Targeting higher sales, launches: M3M’s Bansal

How has the home sales momentum been for M3M this year? 

The real estate sector is on a bull run. Last year (2021-22) was the best year for us as developers, in the past decade. In terms of gross sales, M3M and Smart World together did about ₹10,500 crore of sales bookings. This year, too, the momentum has been the same for us and we expect it to only grow. In the April-June quarter, we have already done ₹2,350 crore sales. Developers who have been delivering and executing projects have seen great results in terms of sales. 

Home prices have been on the rise. What is M3M’s pricing strategy? 

In north India, the market has been growing and residential prices have gone up by 10-15%, compared to even a quarter earlier. Prices in plotted development projects have gone up as high as 1.5-2 times. In our residential project M3M Capital on Dwarka Expressway, which was launched in March, we started sales at ₹9,750 sq. ft, which then went up to ₹10,700 sq. ft. Last month, we sold at ₹11,500 sq ft in the same project. The total sales in the project, including March sales, is ₹1,500 crore so far. So, we are increasing prices, but in a staggered and thoughtful manner. 

What’s the status of the Trump Tower project in Gurugram? 

The Trump Tower project is in the last leg of development. We are aiming to deliver the project in 2023. Out of the 200 odd units, about 40 units remain to be sold. The demand continues to be good, in line with luxury residential projects, and we have also increased prices in the project by about 12% in the last six months. 

What’s M3M’s sales outlook and launch pipeline in 2022-23? 

I don’t think sales will slow down. However, I do feel that the way prices are rising, especially in NCR, if that doesn’t become a concern and timely project deliveries continue to happen, then the real estate market will continue to grow. At any point, if there is a failure in delivery of projects, by any developer, then there could again be an adverse impact. We are targeting over ₹10,000 crore of sales in M3M individually. In 2022-23, we are planning almost three launches every quarter, all of them in Gurugram. It will be a mix of residential, retail and shop-cum-offices (SCO) plotted projects. 

What kind of acquisition opportunities are you exploring? 

Developers who are stuck are looking to exit their projects, where a larger developer can acquire their land parcel. Secondly, some developers who already had approvals for a residential or commercial project, have launched plotted developments, because of the sales momentum and investor interest. 

As a strategy, we are not looking to acquire projects that have been launched, wherein third-party rights have already been created. We are looking at greenfield developments, where land was lying as collateral with the banks of those developers. We may acquire those land parcels via banks or developer and bank together. We are currently in talks for two large land acquisitions for plotted projects.

What’s the development plan on land M3M had bought from Sahara Group?

The Sahara land has been planned as a large, integrated development across 200 acres. After the M3M Capital project launch of 1,700 units we are gearing up to launch a million sq. ft retail development. Last year, we had launched a shop-cum-office plotted project on 7 acres, which we have delivered. In this quarter, we are aiming to launch another 10 acres on the same land parcel, which will have 1,300 residential units.

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