Finally, realty market looks up first time since RERA
   Date :01-May-2019

 
Business Bureau:
 
The realty market, which was under tremendous stress since the implementation of the Rera and other structural reforms two years ago, is showing some signs of the revival with the number of new unit launches rising significantly in H2 of 2018, say industry experts. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (Rera) 2016 came into effect from May 1, 2017 and Maharashtra was the first state to implement it by setting up MahaRera. According to property consultant Knight Frank, number of launches across the eight metros had come down to 40,832 units post-Rera in H2 of 2017 from 68,702 units in H2 of 2016. However, the sector has started showing signs of revival with new launches rising to 89,509 units in H2 2018 over H2 2017.
 
Around 91,739 units were launched in H1 2018, up from 62,738 in H1 2017. As per the data from Anarock Property Consultants, 22 states and six Union Territories have already notified their Rera, of which 19 states have active portals. Bengal too has an active portal now. “It is evident that while prices steadily declined between 2013 and 2016, the cycle turned negative immediately following Rera. Evidently, sales dipped, and projects began to struggle to meet the rigorous new laws,” says Knight Frank’s Gulam Zia. Downward price movement was finally arrested only in 2018 and continues along the upward path since then, he adds. “It can be understood that while the flurry of reforms sent successive shock-waves to the industry, the new reality has started to sink in now.
 
Supply side has also been learning the dynamics of the changed environment, forcing them to redraw the business models,” Zia adds. Statistics show that 307 projects were registered under Rera in Andhra, up from just 61 in November 2018, while Gujarat saw 5,317 Rera-registered projects and 899 registered agents and agencies. Maharashtra has 20,718 Rera-registered projects.