Increase In COVID Cases & Fear Of Second Wave Might Impact The Recovery In Real Estate: CARE Ratings

The recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the country and fears of second wave might hamper the recovery in the real estate sector witnessed in the last six months, an analysis by CARE Ratings has said.

Even with the Maharashtra government, not extending the window of low stamp duty benefit could potentially affect homebuyer sentiment, it said.

The Maharashtra government on March 31 decided not to extend the stamp duty waiver on property registrations and kept the Ready Reckoner Rates unchanged for the financial year 2021-22.

On August 26, the state government decided to temporarily reduce stamp duty on housing units from 5 percent to 2 percent until December 31, 2020. Stamp duty from Jan 1, 2021, until March 31, 2021, was at 3 percent.

As for commercial units, the demand would continue to remain subdued during financial year 2022 with emerging work from home and shared workspace culture. Office rentals is to be impacted with the emergence of Blended Work from Home culture, the analysis said.

However, despite the emergence of concepts of work from home and work near home, occupiers with healthy financial profile in grade A office spaces have continued to meet their existing leases and commitments on time which will not impact leasing agreements, the analysis said.

In the case of mall leasing, malls too have been witnessing very limited footfalls with the resurgence of the virus and the outlook for the segment thus continues to remain negative especially with growing popularity of e-commerce, it said.

(Source: Moneycontrol)