Dun & Bradstreet India is pleased to present the inaugural edition of Realty Check: The Indian Real Estate Story. The publication aims to highlight some of the key achievements and issues related to the real estate sector in the country and create a valuable ready reference tool on India’s leading real estate companies.

Currently, the real estate sector is facing a crisis on account of slackening demand due to the slowdown in the economy. Factors such as rising input costs over the last year have made matters worse. Overall, the weakening economy has had a major impact on the real estate sector in India.

However, in spite of the current slowdown, the sector is expected to register robust growth in the long run. In the past five years, real estate has been one of the fastest growing sectors in India and has experienced tremendous growth - driven by the residential, commercial and retail segments. The residential real estate segment is the one of the largest segments in the real estate sector and has witnessed growth due to the rising trend of nuclear families and the increasing pace of urbanisation. At the same time, the outsourcing boom coupled with the economic uptrend created a huge demand for office spaces in India, which has boosted the commercial segment. The Indian retail sector also experienced growth in demand for retail outlets and multiplexes due to changes in consumer preferences and lifestyles. The resultant demand saw the real estate sector report phenomenal growth rates over the last few years.

The current slack in demand notwithstanding, India’s real estate sector is bound to bounce back. Demand is bound to pick up. India faces a huge shortage of housing units in urban areas which was estimated to be around 26.53 mn units during Eleventh five year plan. The country is also facing a shortage of around 150,000 hotel rooms according to the Ministry of Tourism. These are just a few opportunities that developers will begin to tap soon. As the economy revives, we are confident that the sector will begin to see robust growth again.

Realty Check: The Indian Real Estate Story showcases the performance of some of India’s leading real estate companies. It also covers numerous development initiatives taken by the government in various segments to revive the real estate sector in the country.

I hope you enjoy reading Realty Check: The Indian Real Estate Story and look forward to receiving your suggestions.

Dr Manoj Vaish
President & CEO - India
Dun & Bradstreet