Real estate shares in focus; Sobha up over 5%

Sobha, Godrej Properties, Prestige Estates, DB Realty, HDIL, and NBCC are up 1%-6% on the BSE.

Shares of real estate companies are trading higher on the bourses in an otherwise subdued market after Godrej Properties announced that it has received a good response for the Mumbai project.

Sobha, Godrej Properties, Prestige Estates Projects, DB Realty, Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL), National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) and Indiabulls Real Estate are up 1-6% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

At 12:15 PM, the S&P BSE Realty index was up 0.79% as compared to 0.13% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Godrej Properties has rallied 5% to Rs 352 on the BSE in intra-day trade after the company announced that it has sold 300 apartments within one week at The Trees, its flagship project in Vikhroli, Mumbai.

“This represents more than 80% of the 374 apartments it opened for sale in the first phase of this project. The value of apartments sold is in excess of Rs 700 crore, making this Godrej Properties' most successful ever launch in terms of value of real estate sold. This is also one of the country's most successful recent launches,” Godrej Properties said in a statement.

Sobha, the largest gainer among real estate pack, was up 6% at Rs 319 on back of heavy volumes. A combined 157,359 shares have already changed hands against an average sub 80,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks on the BSE and NSE.