HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh on Tuesday stated that the spurt in demand for houses in the final couple of months is not pent-up, and is a outcome of record low interest prices, economical costs and supportive government policies amongst other things.
“I don’t believe that spurt in housing demand in the last few months is a pent-up demand. The aspirations to own a home is inherent in every household and all of us here are mindful that the country still faces an immense shortage of quality and affordable housing. Yet this goes to show that with supportive government policies, adequate availability of resources and supply of rightly priced homes, the demand for home loans will continue unabated,” Parekh stated at an occasion organised by Moneylife Foundation and HDFC.
As per Anarock Research, the best 7 cities witnessed sales of about 50,900 units in October-December 2020, rebounding to practically 86% of the very same period in 2019. Mumbai metropolitan area and Pune with each other accounted for more than 53% of the total share.
Stressing on a powerful code of ethics for stakeholders in genuine estate, Parekh exuded self-confidence in the Indian housing sector. “Much of this has to do with the government which has prioritised housing on its agenda, recognising the important role that it plays in economy,” he noted.
Parekh stated that in his profession of more than 42 years in the housing sector, he has in no way observed interest prices at such low levels, which along with fiscal incentives has created housing more economical today.
Union minister for housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri, who released a report on efficacy of RERA at the occasion, appreciated the function played by Maharashtra in minimizing stamp duty, which boosted residential sales. He stressed on the need to have for transparency in the sector, which he explained could be addressed by producing a central database.
“From my ministry’s point of view, we will work with anyone (state RERA authorities, etc.) for having a central database which will have all the constituent segments. All the stakeholders will have access to it. Because with maximum transparency that you can introduce, you will find that the sector will begin to benefit from that free flow of information,” the minister added.
Earlier, Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Maha Rera) chairman Gautam Chatterjee stated the choice to decrease stamp duty by Maharashtra resulted in about 2.5 lakh sales registration across the state. Maha RERA as well registered about 1,200 new projects in October-December 2020, which exceeds launches in the very same period final year.
Talking about the work accomplished by Maha RERA, Chatterjee stated, “Today as we speak, Maha RERA has 27,700 registered projects, 27,000 registered agents and 13,000 complaints filed of which 8,900 have been decided. However, this pendency going over 4,000 complaints is certainly disconcerting and therefore Maha RERA has decided to further activate the conciliation forum to first attempt resolution of these pending complaints through the conciliation process”.
Chatterjee pointed out that an evaluation of the complaints, each pending and heard, shows that 94% of the complaints pertains to pre-RERA ongoing projects. “The worrying thing, of course, is that only 50% of the pre-RERA ongoing projects have been completed till date. I am afraid we will have to continue dealing with issues of the pre-RERA era. The pain of transition, it seems, would last much longer than initially expected,” he rued.
On an all India level, RERA authorities have registered about 60,000 projects and 45,723 agents as effectively as 60,000 complaints have been redressed as aspect of the dispute resolution machinery. Thirty-4 states and union territories (UTs) have notified RERA guidelines, even though 30 states and UTs have set up regulatory authorities and 25 states and UTs have set up appellate tribunals.