Interpreting India - Vaidehi Tandel and Sahil Gandhi on How Real Estate Sector Reforms Have Impacted Housing Prices

Vaidehi Tandel and Sahil Gandhi on How Real Estate Sector Reforms Have Impacted Housing Prices

06/29/23 • 49 min

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The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act was introduced in 2016 to protect consumers who had invested in residential real estate projects from malpractices by real estate developers. After the law was passed, most states established real estate regulatory authorities to register and oversee the conduct of real estate developers.

What changes did this act try to bring in, and how has this regulatory change benefited consumers? Is the increased information about property litigation that the Maharashtra RERA provides affecting housing prices? Does RERA reduce information asymmetry in the housing market?

In this episode of Interpreting India, Vaidehi Tandel and Sahil Gandhi join Anirudh Burman to give us insights into these issues and more. They discuss their recent working paper, co-authored with Anupam Nanda and Nandini Agnihotri. Their study analyses how housing prices change in response to mandatory disclosures under the RERA. The paper is titled, “Do Mandatory Disclosures Squeeze the Lemons? The Case of Housing Markets in India.”

Episode Contributors

Vaidehi Tandel is an economist working in the areas of urban economics, political economy, and public finance, with a focus on India. Currently, Dr. Tandel is a lecturer in real estate and urban economics at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research has been featured in The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Straits Times, Livemint, and others. Her papers have been published in the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Urban Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, Environment and Urbanization, Cities, and BMJ Open, among others. Her current work looks at the politician-builder nexus in Mumbai, agglomeration economies in India, and climate change and adaptation across cities in developing countries.

Sahil Gandhi is an urban and real estate economist. Dr. Gandhi is a lecturer at The University of Manchester’s School of Environment, Education and Development. His research is in the fields of urban economics, real estate, and land economics. His recent papers are on vacant housing in India, migration and tenure choice, housing supply in Mumbai, and so on. His research has been published in the Journal of Urban Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, Environment and Urbanization, and Cities, among others. He has also led a report on affordable housing in India. Dr. Gandhi has bylines in international and Indian media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, and Livemint, among others. His research has also been cited in The Financial Times, The BBC, The Straits Times, Livemint, and more.

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Key Moments

(0:00); Introduction

(2:39); Chapter 1: The Context Behind RERA

(9:56); Chapter 2: Key Regulatory Changes

(15:21); Chapter 3: The Case of Maharashtra’s RERA

(17:27); Chapter 4: Mumbai’s High Proportion of Litigated Projects

(23:04); Chapter 5: The Aim and Findings of the Study

(27:35); Chapter 6: Variations Across Housing Submarkets

(32:35); Chapter 7: Luxury Housing and Mandatory Disclosures

(35:02); Chapter 8: Non-Luxury Housing and Litigation Costs

(36:10); Chapter 9: RERA’s Impact on Low- and Middle-Income Consumers

(40:36); Chapter 10: Types of Litigation Faced by Projects

(43:44); Chapter 11: Future Research in Urban Economics

(48:22); Outro

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Additional Readings

Do Mandatory Disclosures Squeeze the Lemons? The Case of Housing Markets in India by Vaidehi Tandel, Sahil Gandhi, Anupam Nanda, and Nandini Agnihotri

Too Slow for the Urban March: Litigations and the Real Estate Market in Mumbai, India by Sahil Gandhi, Vaidehi Tandel, Alexander Tabarrok, and Shamika Ravi

View: ...

Episode Contributors

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Key Moments

(0:00); Introduction

(2:39); Chapter 1: The Context Behind RERA

(9:56); Chapter 2: Key Regulatory Changes

(15:21); Chapter 3: The Case of Maharashtra’s RERA

(17:27); Chapter 4: Mumbai’s High Proportion of Litigated Projects

(23:04); Chapter 5: The Aim and Findings of the Study

(27:35); Chapter 6: Variations Across Housing Submarkets

(32:35); Chapter 7: Luxury Housing and Mandatory Disclosures

(35:02); Chapter 8: Non-Luxury Housing and Litigation Costs

(36:10); Chapter 9: RERA’s Impact on Low- and Middle-Income Consumers

(40:36); Chapter 10: Types of Litigation Faced by Projects

(43:44); Chapter 11: Future Research in Urban Economics

(48:22); Outro

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Additional Readings

Do Mandatory Disclosures Squeeze the Lemons? The Case of Housing Markets in India by Vaidehi Tandel, Sahil Gandhi, Anupam Nanda, and Nandini Agnihotri

Too Slow for the Urban March: Litigations and the Real Estate Market in Mumbai, India by Sahil Gandhi, Vaidehi Tandel, Alexander Tabarrok, and Shamika Ravi

View: ...

