The first half of FY26 was modest for realty company Lodha Developers Ltd, with pre-sales or bookings up 8% year-on-year to ₹9,020 crore. Limited launches resulted in pre-sales rising 7% year-on-year to ₹4,570 crore in the September quarter (Q2 FY26).
A high base from last year, due to one-off land sales and seasonally weak demand during the monsoon and “shradh” (inauspicious period for Hindus), also played spoilsport, according to a Nomura Global Markets Research report dated 7 October. While Q2FY26 pre-sales were in line with some analysts’ estimates, the rate of growth was lower than its full-year guidance of a 20% year-on-year increase.
Lodha has retained its FY26 pre-sales target of ₹21,000 crore and has so far achieved 43% of this guidance. For the remainder of the year, it must now clock more than ₹12,000 crore pre-sales to meet its goal, and that would hinge on new launches.
After the Supreme Court lifted its hold on environmental clearances in August, Lodha has lined up significant launches in second half of FY26, the management said in its pre-quarter update.
But a delayed ramp-up could make it harder to achieve the full-year target, especially with premium housing demand turning selective in its key markets of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune.
According to Nuvama Research, with the MMR market having entered the mid-cycle stage (due to a sharp rise in supply) and the Pune market showing signs of fatigue, Lodha will need to register significant market share gains, given that system-level pre-sales growth has started to taper off.
Meanwhile, collections in Q2FY26 improved 13% year-on-year to ₹3,480 crore and are expected to pick up meaningfully in the second half of the year as new launches gather pace.
On the business development front, Lodha added one project in the MMR during Q2, with a gross development value or revenue potential of ₹2,300 crore, bringing the total additions for the first half to ₹25,000 crore. This meets its full-year business development goal ahead of schedule, providing visibility for future launches.
On the flipside, net debt rose to ₹5,370 crore from ₹5,080 crore due to robust business development and continued spending on approvals of ongoing projects. However, the crucial net debt-to-equity ratio was at a comfortable level, below 0.5x.
Meanwhile, in this calendar year so far, the Lodha stock has declined 19%, a tad higher than the 16% decline in the Nifty Realty index. A stronger second half could help bridge the gap between Lodha’s guidance and market expectations.
