Investment in real estate plummeted 6pc in 4 years: Poll

Investment attracted by the real estate sector from various public and private sources across India have declined by 6 per cent in the last four years, says a survey.
The investment fell to Rs 14.3 lakh crore in 2014-15 from a level of Rs 15.2 lakh crore in 2011-12, the survey by Assocham said.
Real estate projects involving about 76 per cent of the total investments attracted by the sector remained non-starter during the period between 2011-12 and 2014-15, the poll found.
On a state-wide analysis, Maharashtra (21 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (14 per cent), Gujarat (13 per cent), Karnataka (12 per cent) and Haryana (8 per cent) emerged as the top five states with the highest share in total investments attracted by the real estate sector in India as of 2014-15.

Clocking a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 82 per cent, Assam has recorded maximum growth in attracting investments in the real estate sector during 2011-12 and 2014-15 followed by Bihar (19 per cent), Odisha (17 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (16 per cent) and Uttarakhand (12 per cent) amid top five states in this regard.
While Jharkhand (40 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (37 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (29 per cent), Haryana (16 per cent) and Gujarat (7 per cent) have registered maximum fall in real estate investments, according to the survey.

The survey drew feedback from 100 small and big companies operating in realty sector in top cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune to ascertain the implications of the Budget.

Majority (75 per cent) of the real estate developers covered by the poll felt let down by the government for lack of focus on improving demand/supply in the sector.
The survey indicated that the Union Budget disappointed the realty sector with exclusion of the plan for '100 Smart Cities,' in the country.
Moreover, increase in rate of service tax to 14 per cent will make real estate a bit more expensive and impact sales as it would wear down purchasing power of an average consumer.
Real estate developers are also concerned about increase in service tax on construction and excise duty on input goods, as also increased on petrol and diesel coupled with increase in freight rates on cement will lead to rise in construction costs.

Referring to urgent need for speeding up procedural requirements for real estate sector, the real estate industry has pressed for a single window clearance system for various approvals leading to operational efficiencies and cost saving, along with need for a predictable and stable policy framework.
Ownership-wise, private sector accounted for 85 per cent of the total investments attracted by the real estate sector across India while government/public sources accounted for remaining share of 15 per cent.