Is real estate booming in India?

Considering that real estate in India has grown 25-30% during the last 5 years and reflecting on the rapidly increasing demand for office, commercial and industrial properties. The economic meltdown is already slowing due to high inflation and a acute liquidity crunch. Earlier GDP growth estimates of 9% at the beginning of 2008 have been revised to below 7%, and the effect is directly visible in the real estate sector - expect more jobs cuts and spending freezing. Central banks are cutting interest rates to cure some issues, not all of them.

Property sales in Mumbai and Chennai are down by around 35%. Builders are advertising for cash discounts on down payments, but as investments have lost value at stock markets, most middle-class Indians do not have the money to buy a property or maybe they do not want to gamble anymore. We are heading for a cyclical slowdown even before the current economic slump with even prices of construction material rising. Housing loan rates also went from about 7% to 12% plus, booming for some and not for many others.