Approximately 1.13 lakh housing units in NCR worth Rs 86,463 crore are completely stalled which account for a whopping 66 percent of the total 1.74 lakh stalled units in the top seven cities, an analysis by Anarock has said.
More than 3.28 lakh homes are either terminally stalled or heavily delayed in NCR alone, accounting for 52 percent of all such units across India’s seven major cities. Launched in 2014 or before, these projects are ugly testimony to NCR’s darkest ‘Wild West’ years. Unregulated and unchecked, this market saw close to 2.58 lakh units unleashed between 2010 and 2015 by the leading 15 local players alone, the analysis said.
However, with the Central government’s SWAMIH funds with a corpus of Rs 25,000 crore has now coming forward to complete nearly 13 projects in Delhi-NCR and the government-backed NBCC and a few well-capitalized developers taking charge of a few stuck, the unsold inventory in the region has witnessed 26 percent decline - from 2.28 lakh units in 2015 to approximately 1.69 lakh units as on Q2 2021-end, the analysis said.
Greater Noida comprises 50 percent of stuck or delayed units or approximately 1,62,720 units, followed by Noida with 16 percent share or approximately 53,680 units. In Gurugram, nearly 40,380 units or 12 percent homes are stuck or delayed. Ghaziabad comprises 10 percent of the overall share of stuck or delayed projects (approximately 33,970 units).
Delhi has nearly 15,740 units stuck or delayed which is nearly 5 percent total share. The remaining 7 percent are collectively in Bhiwadi and Faridabad – approximately 22,110 units, the analysis said.
The Central government’s SWAMIH funds with a corpus of Rs 25,000 crore has now come forward to complete nearly 1,500 stalled projects across the country. So far, SWAMIH funds have given approvals to more than 204 final or early-stage projects involving investments of Rs 18,500 crore across tier 1,2 and 3 cities.
At least 13 projects in Delhi-NCR are likely to be completed within the next one year, as per the government.
Likewise, the government-backed NBCC and a few well-capitalized developers have taken charge of various stuck projects in NCR. For instance, Gurugram-based Alpha Corp will invest approximately Rs 900 crore in three stalled projects of Earth Infrastructure (in Gurugram and Greater Noida) that were launched between 2010-2012.
Lotus Panache project at sector 110 in Noida is likely to complete this month. Nearly 600 homebuyers will finally get their completed homes.
NBCC has also successfully completed over 2,060 homes across projects in Noida and Greater Noida. It has also delivered around 8,500 flats at Jaypee Wish Town project while another 6,000 flats are to be completed by 2022-end.
Gaurs Group has taken charge to complete over 10,964 Amrapali stuck homes.
The analysis noted that from the glory days of local players between 2010 and 2015, the NCR housing market has been completely transformed in the period between 2016 and H1 2021 as.
A market once notorious for being driven by speculators, NCR was also a veritable hunting ground for unscrupulous developers churning out unchecked and unnecessary inventory, playing squarely to the speculator gallery, cashing in on the trust of unwitting homebuyers, and diverting their money elsewhere, it said.
The aftermath of this period is still glaringly evident, says Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants.
“More than 3,28,600 homes are either terminally stalled or heavily delayed in NCR alone, accounting for 52 percent of all such units across India’s 7 major cities. Launched in 2014 or before, these projects are ugly testimony to NCR’s darkest ‘Wild West’ years. Unregulated and unchecked, this market saw close to 2.58 lakh units unleashed between 2010 and 2015 by the leading 15 local players alone,” he said.
NCR’s profiteering speculators and cut-throat developers have now faded into the past. To the backdrop of the cancer that had beset this market in previous years, the implementation of RERA in 2017 wiped out unscrupulous developers and brought speculative buying and selling of homes to a complete halt.
Between 2016 and the first half of 2021, corporate and national developers like Godrej Properties Ltd., TATA Housing, Hero Realty, Sobha Ltd., Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Birla Estates and Mahindra Lifespaces took centre-stage.
In this period, the top 15 local players throttled their supply down to approx. 70,500 units – a 73 percent drop from their heyday years. Now, more national players like Prestige Estates are also foraying into NCR.
An analysis of new launches during these two periods (2010-2015 and 2016-H1 2021) highlights many contrasting trends. The NCR market now favours buyers rather than developers, and supply largely follows demand. The average ticket price of properties being launched now has reduced from Rs 68.20 lakh (2010-2015) to Rs 56.25 lakh (2016 to H1 2021). The increasing demand for affordable and mid segment homes has led to this change.
The average size of homes has also reduced from 1,550 sq. ft. in 2010-2015 to 1,250 per sq. ft. between 2016-H1 2021. While developers reduced home sizes to bring down prices, they will have to reconsider this aspect now – there is increasing demand for bigger spaces to accommodate the WFH and e-schooling realities brought on by the pandemic, the analysis said.
Even project sizes have decreased – previously, the average NCR project had approx. 950 units; this has now come down to 650 units/project. Resultantly, the average project completion time between 2016-H1 2021 has also reduced to 4.9 years from 7.8 years in the 2010-2015 period.
Between 2010-2015, at least 63 percent units were launched in the Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore budget range. Affordable housing accounted for a mere 29 percent share of 2.58 lakh launched units. In the 2016-H1 2021 period, at least 51 percent of 70,500 units were in the affordable category, and 40 percent in the Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore budget range, the analysis said.
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