Housing sales down 75 pc due to COVID-19 pandemic: Property brokerage firm

NEW DELHI: Housing sales are estimated to have plunged by around 75 per cent after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, forcing developers to offer discounts and better payment plans to boost sales, property brokerage firm 360 Realtors said on Saturday.

Addressing a virtual press conference, 360 Realtors founder and MD Ankit Kansal said the company sold 400 units during April, 33 per cent lower as compared to the same month last year. Nearly half of the sales were driven by NRIs.

“Housing sales are down 70-75 per cent during the last three months compared with the pre-COVID level,” he said.Real estate developers and property brokerage firms are adopting digital mode for sales and marketing but prospective homebuyers are cautious due to uncertainties, Kansal said.On pricing, Kansal said the builders have not reduced the basic selling prices, but they are sweetening the deal for serious buyers through discounts and attractive payment plans

Asked about its operations, he said the company sold properties worth Rs 4,400 crore on behalf of developers and posted a revenue of Rs 180 crore during the last fiscal year. Out of the total sales bookings, around 85 per cent was housing and the rest commercial.

“We are expecting 20 per cent growth in the 2020-21 financial year despite pandemic. Housing market will not grow but the share of organised builders and organised brokerage firms will increase,” he said.

On job losses and pay cuts, Kansal said the company has not laid off its employees post lockdown but salaries have been reduced by 20-50 per cent.

360 Realtors has 1,200 employees at present.

Aiming to grow business, the company will organise 10 virtual property exhibitions starting from Saturday and is targeting to achieve sales bookings of around Rs 1,000 crore. These events will be conducted at Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai and NCR in India, and Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar in the Gulf.