Real estate deals remain few and far between

The government’s decision to withdraw notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 was intended to attack the black economy. A natural corollary to this was a likely hit to the real sector, which, for long, has been considered a refuge for unaccounted money. The trends so far suggest some immediate hit to deals but clarity on price trends is yet to emerge. Residential sales’ enquiries have witnessed a drop and prices in the secondary markets are softening, says a report ‘A Review of 2016 and Peering into 2017’ by real estate consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle India. While industry-wide data is not available, an indication of the extent of drop in transactions can be gleaned from the registration data reported by state governments. “The sales have slowed down in both primary as well as secondary market and registrar’s data reflects that,” Ashutosh Limaye, head of research and real estate intelligence service at JLL India told.