Rental prices to increase between 5-12% in 2018: Amit Kumar Agarwal, NoBroker

By Amit Kumar Agarwal

The year 2017 proved to be a slow year in the growth story of India’s real estate sector. The introduction of policy reforms like Good & Service Tax (GST) and Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) brought immediate discomfort but will help improve transparency in the long run. India's real estate markets are poised for growth in the coming future on the back of higher transparency and further consolidation.

Rental Trends

The introduction of new policies largely impacted the buy and sell in real estate. However, the rental market did not witness much impact from the new policies. Robust demand was registered in the rental category due to massive urbanization and people looking for better opportunities in metro cities. The outlook for 2018 is even more cheerful with rental prices set to increase at a rate of 5 to 12%.

Launch of new projects
Though real estate underwent a sluggish year, it is set to experience a spurt in buy and sell queries. With availability of huge unsold inventory, not many new launches are expected to be announced in the year 2018. Only few reputed and stable builder with good delivery track record will be able to announce newer successful projects.

Is it a good time to buy?
The combination of excess supply, extraordinary prices and low consumption has led to huge inventories across the country. Post demonization, market experienced a dull period but today it is clearly a buyer’s market. The price of properties will largely remain stable in the coming few months and buyers can expect better deals from builders who are aggressively looking to clear unsold inventory.

From investment viewpoint, many factors determine the trend and long term investment in real estate will make more sense with current market dynamics. Therefore, we think it is a good time to invest for end-use purpose in real estate at present.

RERA
Post RERA, real estate market is estimated to be more transparent and buyer friendly. RERA was created to ensure accountability towards the buyer and developers, protect costumer’s benefits, ensure unbiased deals and reduce scams and delays. Another aim of the act is to bring transparency in the sector which is needed for the overall betterment in investor confidence and to encourage capital infusion into the sector.

With RERA being implemented across the states, developers are likely to focus on the timely delivery of their ongoing projects and will also remain increasingly open on pricing and payment structures.

The sentiment for 2018 is very positive and we definitely believe that the real estate sector is set to grow at a much better pace. The changing market dynamics will further strengthen consumer confidence and conversion of more real estate deals in commercial as well as residential property.

(The writer is the founder of NoBroker)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.