India, Aug. 1 -- The Union housing ministry's advisory on Friday, asking real estate regulatory authorities to give builders four extra months to finish their projects, is a response to a supply shock that has been building since late February.

After the war broke out in West Asia on February 28, developers have been watching three costs daily: the price of oil, the price of shipping a container to India, and the price of a dollar. Each of those numbers has been finding its way into real estate project costs in India.

The Andhra Pradesh unit of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai) had told the state government back in April that the cost of a bag of cement had risen from Rs.240 to Rs.300, and a ton...