India’s listed residential developers experienced a mixed first quarter, with lower launches and approval delays impacting pre-sales, but strong demand from customers suggesting resilience in the housing cycle amid cost pressures and geopolitical tensions.
India’s listed residential developers delivered a mixed set of first-quarter results, as lower launches, delayed approvals and a tough comparison base weighed on pre-sales, even as analysts said underlying demand remained intact. Business Standard reported that customer response stayed healthy for projects brought to market during the period, suggesting the softer numbers reflected timing rather than a broad weakening in the housing cycle.
Akshay Shetty, research analyst for capital market strategy at Mirae Asset Sharekhan, described the quarter as a mixed one for listed developers, with performance shaped more by launch schedules and approval delays than by a fall-off in demand. Godrej Properties led the pack with bookings of ₹8,651 crore, up 22 per cent from a year earlier, while Lodha posted ₹4,629 crore, up 4 per cent despite a limited launch pipeline. Prestige Estates, by contrast, saw bookings fall 46 per cent to ₹6,579 crore, while Oberoi Realty reported a 35.93 per cent decline and DLF’s bookings dropped sharply because it had no new launches in the quarter.
Vijay Agrawal, managing director of infrastructure at Equirus Capital, said pre-sales across the listed universe fell about 24 per cent year on year and 26 per cent quarter on quarter, but collections still rose around 13 per cent, indicating continued execution and payment discipline. Pankaj Kumar, vice-president of fundamental research at Kotak Securities, said profitability was uneven because revenue recognition depends heavily on project completions, handovers and mix, rather than only on bookings. Sobha’s separately reported results showed how that can work in the other direction too: the company posted a more than threefold rise in profit in Q1 on the back of a 50 per cent increase in revenue.
Developers also had to contend with cost pressure linked to tensions in West Asia, especially in April and May, when fuel, logistics and energy-sensitive materials such as aluminium, concrete, tiles and marble became more expensive, according to analysts. Prashant Thakur, executive director and head of research and advisory at Anarock Group, said the effect on margins was limited, and Lodha has said roughly 95 per cent of its supply chain is domestic. Even in a prolonged disruption, the company expects costs to rise only 1 to 1.5 per cent, which would trim margins by just 35 to 75 basis points over a project’s life.
Analysts said the quarter’s moderation should not be read as a structural slowdown in housing demand. Agrawal said geopolitical uncertainty briefly hurt footfalls and slowed decisions in April, particularly among some non-resident Indian and premium buyers, but momentum improved in May and June. Shetty said demand for projects from large branded developers remains healthy, and expects sales to improve as delayed approvals clear and more launches reach the market in the second half of FY27.
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