Previous Episode

Arun K. Singh on the iCET and India-U.S. Relations

The iCET was launched on the sidelines of the Quad Summit in Tokyo in May 2022. Both U.S. President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the launch of this initiative, which was to be spearheaded by the National Security Councils of the two countries to expand partnership in critical and emerging technologies. Is the iCET more than just a deal? What is the case for comparisons between the iCET and the landmark India-U.S. Civilian Nuclear Deal? What makes the iCET different from earlier initiatives between India and the United States? Does Prime Minister Modi's upcoming state visit to the United States put the iCET under pressure to "deliver" something? What is the importance of export control measures in India-U.S. tech ties?

In this episode of Interpreting India, Arun K. Singh joins Konark Bhandari to discuss these questions and more.

Episode Contributors

Arun K. Singh is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie India. Mr. Singh has extensive experience across the globe, including as India’s ambassador to the United States, Israel, and France. Throughout his distinguished career in the Indian Foreign Service spanning thirty-seven years, he has served during pivotal periods in key global capitals and was instrumental in shaping India’s policies, notably the continued progress in the U.S.-India relationship, India’s closer ties to Israel, and the formulation and implementation of India’s policies related to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, including in the period following 9/11.

Konark Bhandari is an associate fellow with Carnegie India. Konark is a lawyer who has researched on certain areas in the digital economy, focusing primarily on approaches to antitrust regulation of companies in the digital realm.

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Key Moments:

(0:00); Chapter 1: Introduction

(2:00); Chapter 2: iCET vs. India-U.S. Civilian Nuclear Deal

(10:10); Chapter 3: Private Sector Involvement in the iCET

(14:26); Chapter 4: An AUKUS-like Carve-Out for India?

(17:48); Chapter 5: The Pressure to "Deliver" Under the iCET

(21:25); Chapter 6: Likely Deals and Expectations During PM Modi's Visit

(24:15); Chapter 7: Indian Tech Talent and U.S. Immigration Reforms

(26:47); Chapter 8: Arriving at a Consensus Under the iCET

(29:11); Chapter 9: The Key Factors Making the iCET a Great Bet

(32:17); Outro

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Additional Reading

India and the United States’ Good Bet: One Year of the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) by Konark Bhandari, Arun K. Singh, and Rudra Chaudhuri

To Compete With China on Tech, America Needs to Fix Its Immigration System by Eric Schmidt

America’s Bad Bet on India by Ashley J. Tellis

Forging a High-Technology Partnership Between the United States and India in the Age of Export Controls by Konark Bhandari

What is the United States-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET)? by Rudra Chaudhuri

The U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET): The Way Forward by Rudra Chaudhuri, Konark Bhandari, and Ashima Singh

How Washington and New Delhi Can Further Tech Ties by Rudra Chaudhuri, Priyadarshini D., Konark Bhandari, Arjun Kang Joseph, and Shatakratu Sahu

India-U.S. Emerging Technologies Working Group

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Next Episode

Rahul Verma on the Debate on Democratic Backsliding in India

In recent years, international indices and rankings such as the Democracy Index and the V-Dem Index have downgraded India’s democracy. Although there are significant differences in the degrees of downgrading, most major indices suggest that Indian democracy is backsliding.

Meanwhile, India is witnessing an increase in voter turnout, and people continue to participate actively and vociferously in politics. What is the reason for this disconnect between scholarly understandings of Indian democracy and ground realities?

To help us make sense of this dichotomy, Rahul Verma joins Suyash Rai to discuss his recent essay titled “The Exaggerated Death of Indian Democracy.” In the essay, Dr. Verma argues that the claims of democratic backsliding in India are somewhat exaggerated.

Episode Contributors

Rahul Verma is a fellow at the Center for Policy Research and a visiting assistant professor at Ashoka University. His research interests include voting behavior, party politics, political violence, and the media. Dr. Verma has published papers in Asian Survey, Economic & Political Weekly, and Studies in Indian Politics. His book, co-authored with Professor Pradeep Chhibber, Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India, develops a new approach to defining the contours of what constitutes an ideology in multiethnic countries such as India. He has a PhD in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Suyash Rai is a deputy director and fellow at Carnegie India. His research focuses on the political economy of economic reforms and the performance of public institutions in India. His current research looks at the financial sector, the fiscal system, and the infrastructure sector.

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Additional Readings

The Exaggerated Death of Indian Democracy by Rahul Verma

“Symposium: Is India Still a Democracy?” Journal of Democracy, July 2023

The Possibilities of Indian Electoral Politics by Suyash Rai

Understanding the Debate on Democratic Backsliding Through Two Papers by Suyash Rai

Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India by Pradeep K. Chhibber and Rahul Verma

The Rise of the Second Dominant Party System in India: BJP’s New Social Coalition in 2019 by Pradeep K. Chhibber and Rahul Verma

Dalits in the New Millennium, edited by Sudha Pai, D. Shyam Babu, and Rahul Verma

How India’s Ruling Party Erodes Democracy by Ashutosh Varshney

The Expanding Role of Majoritarianism in India by Suhas Palshikar

Understanding the Nature of Party Competition and Politics of Majoritarianism by Suhas Palshikar