New Delhi: After rallying nearly 37 per cent in the last financial year (FY18) as compared to around 10 per cent rise in the benchmark Nifty50, the Nifty reality index has performed in line with the broader markets thus far in FY19.
The huge outperformance in FY18, analysts say, was on account of implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) and government’s focus on affordable housing amid strengthening economy and steady interest rates. The sharp run-up has now turned analysts cautious on this space.
Among individual stocks, Unitech, Sobha, HDIL, DLF, Indianbulls real estate and Prestige estate project have gained 4 per cent – 13 per cent thus far in FY19, ACE Equity data shows. In comparison, the Nifty reality and the Nifty 50 indices have moved up around four per cent each during this period.
While the demand for new residentialunits has been subdued since the past few years, analysts see the tide turning gradually from here on. According to estimates, the demand in calendar year 2017 (CY17) dipped 40 per cent at around 200,000 units from the peak levels seen in CY10-12.
“Our view is demand has bottomed out at these levels as is expected to see better trajectory largely due to improved affordability led by decadal low mortgage rates; government incentives / subsidies and focus on compact / affordable homes. However a full-fledged demand recovery remains unlikely given weak job trends and outlook and lack of investor demand. We expect the Indian real estate cycle to enter into a consolidation phase and recovery will be gradual at best,” said Girish Choudhary and Gaurav Nagori of Spark Capital in a recent report.
While inventory levels have receded slightly from the peak levels, they are still high based on the last two years absorption levels at around four years, analysts say. Going ahead, with industry focus on launching more end user centric projects and with RERA making it tighter to launch new projects, they expect the new supply to be at manageable levels.
Given the sharp rally in FY18, analysts now remain cautious on the sector and suggest that the performance of stocks in this segment may not repeat in FY19. They prefer developers with strong execution capability reflecting in positive operating cash flows track record, exposure to steady markets, strong pipeline of launches and focus on affordable projects.
“I don’t see a significant drop in inventory levels. This will be a cause for concern in some cases. Investors should wait for March 2018 quarter (Q4FY18) results before investing in the stocks of real estate developers. Among the lot, I like Oberoi Reality and DLF One can buy at lower levels. Things to look before investing include quality of management, inventory-to-sales ratio and a clean balance-sheet as well before investing,” says G Chokkalingam, founder and managing director of Equinomics Research.
As regards financial performance, analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities predict weak quarter (Q4FY18) for sales across metros, where several projects / developers took price cuts and offered discounts at their ongoing (and even completed) projects with unsold inventory.
“Low credit availability has resulted in small developers holding back launches (also due to weak demand) or partnering with select developers. We expect debt to increase for Prestige (on account of acquisitions, consolidation and PE payoffs), DLF (negative operating cash flow + new land acquisition), Oberoi (negative operating cash flow in Three Sixty West) and Brigade (expect negative operating cash flow to continue). Sobha continues to outperform others on operations,” says Sanjeev Prasad, executive director and co-head, Kotak Institutional Equities.