Indian property market is expected to remain stable in the near future even as prices in some of the international markets may fall 10-20% in the next 18 months, said global property consultancy services firm Knight Frank’s proprietary partner and head of global residential agency, Lord Andrew Hay.
“American (property) markets are improving but some parts of Europe like Italy, Greece, Poland, Spain and Ireland, that have fallen by 60% in the last 5 years, are still vulnerable,” Hay told ET. “Indian real estate is in a unique position like Singapore where actual demand is at work and therefore would remain insulated,” he added.
Hay thinks that despite economic and political changes in India, it’s still a promising market. However, in order to emerge as a mature market, India needs to incorporate a framework combining transparent legal system, easy finance, liquidity in market and availability of thorough research about the market that allows one to know about it.
He drove home the point that property prices in cities like Mumbai and Delhi surpassing their previous peaks of 2007-08 is justified. The pricing trends here are clearly based on demand and supply, and there’s no bubble being created as home buyers are not as highly leveraged as they were in the US and Europe, he said.
Anand Narayanan, National Director, Residential Agency – Knight Frank India, said too many regulations sometimes stifle growth. “”Some of the issues which actually do need regulation are customer rights; there should be regulations which ensure quality and timely delivery to customers,”” he said.
Narayanan thinks customer confidence, which has been rather low of late, is improving now. “For the past 6 months, interest rates have been stable with a downward bias, mortgages are freely available. Hence, the outlook for (Indian real estate) in the near future seems stable/improving,” Narayanan said. He, however, admitted that economic growth and uncertainty in the job market are major worries.
