Real estate sales see slight dip

The year 2017 did not turn out to be quite the blow-out year for real estate. Comparative data suggests that total real estate transactions in Pune region in 2017 was 7.44% lower than that recorded the year before. Pune region, for revenue purposes, comprises the districts of Pune, Sangli, Solapur, Satara and Kolhapur. Between January and November 2017, a total of 5,64,951 documents were registered with various sub-registrar offices spread across the region. In the same period in 2016, such documents registered totalled 5,90,945. At about half-a-million, data shows that only 1 in 50 persons/families are able to strike a property deal every year. One reason is found in the census data. According to Census 2011, household survey, over 80% of the households are “owned,” in these districts. Ofcourse, not all houses are pukka or large enough to accommodate an average family of five. This usually triggers a house search. Despite the latent demand and considerably stable prices in 2017 the demand was not as high as it was in 2016. The year 2017 was characterized by policy changes. State government implemented the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) from May 1, 2017, and the goods and services tax (GST) regime became applicable countrywide from July 1, 2017. As builders turned cautious, the total registrations fell over 10%. It then looked up in June as customers returned to the market with the confidence of a regulatory backup as well as to avoid impending (higher) taxes under GST beginning July. Accordingly, registrations were higher in June and July. Then on, the party for the real estate has been tempered. The August to September period has seen lower registrations than usual. Figures for November 2017 though high, are not strictly comparable as there were lower registrations in November 2016 due to demonetization.