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Bengaluru-based Prestige Estates is betting on the Mumbai property market, especially the affordable segment, to sustain its current growth rate. Irfan Razack, Chairman and Managing Director of Prestige Group, told CNBC-TV18 that the company is looking at Mumbai as the top contributor to its revenue.

Having forayed into Mumbai earlier this year, Prestige Estates is focused on affordability in the market. "Mumbai has given us around Rs 1,100-1,200 crore out of Rs 6,500 crore that has happened in the first half (of the financial year)," he said.

The group's sales more than doubled to Rs 6,523.1 crore for the six months ended September 2022 compared with the year-ago period. Its collections increased to Rs 4,749.3 crore, up 85 percent on a year-on-year basis.

He believes Mumbai will be the number one market for the company in the future.

The remarks from the top helm of the property developer — which operates in residential, office, and hospitality segments — come at a time when the sector is eyeing the ongoing festive season in a rising interest rate environment.

Many experts see a bull cycle in the real estate space riding on optimism around a pickup in sales and launches on a low base.

Prestige Estates, which also has operations in Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad and Goa, besides Mumbai, is poised to exceed its growth rate in the year's second half ending March 2023.

"We brought some good products. The challenge always is balancing the overall affordability factor and how to get the numbers because everybody can't afford a Rs 10-20 crore home. So that's the problem everywhere, in every market, including Bengaluru and Hyderabad... Our eyes are always on to have a proper mix so that the volumes also keep coming," he said.

In a business update this week, Prestige Estates said its sales jumped 66 percent to Rs 3,511 crore for the July-September period, up 66 percent compared with the corresponding period a year ago. Its collections rose 68 percent to Rs 2,602.9 crore.

The management said its Prestige City Projects in Bengaluru and

Mumbai received a tremendous response, exuding confidence in sustaining business momentum to achieve its next level of growth. "We are excited to see new launches from various geographies, which will be contributing to sales in the coming quarters," Razack said in the operational update.

Prestige Group aims to create more inventory following clearances, he told CNBC-TV18.

"The only thing is that we need to get more and more inventory; we need to get more launches to achieve these numbers. And that's a function of getting approvals and getting all the RERA numbers on time. And I'm sure the team is working towards that, and it will achieve it," he said.

Although Razack warned of the possibility of "one lumpy quarter", he said that the company will sustain its growth momentum at the end of the day and "will probably exceed what we've done in the first half".

Real estate is among the worst-hit spaces on Dalal Street so far this year.

Prestige Estates shares have lost 3.7 percent of their value in the past month, a period in which the Nifty50 benchmark has declined 0.6 percent.

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