|
|||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
Gearing Up For Rise In Demand, City To Ready 27,000 Units In 30 Months As Sentiments Improve By ugesh sarkar, Section Pune Real Estate
Developers in Pune have tried it all -- discounts, trips abroad, cars and fixed rates -- to lure buyers. In the last three months, there has been a pick up in sales of residential properties and prices have stabilised after slipping from the peaks of October-November. Canny buyers saw no benefit in the freebies or schemes, preferring instead lower rates. So, even those offers are over. The reason for an increase in enquiries and these turning into sales is the stable outlook. As people feel more secure, with fears of job losses receding, they are turning to purchasing homes. But housing finance institutions recommend a two-three month wait before pronouncing that the sector is really back on track.
 "We are seeing some increase in sales of residential properties and most buyers want projects that are in the final stages of completion, say in six to eight months from now. In Pune, there is a lot of stock in this category so sales are actually happening," said a senior official at a leading housing finance institution. Rates for homes in the city have come down by 20-25%, with actual rates being down 15-20%, the balance depending the customer's bargaining abilities in getting the best deal. While Satish Magar, chairman and managing director of Magarpatta City Development Corporation and chairman of local builders' body, CREDAI, Pune, agreed that the market has begun to look up, he said rates have actually come down only 7-10%.
"Builders have re-positioned their projects and they are all talking about affordable housing. I am referring to homes that the average middle-class buyer would buy, which would earlier have been a 1,200 sq ft two-bedroom-hall-kitchen Changed specifications include reducing the size of the flat, thus its overall price, and reducing specifications. So, Italian marble will make way for either Indian marble or ceramic tiles, leading to a substantial cost reduction which builders are now passing on to buyers. Lalit Kumar Jain, chairman of Kumar Builders, said: "In the last nine months, sales at our projects were near zero. And that was the case with a lot of other builders, too. Now that a new government is in place, sentiment is up and we are getting enquiries. March was a good month and May even better. We believe that in the next 45 days, Pune will have a demand for 5,000-7,500 units. A total of 27,000 units will be ready in the next 30 months in Pune, with a 5-7% price correction," Mr Jain said, adding that this correction in prices would be immediate. Property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) maintained that the highest demand is for flats in the 900-1100 sq ft, in a price range of Rs 27-30 lakh. There is also a trend towards to the small one BHK flat or compact studio. However, builders claim that projects require a lead time of a couple of years so any changes they make now will actually come onto the market only a couple of years from now, when they hope these products will sell. On high-end residential real estate, Mr Magar said: "This is a recession-proof segment. The buyers in this segment are not job-dependent buyers and the builders in this segment, too, are specialists who do not look at bulk or mass housing schemes." Source: Economic Times Gearing Up For Rise In Demand, City To Ready 27,000 Units In 30 Months As Sentiments Improve
|
