New Delhi, June 24: Business conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji's housing platform Joyville sold properties worth around Rs 1,100 crore in the last financial year, double from the previous year, on strong demand for its apartments amid low-interest rates on home loans, a top company official said.

Joyville, which is a Rs 1,240 crore platform established by Shapoorji Pallonji, ADB, IFC and Actis, has so far launched six housing projects in four major cities. In an interview with PTI, Joyville Shapoorji Housing Managing Director Sriram Mahadevan said the financial year 2020-21 was "the best year" for Joyville despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

"In terms of volume, we sold around 2,000 properties during the 2020-21 fiscal, up 150 per cent from the previous year in which we sold 800 units," he told PTI. Asheri Fort in Palghar Sees Overcrowding of Tourists and Trekkers, Over 250 Booked for Flouting Social Distancing Norms (Watch Video).

Mahadevan said the sales bookings in value terms doubled to Rs 1,100 crore last financial year from Rs 550 crore in the 2019-20 financial year.

He attributed various factors for the company's robust performance during the last fiscal year.

These include pent up demand because of the nationwide lockdown, low interest rates on home loans, Maharashtra government's decision to cut stamp duty on registration of properties and new launches of projects by the company across various cities.

"All these factors helped to bounce back. It may sound strange but last fiscal was the best year for Joyville," Mahadevan said. After the nationwide lockdown was imposed in late March last year, he said the company created a digital platform to give virtual tours of projects to customers. "This digital platform helped us a lot in connecting with the customers," Mahadevan said.

In view of the adoption of the Work from Home concept amid the pandemic, he said people are looking to buy their first home and those who already own flats want to upgrade to bigger flats with better amenities.

Mahadevan also observed that the housing demand is consolidating towards branded builders having better execution track records. On business expansion, he said the company is looking to acquire some land parcels in Mumbai and Pune.

So far, six housing projects have been launched under the Joyville platform -- three in Pune and one each in Mumbai, Kolkata and Gurugram. During the last financial year, Joyville launched two new projects in Pune. It also started a new phase of its housing projects in Gurugram, Haryana, and Kolkata.

Apart from this platform, Shapoorji Pallonji group firm Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate has a development pipeline of over 80 million sq ft. Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate and Joyville are not listed entities. Most of the real estate developers, which are listed on the stock exchanges, report their sales booking numbers on a quarterly and annual basis. Unlisted companies generally do not disclose their numbers.

Among listed entities, Mumbai-based Godrej Properties has achieved the highest sales bookings during the 2020-21 fiscal year, surpassing Macrotech Developers', erstwhile Lodha Developers, numbers. Godrej Properties reported a 14 per cent rise in sales bookings to record Rs 6,725 crore during the last fiscal as against Rs 5,915 crore in the 2019-20 financial year.

Macrotech Developers, on the other hand, reported a 9 per cent decline in its sales bookings at Rs 5,968 crore in the financial year 2020-21 as against Rs 6,570 crore in the previous financial year.