Developers log land purchases worth Rs 26,000 crore in last 17 months

Around 578 acres out of 2,181 acres, was acquired in the first five months of the calendar year 2023 (CY23) alone

Real estate developers have acquired around 2,181, acres of land in the last 17 months (January 22 – May 2023) valued at over Rs 26,000 crore, with an estimated development potential of around 209 million square feet in 104 deals, according to real estate consultant JLL. 

Around 578 acres was acquired in the first five months of the calendar year 2023.  JLL data indicates that branded developers have successfully closed many transactions in top metropolitan cities as well as tier 2 and 3 cities.

According to JLL, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Bengaluru lead in terms of total land area transacted accounting for 72 per cent share (around 1,576 acres) having a development potential of around 150 million square feet in 79 separate land deals.

Pune,Kolkata and Hyderabad together account for 9 per cent share. The rest was contributed by cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Panchkula, and Kurukshetra.

In Delhi NCR, submarkets of Panipat and Gurgaon lead with a combined share of 73 per cent in Delhi NCR land transactions in the last 17-month period.

In terms of the number of transactions, Delhi NCR and Mumbai Metropolitan Region lead with 53 transactions recorded in the last 17-month period, the report said.

"Real estate developers who actively acquired land included Godrej Properties, M3M, Max Estates, Birla Estates, and Mahindra Lifespaces among others," it said.

With a surge in demand for housing, developers are actively acquiring land for new housing projects. In CY22, residential sales registered a decadal high with 215,000 units sold across the top seven cities, which is almost like the 2010 sales of 216,762 units.

The report also highlighted that sales in CY22 increased by 68 per cent year-on-year with more than 50,000 units sold in each of the four quarters.

Also, Residential launches during the same period stood at 247,000 units, the highest in over a decade and next to the previous high of 281,000 units in 2010.

Further in the first quarter of  the calendar year 2023 (Q1CY23) sales of 62,000 housing units were recorded marking the highest quarterly sales in the last 15 years despite rising interest rates and prices in the last 12 months. 

“Over 100 land transactions with a development potential of 209 million square feet in last 17 months are a visible indication of the positive sentiment for the real estate sector. Interestingly, most of the land transactions were for proposed residential development due to the surge in demand leading to optimism in developers to build a robust supply pipeline. These residential transactions are estimated to have a sales potential of INR 122,000 crore," said Samantak Das, chief economist and head of research and REIS, India, JLL.

Das further expects land transactions to remain steady further with developers expanding their land banks on the back of expected moderation in interest rates, growing demand for housing, and support from institutional funding agencies. 

The launches of new residential projects are expected to strengthen further through new land acquisitions in strategic locations and growth corridors.