Keystone Realtors to Invest Rs 900 Crore in Residential Projects this Fiscal

Keystone Realtors, a prominent real estate developer operating under the Rustomjee brand, plans to significantly ramp up its investment in residential construction to Rs 800-900 crore during the current fiscal year. This move is part of the company's broader strategy to enhance its execution capabilities and capitalize on the strong demand in the housing market.

Boman Irani, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Keystone Realtors and president of the realtors' apex body CREDAI, detailed the company’s investment strategy. "We will be investing around Rs 800-900 crore in construction alone this fiscal, compared to approximately Rs 400 crore last year", Irani said. He emphasized that this substantial investment would also include land purchases to support business expansion.

Keystone Realtors currently holds surplus liquidity of approximately Rs 3,000 crore, which will be used to fund these growth initiatives. The company raised Rs 800 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) and leveraged its internal cash flow for additional capital.

Irani expressed confidence in the market’s robustness, targeting a 32 percent increase in sales bookings this fiscal year, aiming to reach Rs 3,000 crore. "We are optimistic about surpassing this target", he added. In the first quarter of the fiscal year, the company achieved pre-sales of Rs 611 crore, a 22 percent increase from Rs 502 crore in the same period last year. For the entire 2023-24 fiscal year, Keystone Realtors reported property sales worth Rs 2,266 crore.

Despite these positive developments, the company experienced a 45 percent drop in consolidated net profit, which fell to Rs 25.82 crore for the June quarter due to rising expenses. This was a decrease from Rs 46.97 crore in the same quarter of the previous year. However, total income increased to Rs 437.20 crore for the April-June period, up from Rs 282.82 crore a year earlier. The rise in expenses, which grew to Rs 398.16 crore from Rs 216.54 crore, was attributed to increased construction costs.

In line with its growth strategy, Keystone Realtors launched two new projects in the June quarter, with an estimated Gross Development Value (GDV) of Rs 2,017 crore. The company also acquired another project in the first quarter, valued at Rs 984 crore. With 34 completed projects, 15 ongoing, and 27 upcoming, Keystone Realtors has delivered over 25 million square feet of construction and has a pipeline of more than 43 million square feet in progress.