Strong launch portfolio to keep realty giant DLF on the growth track

New additions to the leasing portfolio are also expected to boost rental income from the commercial assets of the company

Shares of DLF, the country’s largest listed real estate company, surged 2.8 per cent to ₹775 on Tuesday, buoyed by robust bookings in the March quarter and a positive business outlook. The momentum is expected to continue, driven by new launches and rapid absorption in the residential segment, which should translate into higher cash flows.

 

The company’s commercial assets are also poised for growth, with additions to its leasing portfolio likely to boost rental income. Given the promising prospects across both its residential and annuity businesses, brokerages have maintained a “buy” rating on the stock.

 

DLF reported bookings of over ₹2,000 crore in Q4FY25 — a 39 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase — despite the absence of new launches during the quarter. These figures came in ahead of Street expectations.

 

For the full year, bookings stood at ₹21,200 crore, up 43 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and well above the company’s guidance of ₹17,000 crore. Notably, nearly two-thirds of this was contributed by the ultra-luxury project, The Dahlias, which brought ₹13,700 crore in bookings — including ₹1,900 crore in Q4 alone. Analysts at JM Financial Research, led by Sumit Kumar, noted that DLF surprised the Street by monetising 40 per cent of The Dahlias’ inventory value over just two quarters, despite ultra-luxury projects typically being slower to sell due to higher ticket sizes.

 

Looking ahead, DLF has a robust launch pipeline of ₹73,900 crore across 29 million square feet to be rolled out over the next two to three years.  

 

For FY26, the company has set a booking target of ₹17,200 crore but aims to maintain a run-rate of ₹20,000–22,000 crore, supported by strong demand for well-priced, Grade-A inventory.

 

Collections, including rentals, were strong at ₹3,270 crore in Q4FY25, up 51 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and 7 per cent sequentially.

 

For FY25, collections rose 36 per cent to ₹11,770 crore, while operating cash flow nearly doubled, rising 96 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹5,900 crore. This performance helped the company strengthen its net cash position to ₹6,850 crore as of March 2025, up from ₹1,550 crore a year earlier and ₹4,500 crore in December 2024.

 

According to Biplab Debbarma and Tanishk Khinvasra of Antique Stock Broking, DLF’s residential arm has receivables of ₹29,300 crore against an expected cost of ₹19,000 crore — indicating surplus cash flows of around ₹10,000 crore over the next three years. The company also holds unsold inventory worth ₹22,600 crore, providing further visibility for sustained cash generation. The residential segment alone is expected to generate over ₹6,000 crore in annual surplus cash flows in the coming years.

 

Given DLF’s land bank, strong liquidity position, and established brand in the NCR region, brokerages remain optimistic of the stock. Antique Stock Broking has reiterated a “buy” rating with a target price of ₹933.

 

On the commercial real estate front, the office rentals were at ₹1,000 crore and were up 11 per cent Y-o-Y while rentals at the retail level were ₹220 crore. 

 

The total rentals for FY25 were up 10 per cent at ₹4,750 crore. The full year occupancy was at 94 per cent up 100 basis points Y-o-Y, with its non-SEZ portfolio almost full, registering an occupancy of 98 per cent while the SEZ assets recorded an occupancy of 88 per cent. 

 

The rental business saw 20 per cent Y-o-Y growth in profits in FY2025 while commissioning another 2 mn square feet office block at Gurgaon, taking the operational annuity portfolio to 45 million square feet. 

 

Kotak Research remains enthused by the strong showing across both business segments and has assigned a “buy” rating with an unchanged target of ₹1,020.  

 

JM Financial Research expects the rental business to deliver 11 per cent annually over FY26-28 to ₹6,500 crore aided by ramp-up of Downtown Gurugram (Block 4) along with the completion of Tower 3, Chennai, and Mall of India, Gurugram (total 3.7 million square feet), The realty major remains the preferred pick of the brokerage in the real estate space with a target price of ₹1,000.