The budget announcement has been affirmative by opening investment market for second homes. Tax rebate for income up to Rs 6.5 lakh under 80C will accelerate investments in the housing sector.

The market share of non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) would continue to expand in the real estate financing space, believes India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), as banks have moderated their RE lending growth due to asset quality and capitalisation issues.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 that became a reality last year is a path-breaking law, with immense potential to revive buyers’ confidence and drive momentum in the residential real estate market.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 that became a reality last year is a path-breaking law, with immense potential to revive buyers’ confidence and drive momentum in the residential real estate market.

Implementation of RERA, GST and demonetization has created a huge impact to the cash flow issue of project finance leading to delayed deliveries of the project causing some of the NBFC’s taking a lead over bank financing.

Demonetization has had a considerable impact on real estate sector. However, larger, organized players who conduct their business transparently like Marathon Group were less impacted.

ACC registered robust revenue growth across categories and geographies, with an increased focus on premium products and a targeted approach to customers and markets, delivering strong top-line growth.

MMR seems to be currently re-orienting to the prevailing market conditions. The days of pre-launches and soft launches have faded away and the developers are now approaching the market with their new avatar of financial discipline, accountability and transparency.

Budget 2018-19 focus on infrastructure and the Smart Cities initiative is a positive move for the real estate sector and Pune in specific. The Smart Cities Mission is an ambition to develop 100 cities across India that would also harness the Information Communication Technology (ICT) capabilities.