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The real-estate market may be facing rough weather with slowdown in property sales due to high mortgage and oversupply, but that is not deterring
Bangalore’s Puravankara Projects Ltd to project margins of Rs 2,000-2,500 per sq ft on its land bank over the next six years. 

This is way above the margin of Rs 1,100 per sq ft that analysts are predicting. A report brought out by Centrum Broking Pvt Ltd on Tuesday states that based on Puravankara’s future realisation of Rs 3,200, and given that construction cost and other expenses remain the same, the company would be making around Rs 1,100 per sq ft. 

However, Ravi Ramu, Puravankara’s director, finance, says Centrum’s estimate is understated. “Based on the average sales price, construction cost and land prices, we expect to make Rs 2,000-2,500 per sq ft on each of our land banks,” forecasts Ramu. So what is guiding Ramu’s optimistic projection? 

He says that Puravankara has an edge over other developers because of its land cost competitiveness, which is just Rs 97 per sq ft. Its rivals like DLF and Unitech, which are now trying to enter the South Indian real estate market, have an average land cost of Rs 252 per sq ft and Rs 169 per sq ft respectively. 

Other developers like Sobha (Rs 221 per sq ft), Parsvnath (Rs 256 per sq ft), HDIL (Rs 127 per sq ft) and Omaxe (Rs 146 per sq ft) also have an average land cost higher than Puravankara. The other reason why the south-based builder has set high margin target is its complete reliance on inhouse construction and direct sales force, which helps its save on contractor’s margins. 

“When you outsource your contracting job, you sacrifice on that margin. As we have inhouse resources to execute a project from conceptualisation to completion, it enhances our margins,” says Ramu. 

The company would also be increasing its reliance on technology rather than labour. This is expected to save it time, labour and cost, which in turn would improve its revenues in the medium to long term. 

“We have already initiated talks with North Ireland-based Mivan Group’s Malaysian subsidiary for importing construction equipment. We are trying to bring in more mechanisation in our project development so that shortage of labour does not affect us negatively,” says Ramu. 

Puravankara’s margins would also be boosted through its diversification into commercial space. Currently, its revenue mix consists of 98% residentialand 2% commercial. This would change to 72% residential and 28% commercial by 2010. 

This is something that is being looked upon as a positive by analysts. “We are excited about the shift in focus towards the commercial office vertical, which has relatively higher yield per acre as compared middle income housing vertical,” say Siddharth Bothra and Satyam Agarwal of Motilal Oswal in their report dated September 17. 

The duo has expressed concern over the builder’s concentration of land bank (72%) in
Bangalore. Analysts also feel that Puravanakara’s current construction cost at Rs 1,350 per sq ft is a bit on the higher side compared to normal cost of Rs 1,200-1,250 per sq ft.

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