Realty firm Macrotech Developers Ltd on Thursday reported a 57 per cent increase in its sales bookings during the July-September quarter to Rs 3,148 crore on strong housing demand despite the rise in mortgage rate.

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Macrotech Developers, which sells its properties under the Lodha brand, is one of the leading real estate firms in the country.

Its sales bookings stood at Rs 2,003 crore in the year-ago period.

"Lodha achieved its best ever Q2 pre-sales performance of Rs 3,148 crore, showing a growth of 57 per cent on a YoY (year-on-year) basis," the company said in a regulatory filing.

During the April-September period, the company has clocked record sales bookings of Rs 6,004 crore, more than half of its Rs 11,500 crore sales guidance for the full 2022-23 financial year.

On operational performance, Macrotech Developers MD and CEO Abhishek Lodha said the sales bookings have risen despite July-September being the seasonally weakest quarter because of the monsoon and inauspicious period (Pitrupaksh/Shraadh).

"...It is the 2nd time in the last 3 quarters when we have surpassed Rs 3,000 crore of pre-sales, suggesting a strong underlying housing demand, the attraction of Lodha Brand among consumers, and the strength of our organisation," he said.

Abhishek expects the sales momentum to continue in the current festive quarter and fourth quarter of this fiscal as consumer sentiment towards owning homes remains robust in the country.

"We believe that we are witnessing the beginning of a long-term up-cycle for quality housing driven by strong job creation, good affordability, and low levels of existing home ownership in urban areas," he said.

As prices rise in a reasonable manner, Abhishek said, the demand will continue to accelerate and will lead to a significant increase in volumes, particularly in mid-income and affordable housing segments.

The company will focus on significant volume growth accompanied by modest price growth.

"Our strong performance in H1 FY23, in spite of rising home loan rates and rising prices evidences the strength of housing demand from Tier-1 developers in India and indicates the start of a long-term up-cycle for quality housing in India," the company said.

The net debt of the company reduced marginally to Rs 8,796 crores at the end of the September quarter.

On London investments, Macrotech Developers said that the USD 225 million bonds were fully repaid in September 2022, six months ahead of schedule.

With this, there is no further obligation on its balance sheet with respect to the London investments.

"Further, this quarter saw the repatriation of about Rs 100 crore from the UK to India. In spite of the challenging economic environment in the UK, we expect additional repatriation of about Rs 1,000 crore from the UK to India in CY (calendar year) 2023," the filing said.

Macrotech Developers has delivered more than 86 million square feet of real estate and is currently developing around 100 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio.

Lodha Group has approximately 4,400 acres of land beyond its ongoing and planned portfolio, which will be utilised in developing further residential, commercial and industrial and logistics spaces.