Gurugram has the least number of stuck housing projects in NCR

The National Capital Region (NCR) has the highest number of stalled housing units among the top seven real estate markets in the country, according to a report. Gurugram has the least number of such units in the NCR as at least 98% of them are located in Noida and Greater Noida, the report by real estate consultancy Anarock said.

According to the report released on Wednesday, 220 projects having 1.74 lakh residential units in the top seven cities are completely stalled. Launched either in 2013 or before, these projects have absolutely no construction activity going on, and are grounded either due to liquidity issues or litigation, the report said.

At least 1.18 lakh units in 67 projects in the NCR have remained incomplete since then and 69% of this stock has already been sold out. About 2,300 of such houses are in Gurugram, said the report.

After NCR, the maximum number of stuck houses are in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), followed by Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, the report said.

Experts say that the reason fewer housing projects are stuck in Gurugram in comparison to Noida/Greater Noida is that real estate market in both cities followed different models. They also said that most of the projects in Gurugram that are delayed have not been deserted by the developers.

“In Noida and Greater Noida, the developers had to pay just 10% of the land value to the government authorities and they could pay the rest of the money in easy instalments in eight years and get the land. Many people, who had no experience in the realty sector, entered the market, but could not deliver the projects,” says Vinod Behl, a real estate analyst.

Contrary to this model, developers in Gurugram had to buy the land themselves or collaborate with land owners to launch the project and this ensured that experienced players with deeper pockets entered the fray, the experts said. “There is only one major developer in Gurugram who has defaulted, and ironically most of its stuck projects are in Noida and Greater Noida. It seems the non-intervention by Haryana government in buying land helped the situation,” said Sanjay Sharma, a property consultant.

Developers based in Gurugram admit that tougher conditions for licence in Haryana and strict compliance regarding to payment of various fees have been the reasons for fewer defaulters in the city. “It is tougher to get a licence in the state. The title of the land has to be clear and builder has to pay fees upfront. Also the scale of developers was bigger as compared to Noida and this has helped everyone,” says Dharmender Bhandari, managing director of Bestech, a Gurugram-based developer.

Almost 66% of the total stalled units (approximately 1.15 lakh homes) in the seven markets have already been sold to buyers who have been left in the lurch — at the mercy of either the developers concerned or the law of the land.

Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, says that the Supreme Court’s intervention in the Amrapali case has rekindled the hopes of homebuyers. “While similar developments with regards to other stuck projects are awaited, the SC has now set a precedent with a resounding message — comply or perish,” said Puri.