Brick by Brick: The reason behind realty sector's robust recovery and what's ahead

The real estate sector witnessed robust recovery in the July-September quarter as the economy began to pick up after the severe second wave of the pandemic. Both residential and commercial property segments have staged a solid performance, helped by multiple factors. Kailash Babar reports

What is driving the real estate sector?

• Record low interest rates
• Affordable property prices
• Improving economy, employment
• High savings during pandemic
• Record wealth creation in markets

Housing sales

• 124%-plus on-year jump in top 7 Indian property markets: JLL India
• 92% on-year rise in top 8 cities: Knight Frank India
• 21% RISE IN LAUNCHES most in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR; launches in affordable, mid-income segments

Office leasing

• 12.5 million sq ft transactions, up 168% on-year: Knight Frank India
• 11.9 million sq ft new office space completion, up 67% on year
• Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad account for 73% of new completions: Knight Frank India
• 5.85 million sq ft net office absorption, up 48% sequentially and 8%, on-year: JLL India
• 10.9 million sq ft new completion; rentals remain rangebound: JLL India
• Vacancy levels rise to 16.4% from 15.8% in June quarter: JLL India

Outlook

• Housing market likely to see many new launches in festive season
• Developer sops, low interest rates to attract buyers
• Rising vaccination, lower infections may encourage more activity in office leasing
• Healthy performance of IT sector, strong hiring bodes well for the office segment