Mumbai realty prices to cool down

MUMBAI: Housing Dvelopment Infrastructure (HDIL) on Monday said a 20-25 per cent price fall is likely in the country's real estate sector, but Mumbai may be slightly insulated as it may witness a 10-15 price correction in prices.
       
"There is still supply constraint in Mumbai. Hence, the fall will be in the range of 10-15 per cent, if there is further reduction in demand. But, the remaining part of the country is like to see a 20-25 per cent correction," HDIL's Managing Director Sarang Wadhawan told reporters on the sidelines of the company's Annual General Meeting here.
       
Wadhawan said that since the industry is cyclic in nature, the current phase of demand recession may be there for two years and then the boom period starts to stay for another five years or vice versa as in the case of the previous cycle.
       
HDIL, which recorded over 56 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended June 30 at Rs 317.93 crore as against Rs 202.68 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal, would not be impacted much as its operations is mainly confined into the Mumbai metropolitan area.
       
"The company is confident of executing all the projects on time and continues to register positive growth in the remaining part of the fiscal," Wadhawan said.
       
HDIL's turnover increased by 28.6 per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal at Rs 570 crore over the same quarter last fiscal.
       
The company, he said, is likely to develop projects on 10-12 million square feet area in Mumbai including the Mumbai Airport Slum Rehabilitation Project (MASRP) and is set to spread it wings in Hyderabad and Kochi.