Real estate firm Sobha Ltd’s sales bookings fell by 12 per cent to Rs 559 crore during the second quarter of this fiscal due to poor demand. The company had posted sales bookings of Rs 632.3 crore in the year-ago period.

“The company during the quarter achieved new sales of 8,33,991 sq ft valued at Rs 5.59 billion with an average realisation of Rs 6,703 per sq ft,” Bangalore-based Sobha said in its operational update for the July-September quarter.

Sales volume dropped to 8.33 lakh sq ft during the second quarter of the current fiscal from 10.03 lakh sq ft in the year-ago period. However, sales realisation improved by 6.32 per cent to Rs 6,703 per sq ft.

“During the quarter, the company has delivered a stable and consistent performance in all its southern markets. The real demand in the northern and western markets as a whole continues to be weak and the company remains cautious about these micro-markets in the medium term,” Sobha said.

The company said there has been an uptick in the general business sentiments post formation of the new government at the Centre.

“Whilst the steps being taken by the new government enthuse optimism, the same is yet to translate into a significant revival of demand in the real estate sector,” it added.

On a relative basis, the demand in the southern markets continued to be stable compared to the other markets.

During the first six months of this fiscal, Sobha’s sales bookings fell to Rs Rs 1,041.2 crore from Rs 1,235.1 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.

Sobha’s sales bookings stood at Rs 2,343 crore during the full 2013-14 financial year but missed the target of Rs 2,600 crore due to slowdown in demand, especially in the NCR-Gurgaon region.

“With the approaching festive season and an expected improvement of overall performance in the second half of the fiscal, the company remains positive about achieving the guidance set for the year (2014-15 fiscal),” Sobha said.

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