BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian real estate developer Godrej Properties reported a fall in fourth-quarter revenue on Friday, weighed by muted pricing in the key market of Mumbai.

Shares of the company dipped after results, but recouped losses to trade up 0.3% as of 1:56 p.m. IST.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Indian real estate developers have been racing to keep up with a buoyant post-pandemic housing demand by beefing up their land banks as homebuyers lap up pricier apartments, unfazed by high borrowing rates.

At least 97 land deals were closed in 2023, up from 82 deals in 2022, data from real estate consultancy firm Anarock showed.

The growth has pushed the realty index up about 23% year-to-date, outpacing a 3% climb in the benchmark Nifty 50 index. In 2023, the realty index surged 81% compared with a 20% rise in the benchmark.

Analysts have seen muted price trends in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. Mumbai was Godrej Properties' biggest sales contributor by market in the fourth quarter.

Its second largest sales contributor by market was the national capital region, where growth of new housing launches stagnated in the fourth quarter, Morgan Stanley data showed.

BY THE NUMBERS

Godrej Properties' consolidated revenue fell 13.4% to 14.26 billion rupees ($171 million) in the fourth quarter, while net profit rose over 14% to 4.71 billion rupees, helped by stable expenses and higher other income.

The company expects residential bookings to grow to more than 270 billion rupees in the fiscal year 2025, aided by strong launches and deliveries.

GRAPHIC

KEY QUOTES

"The residential real estate sector in India has been strong over the past three years and we believe the sectoral tailwinds will continue over the next few years," Executive Chairperson Pirojsha Godrej said.

($1 = 83.3780 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)