Housing Demand Strong Across Major Cities: Godrej

Clearly the euphoria, which was there say maybe a year, year and a half back, related to increase in prices is no longer there in any of the micro markets, irrespective of segment, irrespective of brand - Vipul Roongta, MD &CEO, HDFC Capital Advisors

New Delhi: Demand for residential properties remains "very strong" across major cities but the euphoria seen in the last few years is mellowing down a little bit, said Pirojsha Godrej, the executive chairperson of Godrej Properties. Godrej Properties is one of the leading real estate developers in the country.

It became the largest listed realty firm in 2024 in terms of sales bookings or pre-sales by selling more than Rs 28,000 crore worth of properties. Pirojsha Godrej noted that there is no demand slowdown in the housing market, as reflected from the company's pre-sales numbers.

"Am I seeing a slowdown in demand. The answer is 'No'. Because we have seen Rs 500 crore plus sales in our new housing project launches in five different cities (during the December quarter) across North, South, West and East India. That to me is pretty indicative of a very strong housing market," he said.

Pirojsha added: "But, I would say that some of that euphoria is perhaps mellowing down a little bit, particularly in Delhi-NCR... It has settled into a more sort of standard strong market." "Euphoria that was there 6-12 months ago seems to have cooled off a little bit, but demand remains very strong," he observed.

During the third quarter of this fiscal, Pirojsha highlighted that the company achieved sales of Rs 500 crore plus in five new launches in five cities -- Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Pune and Kolkata.

"This is perhaps for the first time that any developer in the country has seen such a positive response from new launches across that many cities," he said. Recently, HDFC Capital Advisors MD and CEO Vipul Roongta also mentioned that growth in housing prices has slowed.

"Clearly the euphoria, which was there say maybe a year, year and a half back, related to increase in prices is no longer there in any of the micro markets, irrespective of segment, irrespective of brand," Roongta observed.

Real estate data firm PropEquity pointed out 9 per cent drop in housing sales last year across nine top cities while property consultant Anarock reported 4 per cent fall in seven major cities. Nevertheless, most of the listed developers are clocking robust pre-sales as consumer demand is shifting towards big and branded players with repute.