MMR, which often sees the highest prices in the country, reported the maximum land deals covering 768 acres, all of which are for residential projects. Demand for residential projects has increased during the pandemic-led slowdown, while commercial or retail projects have fewer takers. An analysis of 45 land deals over 1,757 acres in seven major cities, conducted by real estate consultant Anarock, reveals that 28 land deals over 1,205 acres have been cornered for residential projects.
Anarock’s study took into consideration land deals in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune from the third quarter of financial year 2020-21 till November 2021. Of the 45 land deals, 28 deals over 1,205 acres, or 69 per cent of the land, were earmarked for residential projects.
MMR, which often sees the highest prices in the country, reported the maximum land deals covering 768 acres, all of which are for residential projects. NCR came a distant second with land deals across 150 acres, Kolkata and Hyderabad saw two separate deals each of 92 and 78 acres respectively. Bengaluru reported five deals of 59 acres, all earmarked for residential projects, while Pune has seen three deals over 42 acres. Chennai reported a single land deal of 16 acres. All three land parcels in Pune are for residential projects.
The report shows that majority of land deals were inked between real estate management companies and realtors. Land parcels have also changed hands between builders in this period. Godrej Properties, Sunteck Realty, Ashiana Housing, Mahindra LifeSpaces, M3M Group, and Runwal Developers were the major builders who invested in land.
Barring residential projects, 411 acres of land have been earmarked for an industrial park and township. Around 30 acres of land would be utilized to set up a data centre and nine acres have been marked for retail sector developments.
Santhosh Kumar, vice president of Anarock, also pointed out the drop in demand from commercial and retail segment while demand for residential projects has seen a major boost. Before March 2020, there was a limited number of land
deals as the real estate industry was grappling with liquidity issue.
In the months that followed, the Covid-19 pandemic brought the sector to a virtual standstill, with developers preferring to either service their debts or complete previously launched projects, he said.
“However, from Q3 2020, activity resumed and several landowners who had previously held on to their land put their holdings up for sale. As a result, some prominent deals took place in the last one year, at more or less the same price points as the previous year. Many developers with the financial resources saw this period as opportune to secure good land parcels in key micro-markets across the top seven cities,” Kumar said.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
