Contrary to popular belief, recently released real estate numbers suggest that the property market is not slowing down, Infact it is still rising. I am really surprised and not really sure if these numbers reflect the reality of situation.
Every property purchased has to be registered with property registration office. The following data was collated from the office of the state’s inspector-general of registration and stamp duty.
| PROPERTIES REGISTERED DURING JAN-MARCH | |||||
| City | 2006 | 2007 | % growth | 2008 | % growth |
| Mumbai | 40,803 | 41,012 | 0.51 | 44,232 | 7.85 |
| Thane | 47,155 | 53,838 | 14.17 | 60,551 | 12.46 |
| Pune | 70,395 | 68,004 | -3.39 | 79,973 | 17.60 |
| Nagpur | 24,529 | 25,937 | 5.74 | 27,514 | 6.08 |
| Nashik | 21,087 | 23,176 | 9.90 | 28,409 | 22.50 |
The comparison of first three months’ data in the last three years also shows that registrations have gone up substantially. The number of registrations increased by 13.54 per cent during January to March this year compared with the same period in 2007, while it increased by a mere 4 per cent during January-March in 2007 compared with the year-ago period.Nearly 240,679 registrations took place in five cities — Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur — during the January-March period in 2008, a 10.53 per cent increase over 217,743 between October and December in 2007. Registrations were even lesser in the July-September last year at 208,205.
Specifically the Pune Market seems to be pretty strong with a growth of close to 18%.
Although, the numbers show growth, it may not reflect the exact current situation as registrations come with a lag of 3-4 months after the deal is signed. So property registered between January and March 2008 may have been sold and bought between October and December last year, and may not necessarily reflect the actual trend.
I have been following Indian real estate market closely for last year or so and from what I see on ground, the market has sure slowed down. Infact, some reports published earlier this month actually attest the real estate slowdown.
The Builders though seem to be quite adamant. I have not actually come across any transactions that have happened at lower prices than earlier. Even the builders in Pune have been quite adamant about their pricing. Shashank Paranjape, managing director of Pune-based Paranjape Schemes says,: “Though sales have been steady, prices have gone up by 10 per cent due to high demand.”
We will have to wait for another couple of months for new numbers to know which direction the market is heading.
[Source]
This brings us to our next poll:
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