
Roundup of the year 2014 and outlook for the year 2015 with respect to the real estate and retail sector from Suresh Hari, Secretary, CREDAI Bengaluru and Vishal Mirchandani, CEO, Retail and Commercial, Brigade Group.
Suresh Hari, Secretary, CREDAI Bengaluru says:
Round up of 2014: Looking back at 2014, we have seen good pick-up in demand from the mid-year onwards. A major contributor towards this spurt in demand was the change of government at the Centre and also expectations from people on policy changes.
We have also seen favorable legislation for industry and economy; a case in point is the formulation of REIT policy. As far as Bengaluru is concerned, even during the sluggish phase of 2014 – the first half of the year – we have seen a steady growth in the real estate market.
By easing rules for FDI into projects spread over a smaller area, the Government has opened up avenues for development opportunities within city limits.
Outlook for 2015: With major policy changes on the anvil, a lot of growth in FDI and other investments are expected to flow into the sector. Going forward, we also expect interest rates to firm up and also a probable decrease in interest rate on home loans by the early second quarter of 2015, thanks to which the industry is expected to see a buoyant growth.
We expect the momentum to gather pace from Q1 of 2015. Buyers can look forward to many residential project launches across Bangalore in 2015 across price and size ranges.
Our experience has been that buyers prefer locations where good physical and social infrastructure is available. The IT and ITES sectors continue drive demand in this city, and hence buyers also go for locations where there is a possibility of commercial and retail developments.
We are also expecting a steady growth for residential and commercial real estate during the next couple of years. Additional links of Metro connectivity being completed during 2015, will add impetus to growth.”
Vishal Mirchandani, CEO, Retail and Commercial, Brigade Group says:
“Round-up of 2014: The year 2014 was one of many challenges. However, in many ways we have also seen the desire of people and businesses to drive changes. As a result, the year is ending far better than what we expected at the beginning of the year.
This year, despite challenges, we have seen resilience in the economy though there was no strong momentum. Wtih the Government has been announcing policy reforms, and corporate houses being proactive, we expect to have a strong momentum in the next 3-5 years.
Outlook for 2015: We expect 2015 to be far better than this year. We are hoping to see the Central Government continuing with its policy changes and reforms going forward too. One important factor to watch out for is the interest rate, which will play a very important role in actually achieving a far better growth in 2015 than what we have seen so far in 2014.”