Buoyed by improving real estate sentiment across cities like Pune, Coimbatore and Kochi, Bangalore-based Puravankara’s managing director, Ashish Puravankara said the company plans to launch projects spread over 7 million sq ft under its premium affordable brand, Provident Housing. In an interview with Fe’s Rishi Ranjan Kala, he emphasised that focus is on meeting the aspirations of first-time and mid-income homebuyers. Excerpts:
Q. How would you analyse Provident’s performance in recent past?
We witnessed an overall rise of 26% in our sales realisation of Q1FY22, a 41% and 6% rise in sales realisation in ongoing and completed projects, respectively. While launches were muted in last three quarters, we clocked the best sales figure of previous five years – Rs 2,202 crore for FY21, out of which Provident accounts for 30% of the overall sales. The ready-to-move-in inventories have significantly declined over the last few quarters. Launch of Woodfield in June 2021 saw a phenomenal response and we sold almost 80% of units on the first day of launch.
Q. What future prospects does Provident have, particularly in affordable housing?
Provident Housing (PHL) has a strong presence and witnessed remarkable success in Bangalore, Mangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Goa. Provident believes that luxury living should not be an exclusive factor but be accessible to those who aspire. The unique blend of affordability with luxury has transformed Provident into growth engine for our residential business and has encouraged us to expand the footprint into newer markets. PHL will account for close to 50% of our launch pipeline for FY22.
Q. What are your views on plotted development projects going ahead?
Covid has encouraged individuals to carefully assess their living space – as an investment as well as design. We have noticed an increased customer preference towards quality gated plotted developments over the last year. To cater to this burgeoning segment and address a market lacuna in this sector, we introduced a dedicated arm for plotted development — Purva Land. We launched our first project in Bangalore and witnessed a record sale within the first day of its launch. In FY22, we will be launching 5 new projects spreading across 4 million sq ft (MSF) in Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore.
Q. What are the launch pipelines for Provident and Puravankara in FY22?
In FY22, we plan to launch close to 15 MSF. Of this, PHL accounts for 7 MSF. Puravankara and World Home Collection, respectively, will account for 3.5 MSF, whereas Purva Land will see close to 4 MSF of development. PHL will dominate launch pipeline (in terms of MSF) this fiscal. We will foray into newer markets such as Kochi, Mumbai and Pune, with around 3,500 units combined. In total, we will develop nearly 3.26 MSF in these regions and will launch these projects over the next few quarters.
Q. How has Puravankara leveraged the digital medium?
We launched our virtual, end-to-end booking engine, BookMyHomeNow, for PHL in FY19-20. It allows homebuyers to see through projects, evaluate individual units and book properties without physically visiting them. In June 2020, we became one of the first developers in India to virtually launch projects.
Q. What are your plans for Mumbai?
In March 2021, we launched Purva Clermont, which is part of our ultra-luxury Worldhome Collection. The project marked our re-entry into Mumbai after three decades. In the upcoming quarters, we have two more residential projects lined up in Mumbai and Pune. These will be unveiled as part of Provident Housing. In congruence with all our Provident offerings, both these projects will be equipped with superior infrastructure, high-end amenities and cater to the aspirations of first-time and mid-income segment homebuyers. In total, these projects will account for up to around 3 MSF.
Q. How would you analyse housing demand in Tier II and III cities?
Our market research has indicated buoyant customer sentiment in cities like Pune, Coimbatore and Kochi. This is substantiated by a steady rise in demand for ready-to-move-in inventory and a marked preference among homebuyers for branded developers. We anticipate that the momentum of both residential and plotted developments will continue to pick up in these regions. As part of our long-term commitment to invest in tier II cities, we have planned a plotted development project under Purva Land in Coimbatore. Additionally, we will launch a residential project in Kochi and Pune, under Provident Housing, this fiscal.
