New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS): The plight of homebuyers in the national capital region (NCR) can be gauged from the fact that the average completion time for residential projects in the last decade was over 7 years.

According to a Anarock Property Consultants' report on Wednesday, in 2010-19, on an average developers took around 7.2 years to complete a housing project in NCR.

Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, said: "The average completion time for large residential projects in NCR, launched and completed between 2010-19, was 7.2 years. For the top 7 cities collectively, the average completion time for large projects stood at 6.5 years in this period."

The report said in Gurgaon, it took an average of 6 years to complete small projects and around 7.3 years for large projects. In Noida, the average project completion time was 5.7 years for small projects and 7.2 years for large ones.

In Ghaziabad, homebuyers waited 5.6 years for small projects and 7.1 years for large ones. Faridabad homebuyers waited for nearly 5.8 years for small projects and 7 years for large ones.

Delhi had the minimum waiting time of 5 years for the small projects.

The report said the southern cities were markedly ahead of their northern, western and eastern counterparts in terms of project completions.

For large projects launched and completed over the last decade, the average completion time was least (5.5 years) in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Chennai came close behind with an average completion time of 5.6 years.

"The difference of 1.5 years of average completion time between NCR and the southern cities may not seem significant at a macro level. However, this period must be measured in the real-time strain it adds on consumer patience and optimism," Puri said.

Puri said among the major reasons for project delays in NCR were land ligations, lack of professionalism among many developers, and also the periodic construction bans by both NGT and the apex court due to rising pollution.