Gudi Padwa 2019 effect: Realtors expect rise in home sales, discounts to encourage buyers

On account of Gudi Padwa mixed with series of sops by the Indian government like easing the GST on unsold units, a smooth credit line for home buyers and developers, industry insiders are expecting a surge in home sales at pan India level. Experts say Gudi Padwa is a traditionally auspicious time to invest in real estate in India. While Gudi Padwa is a Maharashtrian concept, the period of oncoming spring and the sense of renewal it brings is acknowledged across the country. Punjab has its Baisakhi, Andhra Pradesh has its Yugadi, Tamil Nadu celebrates Puthandu and Kerala knows it as Vishu.

Speaking on the expected rise in home sales due to Gudi Padwa Anuj Puri, Chairman at ANAROCK Property Consultants told Zee Business online, "Historically, Indians have always seen certain dates as highly auspicious for property purchase and other wealth-creation measures. For this reason, property sales tend to spike up during festivals like Gudi Padwa and builders align various offers, schemes and discounts with them to encourage this brief phenomenon. In recent years, this trend came in on a more subdued note because of the prevailing conditions on the real estate market. In fact, Gudi Padwa in 2018 was anything but a vibrant time for the property sector. It was defined by significantly lower housing sales than developers would have wished for." He said that if we examine housing sales trends in Q1 2018, ANAROCK data indicates that around 49,790 units were sold during this period last year. 2019 is likely to see housing sales to have risen by at least 10-12% in the same quarter. In contrast, the first quarter sales in past few years had almost halved from 90,000 units in Q1 2015 to 46,000 units in Q1 2017, demonstrating negative buyer sentiments despite the traditional auspicious fervor of Gudi Padwa.

Standing in sync with ANAROCK views Rakesh Yadav, CMD, Antriksh India Group said, "The Gudi Padwa 2019 is very different. The slew of sops offered by the Government in just the first three months of the year - both in the recent budget and the most recent cut in the GST rates on under construction properties. Banks also recently lowered their home loan rates following RBI’s cut in repo rates and if we go by the market speculations the RBI may again cut the Repo Rate by 25 bps to 50 bps in upcoming RBI Monetary Policy Review on April 4th," adding, "As a result, there has already been a distinct uptick in housing sales across the top 7 cities. This year, the auspiciousness of Gudi Padwa aligns with highly improved market sentiment. Even the usually subdued market environment which typically defines upcoming general elections is unlikely to play a spoilsport this season."

Rakesh Yadav of Antriksh India Group said that recent residential trends across the seven major cities clearly reflect that developers are responding to improving consumer sentiment by launching right-priced projects that meet the actual buyer demand. The market is being rewarded for embarking on its journey of increasing maturity, led by focused Government interventions to dispel the opacity that obscured its potential in previous years.