Godrej Properties on Tuesday reported an 84 per cent increase in sales booking last fiscal to a record Rs 22,500 crore on higher volumes and launch of premium housing projects amid strong consumer demand.
Shares of the company zoomed 7.85 per cent to hit a 52-week-high of Rs 2,791.20 on the BSE in day trade. The stock closed up 4.64 per cent at Rs 2,708 per share.
Godrej Properties sold 14,310 homes during the last fiscal and has surpassed the sales booking numbers of Bengaluru-based Prestige Group, which on Monday reported pre-sales of Rs 21,040 crore during 2023-24.
Mumbai-based Godrej Properties, part of business conglomerate Godrej Group, may emerge as the largest listed real estate developer in terms of sales bookings in the 2023-24 financial year.
Among major developers registering bumper sales numbers, Macrotech Developers (Lodha Group) has reported sales of Rs 14,520 crore in the previous fiscal.
DLF is yet to announce its numbers for the full 2023-24 but the company has already sold properties worth Rs 13,316 crore during the first nine months of this fiscal.
In a regulatory filing, Godrej Properties said the company has achieved its best-ever quarterly and annual sales during the fourth quarter of the last fiscal and for the full 2023-24, respectively.
Its sales bookings during the last fiscal grew by 84 per cent year-on-year to more than Rs 22,500 crore. In volume terms, the sales bookings rose 31 per cent year-on-year during the entire last fiscal to 20 million square feet (sq ft).
“This is the highest-ever annual sales announced to date by any publicly listed real estate developer in India. This was achieved through the sale of 14,310 homes with a total area of 20 million sq ft,” the company said.
In an interview with PTI, Godrej Properties Executive Chairperson Pirojsha Godrej said, “We had a slow start but we are happy to have caught up. The team has been performing very well and the market is being very supportive”.
He noted that sales bookings in the Delhi-NCR market crossed Rs 10,000 crore in the last fiscal and said the company plans to launch multiple housing projects in Delhi, Noida and Gurugram in the current financial year.
Asked about factors driving sales, Pirojsha said the real estate sector has turned into an upcycle since 2022 and there is a lot of “consumer exuberance”. He said the customers especially while buying under-construction properties are preferring top developers who have financial wherewithal to deliver projects.
“In the last boom time in early 2000, people have burnt their fingers badly while buying homes from less strong developers,” he pointed out. Pirojsha said the company’s strategy to expand business across major cities and the decision to acquire land during the downturn of the real estate sector have helped the company achieve record sales.
