| Real estate prices have not peaked as yet and is presently in the stabilisation phase, said a leading real estate developer.
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| “Real estate presents one of the biggest opportunities over the next few years and I believe prices have not yet peaked,” Hiranandani group’s Managing Director and Chairman of Hirco plc Niranjan Hiranandani said.
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| The Hiranandani group is today one of the country’s biggest players in the real estate sector.
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| Demand for good quality housing is huge and will only grow in the future, Hiranandani said, adding this would be an important factor in fuelling the sector’s growth. He said the Government policies may curb demand in the short-term “but not over a long period”.
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| While contemplating a house-purchase, an individual may postpone his purchase decision for a time but ultimately he would purchase a home. Besides, with rising incomes, people now want more amenities and facilities as they have the spending capacity, Hiranandani said.
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| “Therefore, the government policies cannot curb demand over a long period, though in the short-term, demand maybe curbed,” he said, adding “you can’t kill the aspirations of the people to have their own homes or have good quality housing.”
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| He described the present lull in demand as only a “temporary phenomenon”. On whether prices have fallen in Tier II and Tier III cities, Hiranandani said, “it is very difficult to assess this.”
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| Different locations in a Tier II or a Tier III towns may have different prices with one being higher than the other. Prices there would depend upon the location, he said.
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| The government wants to house people and “any democratic government would do that. The National Housing Board estimates a requirement of 24-million units but I believe the demand will be much more than that,” he said.
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| According to Hiranandani, there were two aspects to the demand side in real estate—primary housing and as an investment vehicle—and this too had to be factored in when one talked about the present demand situation.
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| “The government’s fiscal and other measures may work in the short-term to curb demand but over a longer time-frame, demand cannot be suppressed—it will only grow,” he said. |
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