Gujarat’s Real Estate Hits A Rough Patch With Record Number Of Unsold Units

A startling report from the Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority (GujRERA) offers a closer look. Since the enactment of the RERA law, the state has seen nearly 13,463 real estate projects registered covering around 16.22 lakh housing units. But here’s where the slowdown really shows: only 8.94 lakh of those units have been sold. That leaves a sizeable chunk of 7.28 lakh units still waiting for buyers. Meanwhile, developers have already sunk ₹4.23 lakh crore into these projects.

In Gujarat RERA annual report for 2023-24, Anita Karwal, the current chairperson (and former IAS officer), acknowledged that the RERA Act has played a vital role in bring more order and trust into the sector. Disputes between buyers and developers have gone down, which is no small win. But the numbers are still eye-opening. Here’s how the unsold inventory stacks up:

The report further highlights that 54% of all registered projects under GujRERA have been completed. Ahmedabad, unsurprisingly, leads the pack with the highest number of registered projects and has pulled in about ₹1.76 lakh crore in investments. In just the last year, the city saw 1.87 lakh new units being added. The report classifies projects by type and value, showing that the majority are valued below ₹25 crore.

There is a notable trend: very few projects valued at ₹100 crore or more are being registered. Demand remains higher for residential and mixed development projects compared to commercial and plotted developments.

One outlier is Surat. It is the only city where a significant number of ₹100 crore-plus projects have popped up recently. Elsewhere, the action remains concentrated in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, and Gandhinagar. Of these, Ahmedabad has the most projects—4,224 but it also has the highest number of unsold homes: nearly 2,49,980 units.