The net debt of the top eight real estate developers collectively reduced by almost half to approximately ₹20,808 crore by Q1 FY 2025, from over ₹44,817 crore in Q4 FY 2019, due to an increase in property sales, an analysis by Anarock showed.
The top developers to see a significant debt reduction between Q4 FY 2019 and Q1 FY 2025 are DLF Ltd. (165+% decline by gaining surplus cash of ₹2,896 crore.) and Kolte Patil (107% reduction by gaining surplus cash of ₹37 crore). Lodha reduced its net debt by 83% from Q4 FY2019 to Q1 FY25, the analysis showed.
“An analysis of the financial data of the top eight listed developers by ANAROCK shows a significant rise in their sales revenue, and their net debt has reduced by over 54% from the previous peak in FY 2019,” said Prashant Thakur, Regional Director and Head – Research, ANAROCK Group.
The top 8 listed players – Sobha Ltd., Puravankara Ltd., Prestige Estates, Kolte Patil, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd., Godrej Properties Ltd., DLF Limited, and Lodha Developers (Macrotech) – regularly report their cost of debt in investor presentations, it said.
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“Some players even saw their net debt rise in this period,” he said.
“However, these developers also saw a high jump in their booking values over the year. The rise in debt is mainly due to their aggressive expansion across the geographies – many have been on a land buying spree across cities,” he added.
Net debt declines due to an increase in booking values
The net debt decline of the other players is due to the significant jump seen in the booking values over the last few quarters. According to their investor presentations, FY 2019 saw these top 8 listed players with a collective booking value of ₹27,144 crore; in FY2024, it increased to approximately ₹90,573 crore – thereby rising by a whopping 234% in this period, it showed.
Interestingly, the first quarter of this financial year (Q1 FY2025) alone saw their collective booking value at ₹26,832 crore – nearly 99% of the total value clocked in the entire FY 2019, and 30% of the total value in the whole of FY 2024. This is significant, considering that there are three more quarters left in the ongoing financial year.