Buy realty stocks only for the long term, say analysts

A genuine demand recovery in the sector, experts say, is still some time away even as the prices continue to spiral down.

At a time when the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 indices are scaling new highs, investors in real estate stocks have seen their capital erode thus far in the calendar year 2018 (CY18), with the Nifty realty index – a gauge of the sector’s performance – underperforming the benchmark index during this period by a wide margin. 

Thus far in CY18, the Nifty Realty index has slipped 24 per cent as compared to around 6 per cent rise in the Nifty50 index till July 25. The fall in select stocks has been much sharper. HDIL, for instance, has been