News: Covid-19 impact: Around 4.66 lakh homes scheduled 2020 delivery may miss deadline: Report-23/06/2020
Updated On: Jun 23, 2020
Covid-19 impact: Around 4.66 lakh homes scheduled 2020 delivery may miss deadline: Report
MUMBAI: Homebuyers’ wait for delivery of their homes is getting longer as nearly 4.66 lakh apartments that were scheduled for completion and delivery this year are expected to miss their deadline now with labour shortage and liquidity squeeze caused by the outbreak of Covid19 pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, the top 7 cities were to see completion of over 8.78 lakh units in 2020 and 2021 cumulatively. Of this total expected supply, nearly 4.66 lakh units were to be added in 2020 and the remaining 4.12 lakh units in 2021, showed data from ANAROCK property Consultants. Launched after 2013, many of these projects were in the final leg of completion. With almost zero construction activity in the last few months due to the lockdown, the completion deadlines for almost all these projects have been extended. Following the government’s directive, most state Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) have already given a 6-month extension to developers on previously committed timelines. However, homebuyers’ wait could run into several additional months for wellfunded projects, and as much as two years for others. “Homebuyers will have to adjust to new realities...The government must intervene to address multiple challenges including labour shortage in top cities. Even if developers have the financial strength, it will still take a while for most of them to resume construction because lakhs of labourers have left cities and migrated back to their villages. Moreover, many of the top cities are still grappling with the virus,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants. Maximum completions in 2020 and 2021 were to happen in the National Capital Region at 2.40 lakh units. But it is set to witness more project delays in addition to the backlog of over 2 lakh units already delayed in the region, he said.
Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Bengaluru had completion of more than 1 lakh units each lined up this year, while Pune had around 68,800 units, Kolkata 33,850 units and Hyderabad nearly 30,500 units and Chennai 24,650 units scheduled to be completed in 2020, the data showed.
