Housing sector entering a phase of steady price, sales: Pirojsha Godrej

Mint

3 days ago

The post-pandemic boom in India's residential real estate appears to be moderating, as steep prices prompt customers to defer purchases.
This is perhaps evident in Godrej Properties Ltd (GPL) that clocked sales bookings worth ₹7,082 crore for the April-June period, 18% lower from a year ago, due to a record-high sales base last year and fewer project launches in first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year.
'After the euphoric growth in a real estate cycle, the housing sector is entering a phase that will see steady pricing and sales growth instead of a sharp spike. Demand still remains strong, and Godrej Properties remains the fastest growing real estate company," Pirojsha Godrej, executive chairperson of Godrej Properties, told Mint in an interview.
GPL has set the highest sales target of ₹32,500 crore for 2025-26 among India's top four developers, which include DLF Ltd, Prestige Estate Projects Ltd and Lodha Developers Ltd. Last year, it sold 15,000 homes worth ₹29,444 crore, the highest-ever by an Indian real estate firm.
The Mumbai-based developer on Friday reported a 15.3% year-on-year growth in net profit to ₹598.40 crore in the first quarter, compared to ₹518.80 crore a year ago, according to an exchange filing.However, revenuefrom operations fell 41% to ₹434.6 crore during the period on account of lower delivery.Revenue isrecognized based on project completion milestones. Though GPL delivered 0.8 million sq ft in the April-June quarter, the developer has set an ambitious project deliverytarget of 10 million sq ft in FY26.
'In Q1, we did about 22% of the FY26 sales guidance. Typically, sales in the second half of the year are meaningfully higher. We are quite confident of achieving the sales target for this year," Godrej added.
Shares of Godrej Properties settled 2.5% lower at ₹2,049.25 apiece on the BSE on Friday.
In FY26, GPL has laid out a fairly large launch pipeline spanning multiple cities including Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, Gurugram and Greater Noida, Bengaluru and Hyderabad for its group housing projects. Then, it has plotted development launches planned beyond the metros, in smaller cities.
One of its prominent launches this year would be in the posh Mumbai neighbourhood of Worli. The million sq ft, high-end project, that has the potential to bring in ₹10,000 crore of sales bookings, will be launched later in the year.
Among its peers, GPL has arguably been one of the most proactive in terms of business development, or acquisition of land to expand its portfolio.
It has guided for a conservative ₹20,000 crore of business developmentthis year, and has already added five projects with a total estimated booking value of ₹11,400 crore (57% of its full-year target) in the June-ended quarter itself.
'The focus of the company will be on both—business development for growth, along with executing well and improving project construction timelines," Godrej said.
Real estate sales have started seeing some plateauing in recent months, due to rising home prices, among other factors. Despite that, the top four developers including Godrej Properties are collectively aiming to cross ₹1 trillion in residential sales in FY26, marking the strongest year yet for branded players.
In FY25, the four developers clocked combined residential sales of around ₹85,190 crore.