PE investments up in realty

Private equity investments in the realty sector grew 17 per cent in 2017 to Rs 42,800 crore as against Rs 36,590 crore last year, a recent study said. According to a report by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield. However, investments in residential real estate declined almost 29 per cent in 2017 to Rs 15,600 crore as against 2016, mainly due to subdued market sentiment and implementation of various reforms that resulted in delay of home launches. 

Investment in the real estate sector in 2017 has risen a whopping 52 per cent since 2014 aided by better ease of doing business, relaxation in FDI norms, introduction of GST, and defining norms for REITs listing, the report said.

Out of the total, the residential segment attracted highest investments of Rs 15,600 crore, while Rs 13,200 crore was invested in the office space. “The office sector witnessed a massive jump in investments to Rs 13,200 crore from Rs 4,000 crore in 2016, led by stake sale in office portfolio of a leading developer.

The  jump in inflows during 2017 is mainly on the back of a three-fold rise in investment in office segment, signalling heightened interest of institutional investors in pre-leased office assets.

According to the report, Mumbai witnessed the highest investments during the year with almost Rs 15,000 crore worth funds being pumped into the market, a massive 41 per cent increase over the previous year.

 Delhi recorded investments of Rs 4,380 crore, while Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad reported PE flow of Rs 5170 crore, Rs 1450 crore, Rs 2970 crore, Rs 940 crore, respectively. — PTI

Slowdown triggers drop in home sales

Housing sales dropped 17 per  cent during 2017 in nine major cities of the country because of demand slowdown and impact of new realty law, according to a report by realty portal PropTiger. Sales declined to 2,18,500 units last year in nine cities — Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad — against 2,63,500 units in 2016. Launches fell by 43 per cent to 1,63,573 units in 2017 from 2,88,748 units in the previous year.  Knight Frank India also released its report last week and reported 7 per cent decline in housing sales and 41 per cent fall in home launches during last year in eight top cities. Cushman & Wakefield reported 35 per cent fall in launches. Gurgaon and Hyderabad were the only two cities which witnessed increase in sales by 27 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. The other seven cities saw decline in the range of 3 per cent to 33 per cent.