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High demand for homes leads surge in land deals, NCR tops list
Gurugram-based developers and real estate brokers also concurred with the trend and said that there has been a strong demand for housing in the city and NCR, which has motivated developers to look for land parcels in specific markets for development of residential projects
Gurugram: The demand for residential properties across the country is making developers buy land, with the National Capital Region (NCR) emerging as the area which has been witnessing the highest number of land deals, according to a report released by a private real estate consultancy on Sunday.
The report, released by Anarock, said that various listed and unlisted real estate firms bought land in top locations and in the year 2023-2024, 101 land deals amounting to 2,989 acres were registered across the country while in the previous year 88 land deals were registered, accounting for 1,883 acres.
The report said that the land deals happened in the top seven markets in the country including NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata while tier two and three cities such as Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Surat and Nagpur also saw major land deals, showing a strong demand for housing in the country.
Gurugram-based developers and real estate brokers also concurred with the trend and said that there has been a strong demand for housing in the city and NCR, which has motivated developers to look for land parcels in specific markets for development of residential projects.
According to the Anarock data, among land deals in the top seven cities, NCR topped with 29 deals for around 313 acres, followed by MMR with 19 deals for approximately 157 acres. In terms of total land area, Bengaluru saw 14 deals for 490+ acres transacted, the highest among all top 7 cities.
In Gurugram, the report said transactions were carried out for 7.91 acre by Godrej Properties, 29 acres by DLF Home Developers, and 20.32 acre by Signature Developers.
Pradeep Aggarwal, chairman and founder, Signature Developers said that there is strong demand for housing in the city, which has motivated developers to buy land parcels in selected micro-markets where customers are willing to pay a good price. “The market is strong both price-wise and demand-wise and developers in order to meet this demand are buying land parcels along SPR, Dwarka expressway and also in Sohna. The development of infrastructure in these areas has also led to more demand for land. No doubt the rates have increased but still these remain competitive for developers,” he said.
The report further said that the number of deals in the financial year 2024 has risen significantly – from 88 deals for 1,886 acres in financial 2022-23 2023 to approximately 101 deals for 2,989 acres in the financial year 2023-24. In terms of total area, around 58 percent more land has been purchased in the financial year 2024, it added.
Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock consultants said that large and listed developers in particular have seen very high sales, and it makes sense for them to buy land across prominent urban micro-markets.
“At approx. 4.93 lakh units, residential sales across the top 7 cities have created a new peak. Tier 2 & 3 cities have once again emerged as redoubtable growth engines, thanks to their rapidly improving infrastructure and growth opportunities,” he said.
The data revealed that around 1,770 acres of land was bought for group housing and township projects to be developed by realtors across the country, which is the highest among all uses of land.
Ramesh Menon, a city-based real estate and land expert, when asked about increase in land deals said that the builders were buying land for specific projects which had time frame, and it was not like the previous years when land was bought for speculation and future projects. “These parcels are being bought for specific projects which have been identified. The developers also have a specific time frame to exit these projects. The implementation of RERA and similar laws has ensured that projects are developed within timeframes. The political and economic stability has also allowed people to buy into future projects,” he said.
