Strong housing demand to push prices above inflation rate: CREDAI – The Tribune-OxBig News Network

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has said that housing demand remains strong and is expected to grow further, fuelled by tax incentives offered in the Budget and a recent repo rate cut.

In an interview to a news agency, CREDAI President Boman Irani said there are no signs of a demand slowdown in the Indian housing market; rather, it will continue to rise in the long term.

“While there could be an impact in some markets that are ‘overheated,’ overall at the pan-India level, there are no concerns at all about growth increasing,” he said, while asserting that short-term fluctuations in a real estate cycle are not something to worry about.

“We need to see long-term growth,” he stressed, citing the property registration data of the Mumbai market for February 2025 to demonstrate that demand remains intact.

He shared that property registration in the Mumbai municipal region remained flat in February at 12,000 units.

“Tax incentives offered in the Budget and a recent 25 basis points reduction in the repo rate will improve housing demand,” he opined, while emphasising that one of the boldest moves that he had seen in recent times was the present Budget, in which the government announced it would not tax income up to Rs 12 lakh.

Asserting that this will improve people’s purchasing power, Irani said the government has been focusing heavily on infrastructure, which is creating new business opportunities for all segments of the real estate sector, including housing, office, malls, and warehousing.

Forecasting the housing price outlook for this year to remain similar to the inflation level, the CREDAI chief reiterated that a price increase was not in developers’ interest at all. “We are very happy with inflation-related cost increases only. We believe in velocity. The better IRR comes out from quicker turnaround of projects than by taking the prices up,” he said, while hinting at a price increase exceeding inflation due to supply shortages.

Noting that real estate developers will have a better profit margin by rapidly executing projects, he said the association is focusing heavily on adopting new technologies that can help complete projects faster without compromising quality.

Meanwhile, CREDAI President-elect Shekhar Patel said the association is placing a strong emphasis on promoting green real estate and skill development.

“CREDAI is also making significant contributions on the CSR (corporate social responsibility) front,” Patel said, disclosing that CREDAI has decided to upgrade 1,000 government schools across the country to mark the association’s 25^th anniversary.

He said that in these 1,000 government schools, CREDAI, in partnership with an NGO, will set up smart classrooms and make provisions for supplying quality water and modern toilets for students.

CREDAI was established in 1999 and represents over 13,000 developers across 230 city chapters in 21 states.