A PILE of debt amassed during their halcyon days of growth is crimping a full-out revival of realty companies savouring a sharp uptick in demand after a long spell of duress.

The central bank has estimated that real estate firms have built a total debt of up to Rs 75,000 crore and must pay at least Rs 25,000 crore in 2010-11 on the principal and interest accrued once the grace period on repayment ends in June.

“The pressure on repayment of debt is building,” said Amit Bhagat, managing partner of private equity company ASK Equity Fund. “Many real estate players couldn’t mobilise funds through the equity route as private equity players were inactive and the IPO route was not successful,” he said.

Realty analysts say a rash of developers face a debt overhang. And current revenues would not be enough to repay loans despite a rise in residential unit sales in the last two quarters. Buyers may have returned, but developers are still short of money because the payment method in most residential projects is construction-linked, where cash is paid in each stage of development.

Typically, companies get only a third of a project’s sale value in the first year. “Along with the pickup in sales, prices have risen sharply. That will shrink the volume of transactions,” said Mr Bhagat.