mumbai the recent fate of real estate stocks on the bourses mirrored the first signs of trouble ahead for the industry fuel price hike and lower iip index of industrial production numbers were recent setbacks to the sector and now with a 1105 growth in wpi wholesale price index inflation has emerged as a serious threat to the sector which has been cooling off in recent timesmarket experts predict further softening of prices even though prices have corrected by 1020 and even beyond in some regions it has not yet touched the bottom it is advisable to wait till at least the yearend to buy homes says jai mavani real estate practice head kpmghowever since many developers are holding onto prices and even operating as a cartel in some prime pockets like mumbai postponing purchase decisions may not really be a solution despite the fact that volumes have fallen sharply established developers are clearly unwilling to drop prices according to kotak institutional equities research report home prices in mumbai market continue to rise since last octoberour mumbai price index shows a 155 increase over the past six months indicative prices in key locations in mumbai vary between rs 6500 and rs 35000many mumbai developers have raised funds through pe route the surplus funds these developers have raised allow them to hold on to properties with out releasing the same into the market thus creating an artificial demand supply mismatch in the system in mumbai market many pocket developers are acting as cartels a senior official with a real estate fund saidliquidity crunch has already forced developers to go in for high interest loans while the primary market for real estate has virtually dried up private equity players are also following a very cautious approachonly those developers who have internal cash flows and have not gone for recent land acquisitions will be able to sustain these tougher times earlier they were seeking mortgage against property but now credit requirement has forced them to pledge their own shares for securing mortgage industry officials saidthe current market meltdown has put downward pressure on sales and further weakened market sentiment these higher inflationary trends will call for some regulatory moves which will ensure better affordability said sunil rohokale head mortgagee real estate icici bankthough the sector has already factored some of the news impact there is scope for further correction some of the tier ii cities might further see some 57 correction says vipin aggarwal executive director omaxe