Mumbai, Jul 14 (IANS): The last decade has seen homebuyers' wait for possession in large under-construction projects in the top cities reduce to 4.9 years, from 6.1 years in the 2010-2019 period, a report showed on Sunday.

The average time to complete residential projects of more than 500 units in the top seven cities came down to 4.9 years from the first half of 2014 to the first half of this year.

This can be seen as a combined effect of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), modernisation of construction technology, and the increasing market share of large and listed developers, according to the report by Anarock Group.

"The stringent rules imposed on project delays by the regulatory authorities have also been a key factor in reducing the completion time," said Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Group.

For all large projects launched and completed between 2014 and H1 2024, the average completion time was lowest in Chennai with 3.6 years, while Hyderabad and Bengaluru clocked in at 4.2 and 4.8 years, respectively.

For most large projects in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), developers had purchased land outright, thereby compromising their overall financial health and delivery capability.

"On the other hand, most projects in the main southern cities are joint developments where landowners usually get a certain share of the developed units," said Puri.

In NCR, extreme weather conditions and the statutory restrictions imposed on construction when the pollution levels rise also affect construction timelines in the region.

In Kolkata, large projects launched and completed between 2014 to H1 2024 took the longest average time to complete, at 5.7 years.

In MMR, it took an average of 4.7 years to complete small projects and around 5.2 years for large projects.

In Delhi-NCR, homebuyers waited an average of 4.7 years for small projects and 5.4 years for large ones, the report noted.