City Developer’s Reluctance to Drop Prices Provides Business Opportunity to Hometown Developers

April 6, 2009	(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)  Loading ...
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The reluctance of several real estate developers in Pune and Mumbai region to scale down property rates in keeping with the market gloom has turned into a business opportunity for players from other states. Sensing a good business opportunity, they are entering the Mumbai-Pune ring. They are wooing buyers, originally from their states, back home with the promise of an affordable home. This trend is not new, but this is perhaps the first time builders are looking at weaning away potential buyers from big cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and even Dubai. Real estate players from states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are showcasing their properties in the city at a corporate level, giving customers the option to own a house in their homeland at much lower rates.

The latest on the list is Oxoniya Builders and Developers Pvt Limited from Kerala which conducted a two-day property show in Pune and Navi Mumbai on Saturday and Sunday. Customers were urged to go for homes in luxury apartments on the riverfront at Aluva or Kakanad in Kerala, where the Dubai Internet City model Infopark is set to come up. “We are getting a tremendous response from the region. People here are looking forward to buying property in their homeland. In these times of economic slowdown, people expect property rates to come down and since it is not happening in the region, they may be opting for properties within their budget in their home states,” said Anith John of Oxoniya.

The thick Malayalee population in the Mumbai-Pune region is one of the main factors that is prompting real estate players from Kerala to target customers here. The prices of flats offered by the Oxania Group range from Rs 11 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. “We conducted a market study in the Mumbai-Pune region and found that there are about 10,000-20,000 Malayalees who wish to buy properties in Kerala. That proved true as we got 6-7 bookings, hours after starting the property show,” said John. Builders in Kerala, too, said that as compared to last year, enquires and bookings from this Pune-Mumbai region had gone up recently, which is a new trend. “There have always been potential buyers in the region. Builders here are getting enquiries about apartments in Kerala and bookings have gone up,” said M D Jayaraj, president, Kerala Builders Association.

Even in Bangalore, enquires from the region about properties have gone up. “Most of our customers were so far either from Bangalore or NRIs. Now we are actually getting serious enquires from Pune and Mumbai. When we are finding it tough to fill up our apartments in Pune, we are actually finding takers from the western region for our apartments in Bangalore. We also plan a property show soon,” said an official of a leading real estate company.

News Published Under:   Pune |

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