BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian real estate developer Godrej Properties Ltd said it expects value of bookings for fiscal 2024 to rise by 15% after reporting a 58.2% jump in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday.
The Godrej Group-owned firm’s consolidated net profit rose to 4.12 billion rupees ($50.34 million), from 2.60 billion rupees a year earlier, aided by strong sales and robust demand for housing.
The company expects bookings of 140 billion rupees for the current fiscal, higher than the 123.32 billion rupees in fiscal 2023, which beat its own forecast.
Godrej Properties and other realty firms like Sobha Ltd and Macrotech Developers Ltd logged record sales and a strong growth in project launches for the quarter as well as the fiscal year as demand for housing remained resilient despite a 250-basis points rise in lending rates for the full year.
Real estate consulting firm Anarock had said in a note that sales in the country’s top seven cities grew 14% year-on-year during the three months ended March 31 due to a rising desire for home ownership.
A pause in the rate hike cycle could aid growth in the industry, hit by successive waves of COVID-19 over the last three years.
The company said its revenue for the quarter grew 23.7% to 16.46 billion rupees, adding it would raise up to 20 billion rupees via debt.
Shares of Godrej Properties rose 2% immediately after reporting results, but have since been flat. The stock is up 8.7% this year, at current levels.
($1 = 81.8430 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
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