Real Estate in Denial

(Whisper) Real Estate Developers think it's a great time for you to buy a house, because prices have "bottomed out".
Agreed Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Group: “The consumers who will book an apartment now will be an intelligent buyer. In the current market situation, the buyer knows that prices have already bottomed out and there is no cushion for further reduction in property rates. The market rumours and low sentiments are putting majority of buyers decision in wait-and-watch mode, I think they will miss the bus.”
Just 7 days later, ET has another article that says current pricing is "unrealistic".
"It is not that demand has declined," said Santhosh Kumar, deputy chief executive officer of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, a global real estate consultant and brokerage firm.

"There is a lot of demand in the middle segment but the prices quoted by developers are very high," Kumar said.

In places like Lucknow and Meerut, he said, realty developers were quoting as much as Rs 40 lakhs for mid segment housing which was quite unrealistic.

"Sales are just not picking up. Compared to last year, the figure has gone down by 50 per cent, even when they are selling at 20-30 per cent below the earlier market prices," said Punit Saxena of the real estate consultants Axiom Estates.

Hmm. Real estate developers are saying prices have bottomed out. Consultants are saying pricing is unrealistic. What is it?

Whatever it is prices are going to be WAYYYY lower than today. I think.

(Add your comment)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Whatever it is prices are going to be WAYYYY lower than today. I think."

Approximately how much Deepak?

Deepak Shenoy said...

Hey your guess is as good as mine. I think we're going to levels of 2002 again, perhaps even lower. This is goign to be messy, opaque and very depressing for home owners.

px said...

Well the builder lobby is greatly connected , no wonder they speak like our politicians in power!

I agree with ur analysis and updates and congratulate u on catching the trend very early,
As it gets more difficult to get a home loan, the builders will try everything to push people to buy.

Kaushik said...

Hi Deepak,
In mumbai the rentals have not decreased but remained same as compared to last year.I believe it takes some time to percolate down that depression mood to broker/owner level.
Its not like money drawdown of future trades.

Anonymous said...

Deepak a question ver here,i understand futures and trade in mini nifty often,could you please explain a bit abt options,call,puts,couldnt ever understand it,u hav a habit of telling things in simple terms may be i will understand.

rgds.

px said...

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=339834
something interesting worth a visit

kenny said...

yar..i agree with deepak shenoy. we are standing on the dark cloud. we can not predict any thing at this time but waiting. :(

noluck said...

The basic issue is affordability which has gone through the roof. For an investor the scope of further appreciation is -ve from the present levels.
End user anyway cannot afford to buy at the current prices (with his job at risk and banks not ready to leverage).
The basic issue is fundamental valuation which is absurdly bloated. With the risk aversion that has crept in (esp wrt real estate) both on the buyers and banks side, buying is absolutely out of question without a 50% correction from here.

TempleTree said...

I think the problem is of fundamental valuation. At some point people stopped looking at whether it was better to remain in their rented houses or buy their own for living. Every where panic buying (both individuals for homes and developers for land).

Over last 2 weeks I did little bit of survey/thinking:

I looked at people around me including various education levels, incomes levels, living small towns as well as those living in big towns. Every one (believe me) has taken a loan. Let it be for buying a House, Car, or some thing else. People have even taken education loans if they could not find any other reason for taking a loan. The balance sheet for my sample of people showed net "debt". Many people are stretched. Some people are over stretched.

Second I was wondering where all the money has gone. This is my theory: People like me or my friends/relatives took loans and bought homes or spent it. The real estate developer bought more land and developed more sq feet. The land owners who sold their lands bought cars, build (or re-modeled) their houses, some part they would invested into buying land at far away (speculative) places, some might have put it into real estate development. Some people who do not have expertize would have parked their money with real estate developers for some say 20% or 24% interest (I do not think money comes into Banks). I am not sure if any body has kept the cash, I guess they would prefer their black money grow along with real estate prices, obviously invest some where related to real estate. If I look at this at every stage money has transfered hands. Some part of that money would have spilled out of real estate area (e.g. cars, cement, steel, gadgets, spending on other things). This has actually created more jobs and transfered the money to new job holders as well as increased salaries to existing guys. This is a big cycle went on for last 4 years.

This is one of the (many) reasons we have seen a better than average growth in last 4 years. (there may be other things similar to it).

This means we come to an end of the cycle and taking stock of net worth and profitability/sustainability at each level (individual or corporates). Started controlling expenses at individual/company level.

What is going to happen is really painful adjustment of all the low interest regime as created. We are in all likely going to see good rental yields in next 2 years. Note that rentals are falling, meaning real estate prices have to fall more than rentals for the yields to be meaningful.

My 2 cents ..

Manish said...

Today i see a news stroy appeared in The Times of India which talks about government provding fiscal sops to real estate ompanies and cheaper refinancing options to them. With inflation coming down we could see another rate cut soon, in fact we might see interest rates going down to 8-9% level with slowdown lurking ahead. Such a sharp fall in interest rates not only can provide relief to debtors but might also encourage people sitting on periphery to go for fresh mortgages if builders provide a small correction in prices.

Though i agree with Deepak's premise that property prices will come down. But still to say that prices will crash to 2002 level is a bit pre-mature. As Templetree points out, most people have taken loans, especially for homes, so unless people start losing their jobs they won't default on loans. Nevertheless, everything depends on if another round of credit crisis erupts in US soon or not.

in response to TT 2 cents, my 2 penny....

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