Real estate stocks in focus; Sobha, Indiabulls up over 3%

At 09:53 am; the Nifty Realty index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 2.8% at 258, trading close to its 52-week high of 264 hit on April 26, in intra-day trade. In comparison, Nifty 50 index was up 0.51 at 9,351.

Ansal Buildwell, Hubtown, D B Realty, Ajmera Realty and Kolte-Patil Developers, the non-index real estate stocks, were too trading higher in the range of 3% to 9% on the BSE.

Thus far in the calendar year 2017, the Nifty Realty index rallied 56%, compared with 14% rise in the Nifty 50 index.

This is amid multiple developments on the reform front – from the implementation of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), to amendments in Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) regulations, which are seen as a long-term positive. RERA came into force with effect from May 1, 2017.

Ongoing projects have been given three months (up to July 2017) to comply with RERA regulations. The period, therefore, is likely to witness subdued activity in terms of launches as developers prepare to comply with the new norms, rating agency CRISIL Research said in a recent report.

Meanwhile, only 13 states and union territories (UTs) have so far notified rules. Maharashtra was the first state to detail RERA regulations.

“While the draft Maharashtra RERA rules (issued in December 2016) had relaxed a few clauses of the central RERA, the final notification is quite in line with the central Act,” said CRISIL.

“Considering that many states are yet to notify the rules, CRISIL Research expects a positive impact (on the real estate sector at all-India level) to be visible only towards the end of 2017,” it added.