sales Start-up, bootstrapped with around 20 million of investment, co-founded by Ms. Swapna More, is all set to establish their foot in the prop-tech segment with their India’s First Gamified Realty Sales Enablement platform, an app for IOS and android users. The app has already 5000+downloads and more than 100 reviews by now with a Google Play rating of 4.8. It has been designed and developed with two major perspectives in mind: The Fast Track Asset Liquidation Enablement for Realtors & Bankers and Right Price Asset Advantage for Investors & Buyers.

The impact of the novel Coronavirus on Indian real estate has been unprecedented. The Housing sector was in bad shape before the Covid-19 pandemic, which has only added to the troubles of the wounded industry. The projected loss to the Indian real estate sector is estimated to be 1 trillion INR by the end of the year. The second quarter of the year 2020 saw a severe blow of unprecedented scale in the real estate sector in particular. Property sales declined by around 80 per cent in major real estate markets of India during April and May 2020, as compared to a year before. New launches suffered a drop of 75 per cent as compared to January and March 2020. However, just like other industries, the digital transformation of the real estate sector has become the need of the hour.

Foreseeing the future; KAGAAY was launched in Nov-2019. The pandemic gave more opportunity and hence turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the realtors and buyers collaborating with KAGAAY. This app is introduced in India with an agenda of benefitting the two P’s – People and Property. KAGAAY is a sales enablement platform that ditches the discovery approach and is designed to pull in sales by reaching out to the in-market audience.

Talking about the app Ms. Swapna More Co-Founder KAGAAY said that, “KAGAAY’s unique sales enable-feature helps in boosting up the property’s sales graph by roping into our gamified prop-tech platform. Our app majorly addresses two major issues prevailing in the Real Estate Sector i.e. – A large Number of Unsold Inventory & Longer Sales Life Cycle Time with a Lesser Percentage of Confirmed Sales, which is approx. 1- 6 months to close the whole deal. Leaving the top real estate developers aside, a substantial section of players in the real estate sector constantly faces these two issues and also other problems like – financial distress, lack of execution capability, an oversupply of inventory, GST complications, excessive land banking, Lack of Understanding of the demand-supply dynamics, etc. which in turn affect their sales and marketing cycles.”

Other Salient feature of the app which makes KAGAAY a unique and one of its kind are:

• First Start-up with inbuilt facilities for providing End to End Sales Solutions to the Realty Industry

• An interactive platform between Buyers and Sellers.

• Quality affordable and luxury residential, commercial and land/options to the general public at the right prices.
• 100% Digital App-based. Submission of Applications will be ‘On-Line’.

• It’s a comprehensive sales engine for realty withdraws of lots, flash sales, and e-auction, the first in India.

All the sales enablement drives which include the draw of lots, flash sales, e-auction, etc. all will be conducted online by App on the system-generated selection method and there will be NO HUMAN INTERVENTION during the entire process, from application to the declaration of result.

KAGAAY’s Unique Offerings for Investors:

• Mega Draw: The traditional draw of lots, blended with care, for the realty industry.

• Flash Sale: The advantage of high volume sales tailor-made for high-value assets like Residential flats, commercial offices, land, and buildings.

• E-Auction: Placed under the hammer for easier and faster liquidation for the realtors and bankers as well as price-savvy, authenticity-conscious realty investors or buyers.

• Virtual Expo: Enhancing visibility for the assets in times where physical mobility is advised mitigation for the greater good of humankind.

Business World

Unchanged repo rate, Realtors rely on high consumer confidence

Oct 10, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Amit Jain, #Harvinder Singh Singh Sikka, #kushagr ansal, #Rajat Goel, #Raman Gupta, #Realtors, #Vikas Bhasin

The RBI today kept the repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged at 4% and 3.35% respectively. The Apex Bank also announced on-tap TLTRO for Rs 1 trillion at 4% till March 2021 and will conduct OMO worth Rs 20,000 crore next week. The RBI governor also announced that the RBI will take steps that will infuse liquidity to improve financial conditions. With the optimism of RBI for a strong rebound of the GDP and inflation to ease to projected target by Q4 of FY’21, real estate sector too is upbeat about economic growth. Prateek Mittal, Executive Director, Sushma Group, said, “At this time when the buyers are seeking stable investment options, real estate sector with low-interest rates emerges as the safest investment proposition and the all-time low repo rate is adding impetus to the same.”

Uddhav Poddar, MD, Bhumika Group & Founding Member, SCAI, said, “The real estate sector is badly affected due to the pandemic, and it needs support from the banks. One of the biggest issue with some of the realtors is the liquidity issue, and we hope RBI will address it as it has announced to take steps to ease liquidity. One of the announcements that are beneficial for the sector is that the new housing loans to be linked to LTV only. We hope that the buyers will take advantage of the situation and realize their dream of owning a home.”

The realtors feel that the RBI should have made some announcement to improve liquidity in the real estate sector, as many developers are facing the heat after COVID-19 led to complete shutdown of operations. Nagaraju Routhu, CEO, Hero Realty, said, “Decision of the RBI to keep repo rates unchanged is along expected lines. RBI’s commentary on the economy gives hope for the revival of the real estate sector in the coming quarters. The sector, however, needs handholding by the Government and the RBI to tide over this difficult period. Measures to boost liquidity for the sector are urgently needed. The optimism about economic growth cannot ignore the needs of the common man who is still in ‘cautious spending’ mode. The good part is that the real estate sector is getting attention by the buyers as they have realized the safety of real estate asset, but they do look towards sops from the government that can help them in realizing their dream of owning a home.”

