Rishi Raj of Max Estates says the company is in a good position to expand both its commercial and residential operations.

In an exclusive interview, Rishi Raj of Max Estates talks about the NCR’s realty market and shares his business outlook and growth strategy.

In an interview, Rishi Raj, COO of Max Estates, discusses the realty market in Delhi-NCR and shares his business outlook and growth strategy. According to Raj, the residential sector has improved transparency, enabled access to quality information, and driven significant overhaul in the competitive landscape. The rise in affordability levels due to low interest rates, rising income levels, and significant correction in unit level pricing in real terms over the last many years, clubbed with multi-pronged policy incentives, have revived the underlying demand for the housing sector. Raj believes that COVID has played its role in shifting back the balance from sharing to owning mindset when it comes to housing, even among younger generations. He added that demand for housing has sustained, absorbing price increase by developers potentially due to end use being at the core of upsurge in demand vs. speculative investments. In Q3 2021, the growth of sales of residential units in Delhi NCR continued. In the 9 months of CY 2022, NCR's residential market maintained demand momentum with total sales of 40,115 units, which is two times of last year, and the highest sales clocked since 2013.

Regarding the office market of NCR, Raj believes that in addition to "location," the overall "product quality" and "experience" within the community have become key drivers of differentiation. He further added that this shift has been further accelerated by Covid. With limited supply to cater to such demands of quality workplaces, renewals of existing tenants are also at an all-time high. In the post Covid-19 era, several conglomerates are exploring the hub-and-spoke model, reducing the distance between home and office. This redistribution of demand has yielded an advantage to Delhi NCR and it is emerging as the preferred location for core office set-ups even within the hybrid workspace model. As a Grade A+ office space player that provides an unparalleled experience, Max Estates has certainly emerged as a strong player in the market. Max Estates has developed a portfolio of three office assets in Delhi NCR, comprising a portfolio of 1.5 mn square feet.