ROSES BACK IN REALTY MARKET?
Flats Aimed At Middle-Income Groups Are Being Snapped Up, Even In The Current Scenario Of Market Downturn As the merchants of doom are spreading canards that realty sector has touched the pit and is in a very bad shape, there is a rosy picture emerging that of buyers queuing up for flats in the range of Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 40 lakhs. Basically, they are the end users. They are buying flats for their own use. And as if that were not enough, banks are disbursing loans to them. It is also being reported that banks are taking time in sanctioning loans to those looking for houses that cost Rs 60 lakh and over. P K Jain, executive vice-president of PNB Housing Finance Limited, says that even though the market was down even before the meltdown, which only hit it, further, they are still giving loans to those who are buying houses up to Rs 40 lakh. He, however, refused, to respond when asked if they were not giving loans for luxury houses. What is the ground reality? Sunil Jindal, director of SVP Groups, says that they are selling houses in different projects. They are the flats, which they have made especially for middle-income group. I don’t say that there is a scramble for houses. But, people are coming in to purchase houses in our Gulmohar Green project in Mohan Nagar and Gulmohar Towers in Ghaziabad. Flats in these projects range from Rs 25 lakh and above, but definitely less than Rs 50 lakh, says Jindal. Those who are closely associated with realty sector say that these flats are generally purchased by those government employees who can not buy houses in Delhi. As Delhi has slipped out of their reach, they settle for houses in NCR town. As they have been living in Delhi for decades on end, they can not return to their hometowns. Hence, they buy houses in NCR towns. Devinder Gupta, CMD of realty advisory Century 21 India, says there are also many people living in other cities or abroad who buy houses for their parents, and that the quantum of such purchases is very high. As joint families are breaking up due to various factors, the breakaway factions of the families are also buying houses according to their budget. They are pushing the realty market in its own way, says Gupta. Kailash Chandra is a classic case referred to by Gupta who has recently shifted to a house built by a known builder. Kailash Chandra, who retired as an assistant editor of a leading news agency, says very candidly that he managed to purchase this flat only after his London-based son fully financed it. Pankaj Tyagi, director of Bhanu Infrastructure, is a little measured in his views, in so far as the current market situation is concerned. Tyagi says the market has seen setbacks over the last couple of weeks due to various factors yet people are buying houses for their use. I feel the middle-income group is the engine of realty sector. And, it is very important that they remain in the market, says Tyagi. He, however, says that the market is far from being in the pink of the health. Meanwhile, there are some realty experts who feel big time realtors are making luxury and high-end houses for the simple reason that the margin of profits in those segment are very high. And after buyers for their projects disappeared from the market, they are allegedly painting a wrong picture that realty market has touched the nadir. A senior functionary in HDFC Bank confirms that banks are extremely weary of lending money to those loan seekers who look for a huge loan.
The last word comes from Sanjeev Shrivastava, CMD of Assotech. Sanjeev says: We are selling our flats for middle-income groups regularly at our The Nest project, on Crossings Republic on National Highway-24, easily. The rates of these flats are reasonable and middle-income people can buy them.
Courtesy: - TOI dtd: - 22nd Nov. 2008
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