Ashish Bhutani, MD & CEO, Bhutani Infra, said, “The bank should have taken into consideration the need for liquidity. The apex bank has also talked about improving liquidity in the market, which will have a direct bearing on the real estate too. Like the RBI we too are optimistic about the economic growth. Having said that we were hoping for announcements that can specifically talk about various sectors and how banks are going to help improve growth. However, we are upbeat as the consumer sentiment is high, especially after they witnessed the brittle nature of other investment vehicles as against real estate.”

Saying that the decision to keep the repo & reverse repo rate unchanged underpins the accommodative policy by the government alongside reining the inflation rate, Ankit Kansal, Founder & MD, 360 Realtors, pointed out “This should have an overall positive impact on the recovering Indian Real Estate industry as the accommodative stance should plug-in the liquidity crunch in the market. Likewise, managing inflation will control the cost. At the same time, the RBI has announced a sharp GDP decline of 9.5% for FY 21, which is in line with what has been predicted by most of the major international & domestic rating agencies. Now all eyes would be on how the government plans to combat the economic slowdown and boost demand. A host of steps in the form of capital injection, refinancing of banking institutions, policy impetus, subsidies, and discounts are required to see a faster recovery.”

Pradeep Aggarwal, Founder & Chairman – Signature Global Group & Chairman – ASSOCHAM National Council on Real Estate, Housing and Urban Development, was of the view that “It was an expected move by the RBI to keep the repo rate unchanged, and it is commendable that it is doing its part to ensure that the economy stays on the right path. Loan on LTV will be helpful for the real estate sector, and it will help them get more loan amount.”

Abhishek Bansal, Executive Director, Pacific Group, said, “The real estate market has started picking up as people are enjoying the low-interest rates and subdued pricing. The sector is also enjoying the fruits of the changed mindset of people towards owning a real estate asset, be it for living or earning extra income. The safety of real estate investment that came to the fore will gain steam during the festival season as fence-sitters too will come out in great numbers.”

Maintaining that the real estate sector is enjoying the fruits of high consumer confidence, Yash Miglani, MD, Migsun Group, said, “We were expecting the repo rate to remain unchanged, and the decision of the RBI will have no impact on the sector in the current scenario. In the latest announcement, the provision of housing loan to be linked with LTV is going to help the buyers, and hence the sector will see more sales.”

While saying that he understands the reasons for keeping the repo rate unchanged Harvinder Singh Singh Sikka, MD, Sikka Group, added “One favourable measure for the real estate in the latest announcement by the RBI is that the new housing loans will be linked on to loan to value (LTV). It will help the buyers get loans easily and realize their dream of buying a home. The buyers are already coming back to the sector and the coming festival season would be a lot better than the previous years.”

Agreeing with others Kushagr Ansal, Director, Ansal Housing & President, CREDAI Haryana, said, “The decision of the RBI to keep the new housing loans only to loan to value will encourage more buyers to come forward. The real estate market was looking good after the Unlock, and this particular step will make more fence-sitters to decide on buying a home. Apart from that, the good sign is that the apex bank is optimistic about economic growth. The measures that the RBI took in the last few months are showing a positive impact, and we hope that the latest decisions will help the economy recover faster.”

Raman Gupta, Director- Branding & Construction, GBP Group, was of the view that “It was an expected move to keep the economy on its path to revival after being hit by Covid-19. Over the past few months, people have realized the importance of owning a home and at this time when people are adjusting to the new normal, they have been seen exploring the stable investment options and real estate is topping the chart. The low-interest rates and onset of the festive season will bring cheers to the real estate sector. Apart from keeping the repo rate at as low as 4 pc, RBI has also announced that it is ready to take steps that will infuse liquidity to improve financial conditions and we are looking forward to its positive impact on the recovering Indian Real Estate sector.”

Rajat Goel, JMD MRG World, said, “RBI has kept the repo rate unchanged at 4% and reverse repo rate at 3.35%, during its recent announcement with the prediction of GDP decline about 9.5% for FY 21, which is on similar lines with the prediction from rating agencies. Affordable housing segment has seen a good number of enquiries from end-users amid the uncertain market conditions which is a sign of positivity. Apart from this, RBI’s decision to take steps for infusing liquidity remain awaited, which will prominently affect the overall sentiment of real estate sector.

Amit Jain, Managing Director, Mahagun Group, said, “The announcement was on the expected lines; the good thing is that the RBI looked optimistic about the economic growth, which is a good sign. Real estate sector has already started witnessing positive growth and is speedily recovering from the loss of lockdown. The momentum is picking up pace in this festival season as buyers are enjoying low home loan interest rates.”

Vikas Bhasin, CMD, Saya Homes, said, “We are optimistic that the measures announced by the RBI will help revive economic growth. Multiple announcements were made that will help other industries to go on a growth trajectory; this will have an indirect impact on real estate growth too as the sector is susceptible to economic changes. However, after the Unlock, the real estate is on a high note as people swarmed real estate sites to get hold of a property.”