MANISH GUPTA
Ranchi, Aug 2: The real estate sector in Jharkhand is finally coming out of the long Covid-induced slowdown and the recent crippling impact of lack of sand, said the Jharkhand unit of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI).
“We are seeing revival in demand for various properties after the slowdown during the pandemic. Even the construction activities have started partially with the recent permit to source sand from Bengal,” said CREDAI Jharkhand President Bijay Agarwal.
Agarwal said that the sand crisis had a crippling impact on the real estate sector for the last several months. However, the government has now allowed getting sand from other states and this has at least solved the problem to half the extent, Agarwal added.
Besides, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) restriction on extracting sand will be lifted in October and it will further improve the situation. As for the demand for properties, he said that demand for big flats and group housing is rising across all cities in the state.
“The prospects for the real estate industry in Jharkhand are looking quite bright for the next 3-4 years in particular and for the next 10 years in general,” said Agarwal. He, however, pointed out land availability as the major stumbling block for the real estate sector.
“The biggest hurdle for real estate projects in Jharkhand is absence of land banks. This is the reason why we do not have India level builders and developers in our state. There are no lands available in sizes of 25 acres, 50 acres or 100 acres in and around the city.
“For the same reason we do not see construction of row houses and bungalows in the state despite potential demand for these. We have approached the state government many times in the past for creating land banks but we got no assurance,” he said.
On the price front, Agarwal, who is the CMD of Pranami Builders Pvt Ltd, said that while the cost of construction materials have gone up by 30 per cent since January this year, the builders have not increased the price of residential properties in the state capital.
“The prices are already at rock bottom. There’s no way it can go down any further. With the material costs going up and inventories getting cleared, the prices are, in fact, going to go up in the coming months,” he said, adding that there is a difference of 20 per cent in the price of an inventory flat and that of a new project.
