Real estate slowdown hits Ggm hard
Gurugram: In the last few years, Gurugram has witnessed the worst impact of the slowdown in the real estate sector. The city till date has one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. However, according to an official survey, the number of real estate developers in the city has come down from 82 in 2011-12 to just 19 at present. A large number of prominent builders, like Unitech, that made their fortunes from the real estate boom in Gurugram are today embroiled in legal cases for pending projects. Decisions like demonetisation and GST implementation have also had adverse impact on the real estate sector in the region.
In January 2019 there were 6.73 lakh unsold residential units across India, and, out of these, 1.86 lakh were in the National Capital Region (NCR). Gurugram-based brokers said that nearly 75,000 unsold units were in locations spread across the city, majorly along the Dwarka Expressway.
According to a prominent real estate consulting firm in the middle of 2018, if the number of unsold properties for top 7 largest Indian cities added up, it can be observed that residential projects launched before 2013 were stuck in various stages of non-completion; an estimated figure for these was around 5.75 lakh units, together worth Rs 4.64 lakh crore. This is besides the inventory under construction, which will get delivered in three to four years.
To prevent a situation wherein the builders who have defaulted on the payments, the DTCP planning has begun the process of making a note of these builders. Significant information that includes detail of Aadhar and PAN card, passport are being obtained to prevent any eventualities of builders leaving the country.
A recent RTI had revealed that in just year that is from March 2017 to March 2018 the pending External Development Charges have increased from Rs 13,855 crores to Rs 15,250 crore. Moreover, in the four years of Chief Minister ML Khattar's government, the pending EDC dues have increased from Rs 6198 crores. 70 per cent of the builders who are defaulters has their projects in Gurugram.
Even though the turnaround in Gururgam's real estate market has not happened there has been a gradual upward movement in prices and sale of properties can be observed in the last one year in certain micro-markets, particularly where infrastructure and basic amenities have improved. This change in sentiment is particularly strong in developing sectors along the Dwarka Expressway, formally known as the Northern Peripheral Road, where there has been an uptick in sale and purchase in the secondary market (pre-owned homes), and prices have moved upwards by an average of 5-7 per cent.
