The prolonged lockdown has taken a huge toll on real estate sector in state. While construction activities came to a standstill, realtors found it difficult to get buyers. Now, they hope for some improvement in the market sentiment, but they are still unsure how long it will take.
Bihar Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) member RB Sinha said the real estate sector will certainly pick up in the coming months, but it will take time. “Construction work at most sites came to a standstill in the last two months. Now that certain activities have been permitted, monsoon will again hit the construction work. The situation will only normalize after the end of monsoon season,” he said.
Few realtors are, however, confident that the easing of many restrictions will certainly improve the market sentiment. President of Bihar chapter of Builders’ Association of India, Sachin Chandra, said availability of public transport will help workers from other districts return to the construction site. “For instance, a team of workers from Bhagalpur desperately wanted to return to work. However, due to hassles in travelling, they couldn’t,” he said.
Though, the lockdown disrupted construction works, it didn’t affect the market much as the buyers in the city are mostly those from the government sector,” he added.
Talking about the reduction in demand of flats, state vice-president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), Sudip Kumar, said the demand has gone down up to 25% of what it used to be earlier. “Not only has the pandemic disrupted the productivity, it has also wasted our two months. Keeping in mind the current situation, I don’t feel things will be normal in the coming one month,” he said.
Builders also say they are hardly receiving enquires and bookings. One Gyan Mani said he hasn’t received any enquiry about the flats in the last two months. “The sector will take at least six months to normalize. Most of the workers have gone back home and are in no mood to return due to fear of being quarantined. As a builder, I can just hope that things improve,” he said.
