Published & Updated as on - 2010-04-02
A
recent survey by Delhi-based Makaan.com — a real estate portal run by the
People Group — has revealed that 66% of Pune buyers have turned down the
freebies. Called Me, My Home and Property Rates, the survey covered Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune. “Freebies do not sway
a majority of home buyers. For them, the greatest value proposition is a lower
per square foot rate than the prevailing one,” said business head of Makaan.com
Aditya Verma. The study was conducted by Makaan.com from January 23 to February
10 by posting queries and searches on the website. Builders who offered hi-tech
gadgets and other accessories to lure buyers agreed that the “gimmicks” have
failed to pay off.
“Offers are not helping in any way as
people are not interested in buying properties,” said Cubic Insignia and Krome
Promoters and Developers managing director Nainesh Nandu. The company had
announced a BMW worth Rs27 lakh, two kg gold or 0% interest on loan up to Rs2
crore with each purchase of its bungalow project on NIBM Road. Nandu said there
has been a complete lull since this January. For Infrastructure Developers
Engineers Builders (IDEB) from Bangalore with its project Springdale Properties
at Wagholi, offers of gifting flashy cars has not worked.
“The
response has not been encouraging,” said a sales manager at Springdale. The
company had offered Hyundai Accent and Honda City with the purchase of flats
and bungalows. Pune-based Mont Vert Developers too announced gifts like
air-conditioned rooms and LCD televisions. Director of Mont Vert Homes Manish
Kaneria agreed that the response was not encouraging given the current low
sentiments in the market.
Last week, Vijaydeep Associates
from Pune announced a Chevrolet car with every purchase of its 2BHK flats at
their project Deccan Gold in Kharadi. The company also offered a 1BHK flat free
at Ambarnath near Mumbai for the sale of a 3BHK at its Pune site. Home buyers
in Pune have not only shunned freebies but have also made a shift towards
affordable housing with a large chunk of people looking for homes below Rs30
lakhs (85% respondents as per the survey). Many are waiting for a massive price
correction in the coming months.
While Delhi and Mumbai has
about 67% and 68% buyers waiting for the rates to fall, Pune topped with 82% of
buyers looking for a reduction in real estate prices. “Responses to price
correction were levelled across categories, people are aware of a considerable
price correction in the markets and are therefore hopeful that real estate
prices will undergo some correction,” the survey said. Among the 82%, 32%
buyers want the prices to drop in the next three months, another 39% expect the
prices to fall over the next three to six months. The survey has shown a clear
mismatch between what home makers are offering and what buyers want today.
“It
is time that developers start re-working the price strategies and come up with
houses which are below the Rs30 lakh bracket,” Verma suggested. In Pune, the
demand for high-end housing has fallen with only 14% people looking for houses
in the Rs30-60 lakh bracket. “There are absolutely no takers for houses above
Rs60 lakh,” he said. President of Promoters’ and Builders’ Association of Pune
(PBAP) Lalit Kumar Jain, said, “It was known that such offers would not work
with buyers in Pune as they want clean transactions. That is the reason why
several builders who announced such schemes have now pulled them back.”
Source:
Indian Realty News 3/3/10 |