India’s real estate market yet to enter ‘takeoff phase’, says Abhishek Lodha
Lodha Developers’ CEO and MD, Abhishek Lodha, said that the Indian housing sector is undergoing a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ transition from low to mid-income housing
Mumbai-based listed real estate developer, Lodha Developers’ CEO and MD, Abhishek Lodha, has said that India's real estate market is "still on the runway, it hasn’t reached the takeoff phase yet” and is only beginning to gain momentum.
“We (India's real estate market) are still sort of, I would say, the plane is on the runway. It is not even gotten to kind of takeoff phase. It is just kind of moving along on the runway. That is how we think the cycle is,” Lodha said during the company’s Q2 FY26 earnings call recently.
"Yes, sometimes there will be a situation, there will be a backup on the runway. The plane will have to pause for a few minutes, or it might be a few quarters in this context. But we have many years ahead in the cycle," Lodha said.
He noted that the Indian housing sector is undergoing a “once-in-a-lifetime transition” from low-income to mid-income housing.
"Wherever such transitions have happened in large economies, they have witnessed very long real estate cycles, typically 15 to 20 years. We think India will also have a cycle that long. We are only four or five years out of that very long cycle. It does not mean we never had a bad year; we can, of course, have a bad year," Lodha said during the call.
According to Lodha, from a structural standpoint, the ongoing cycle is expected to be much longer, as the demand required to meet India’s housing needs will take considerable time for the supply side to catch up.
"I think that the real estate cycle has not even gotten started. It will only get started when GDP per capita crosses $4,000 to $4,500. So we are still a few years before real estate really takes off," Lodha said.
Also Read: Buying a property is better than renting one: Abhishek Lodha
Half of Lodha's sales are from the mid-income segment
Lodha noted that this year mid-income housing has started picking up on the back of the support from the government, “in the form of interest rate cuts, income tax relief and other measures. As a result, the overall trend may shift slightly compared to last year.”
Speaking about the sales mix, Lodha stated that 50% of the company’s sales come from the mid-income segment.
"We have about 12% to 15% coming from the luxury segment, and the balance coming from the previous segment. So, that is how our business mix is, and that is what we like it to be, because we do not really want to take a view that only luxury will perform or only mid-income will perform," Lodha said.
Also Read: Housing demand continues to remain robust, says Abhishek Lodha of Lodha Developers
Q2 FY26 financial results
Lodha Developers Ltd reported an 87% increase in its consolidated net profit to ₹789.8 crore for the second quarter of FY26 compared to ₹423 crore during the same period last year.
The company's total income increased by approximately 44% to ₹3,878.7 crore in Q2 FY26, compared to ₹2,684.6 crore during the same period in the previous year.
According to the company, in Q2FY26, it added one location in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) with a GDV of ₹2,300 crore, in addition to the five locations with a GDV of ₹22,700 crore added in Q1FY26.
In total, Lodha Developers has delivered 110 million square feet of real estate and is currently developing more than 130 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio, as per the company.
