Indian housing sector witness growth by 12-15%

In the past few months the banks and the housing finance companies have been reducing interest rate on house loans. The effect of the cuts is now visible as the Indian housing sector has started showing increase in growth with a marked increase in the number of transactions for the last quarter of fiscal 2009.

As per information by global real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) by the end of March 31 there has been increase in the number of residential transactions by 12-15%. Leading realty players confirmed to Sunday ET there has been certainly increase in demand in the last couple of months, especially in March.

Rajeev Talwar, group executive director, DLF told, DLF, India’s largest realty player, has been able to sell all 1,400 apartments in its upcoming project in West Delhi within 24 hours at a discounted price.

Unitech company spokesperson told that, Unitech had launched two of its affordable projects last month in Delhi NCR and Chennai, too has witnessed an enthusiastic response from buyers. The developer managed to sell off 750 apartments in Uniworld Garden II in 45 days of its launch. Unitech official also claimed there another project, Ananda, launched in Chennai and priced at Rs 20 lakh onwards was also able to sell off 500 apartments in 10 days.

As per information provided by Niranjan Hiranandani, MD, Hiranandani Developers in Mumbai, in last 40 days the company has been able to sell more than 2,500 apartments.

Banks too have confirmed the increase in home loan takers. Leading banks informed Sunday ET spokesperson that business home loan segment has witnessed an estimated growth of 10-15% in Q4 against the previous quarter.

Kamlesh Rao, executive VP, Kotak Mahindra Bank pointed out, “In the sub-30 lakh category, the industry is seeing a higher growth of around 10-15%. However, we are major players in the Rs 30 lakh and above category of home loans, wherein a growth of around 5-10% has been observed.”

An anonymous senior official from IDBI Bank confirmed the trend.