Best time to Invest in your Dream House

November 2, 2008	(Be the first to rate this story!)  Loading ...
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Although real estate developers acknowledge that there have been some bumps on India’s real estate ride, most of them feel this is “the best time to buy your dream house and you should go out to look for value deals”. Speaking at the SundayET CEO Real Estate Roundtable, held in association with Le Meridien hotel on Thursday, the panelists also underscored the need for a national regulator for the real estate sector and said the government should promote private-public partnership to make housing affordable for Indians.

The event brought together property developers, government officials and bankers for a no-holds-barred discussion on the current financial crisis and its impact on India’s real estate sector. And the takeaway was not all bad news for those Indians dreaming of becoming home-owners. “Today the market is experiencing greater end user participation. It is a good time to buy property for your own use. The consumer needs to make prudent decisions based on value perception of a product from a developer with a proven track record that seamlessly addresses personal requirements.

Price, however, should not be the only determining factor as it clearly needs to be reasonable and feasible enough for the developer to execute a project,” said Shravan Gupta, executive vice-chairman & MD, Emaar-MGF. Agreed Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Group: “The consumers who will book an apartment now will be an intelligent buyer. In the current market situation, the buyer knows that prices have already bottomed out and there is no cushion for further reduction in property rates. The market rumours and low sentiments are putting majority of buyers decision in wait-and-watch mode, I think they will miss the bus.”

Big real estate developers feel that the residential market in the country has already bottomed out, and any further cut of the existing prices would hit developers margins hard. In fact, at the SundayET Real Estate roundtable, for the first time major developers went on record to say that realty prices in several micro markets had already moved southward, and in some cases, had seen a whopping 50% reduction from their peak.

There was also a word of advice for the promoters. Said Sanjay Verma, executive managing director, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield: “There has been a softening of prices in many micro-markets. This is the right time for developers to re-align their margins over the next few years and to use this lull period to invest in developing talent and focusing on improving processes, delivery and quality. The potential home-owners should pick the right product while property investors should find the right developers, location and product before taking the leap.”

News Published Under:   Real Estate Developers |

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