Real estate shares in focus; DB Realty, Kolte-Patil Developers up over 10%

Shares of real estate companies were in focus on Tuesday with the Nifty Realty index gaining more than 2 per cent in an otherwise subdued market.

D B Realty and Kolte-Patil Developers rallied 16% and 14%, respectively. Ganesh Housing Corporation and Ajmera Realty & Infra India were up 6% each. Prestige Estates Projects, Oberoi Realty, Godrej Properties, Unitech, Indiabulls Real Estate and DLF from the Nifty Realty index up in the range of 2% to 5%.

At 11:09 am, Nifty Realty index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 2.5%, as compared to a 0.21% decline in the Nifty50 index. In the previous calendar year 2018, the realty index was one of the most underperforming sectors, down 33%, against a 3% rise in the benchmark index.

The shares of Kolte-Patil Developer (KPDL) have surged 14% to Rs 272 a piece on the back of an over 10-fold jump in trading volumes, after the rating agency CRISIL has revised the outlook on its rating on the long-term bank loan facilities of the real estate company to 'Positive' from 'Stable’.

The outlook revision reflects CRISIL's belief that KPDL will maintain a robust financial risk profile over the medium-term, backed by improvement in collections, steady project saleability, and maintenance of debt at the current level. CRISIL expects the company to continue to maintain its financial prudence while maintaining the project portfolio at healthy operating levels.

“An improvement in end-user participation on rising affordability, increasing launch of units with mid-income ticket sizes, and implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, or RERA, is expected to revive demand for residential real estate in the medium-term. Resolution of the recent NBFC liquidity issues, however, would be key for the same,” the rating agency said in a press release.

“Between fiscals 2019 and 2021, residential demand is estimated to log a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 4% led by key micro markets of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and MMR. Though marginal, the growth will be driven by first-time buyers eyeing units in mid-income tickets, typically priced between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore,” said Rahul Prithiani, Director, CRISIL Research in its December release.

Meanwhile, the commercial portfolio is seeing steady lease rentals and healthy demand. Indeed, even as investor interest in the residential segment has been fading due to limited property price appreciation and inability to monetise the assets, commercial real estate is becoming a hub for new investments, the rating agency said.