The tremendous growth of the real estate sector is attributed to various fundamental factors such as growing economy, growing business needs etc. However, this boom is restricted to areas such as commercial office space, retail and housing sectors. The impending concerns of this sector namely skill shortage, non-availability of statistics, lack of low cost-affordable housing, lack of sustainability and to meet a future that might have downturn due to oversupply.

Most of the real estate sectors players have missed their target groups and concentrated on premium segment, the interest has gone from single digit to double digit. The growth in realty sector is driven by India IT/ ITES sector. India is a fast developing country with limited infrastructure and abundant natural resources. Our domestic consumption levels are very high, hence our export potential is negligible. But in view of globalisation we are part of global village, and the recent economic tremors also affected our country. Slowly and steadily all industrialised countries accepted the recession factor and started adjusting themselves to come out of the recession if not earlier but sooner.

Coming to our own country it is the real estate, the second largest industry in India after agriculture, is the most affected one. Most of the projects in hand have come to a grinding halt. India is still a country of small towns and villages, so the concentration of builders in and around big cities has contributed to over supply of costly and high-end products.

The industry is presently facing a major resource crunch – an obvious lack of qualified and skilled people from construction firms etc. Coupled with this manpower shortage is the shortage of availability of relevant statistics, which has created an ambiguity as to how much construction activity is actually taking place and one can’t gauge the demand and supply trends accurately.

The opportunities and issues of affordable, low cost housing in India are mainly related with tremendous shortfall of middle class housing as majority of the developers are involved in developing high class housing. So, there is a dearth of low cost affordable units. The negative version of Indian real estate industry is ’they have complete disrespect for sustainability’ and that the concept of green buildings, proper waste disposal methods and the longevity of the product are often dismissed.

As the money was coming in terms on investment in from non-resident Indians as well as private equity funds, the well-known developers and real estate players have grown their portfolio as well many small sized players have also created in Indian market. It has provided a very high supply of real estate segments either in residential or in commercial or in office space. Special economic zone (SEZ) has also creates a very good opportunities for investors as well as corporate to invest and get benefited from Indian real estate market. So, the booming market has created a niche as modern living and created a very mass employment in Indian segment.

By Priti Shah

Laurent & Benon Corporate Stay Solutions