Property exhibition ditches low-income group in Pune

People belonging to low-income group will have to wait for their dream home, as the 2-day property exhibition, Profest 2012, doesn’t offer affordable housing schemes.

The exhibition, organised by the Confederation of Real
Estate Developers Association of India (Credai)-Pune, caters to the higher-income group. Almost every stall at the exhibition offers tailor-made homes promising every facility and amenity.

“The cost of construction materials is skyrocketing. So, we are unable to keep the rates low,” said some of the prominent builders at the exhibition.

“The government has also increased the ready reckoner rate, which has led to further escalation of prices. Besides, land prices in the city are on the rise. In such a situation it is difficult to keep the prices low,” builders added.

The exhibition offers housing schemes in the vicinity, on the outskirts of Talegaon and Ambegaon. There was hardly any stall that had homes for those living in the city.

The aim behind organising such a fair is to give the clients all the information about housing under one roof, said Chaitresh Pawar, senior executive of DS Kulkarni Developers.

“Such exhibitions provide a choice to people who want to buy their dream homes. Besides, there are builders at the exhibition who have schemes for the low-income group, and people can approach them,” he said.

President of Credai, Satish Magar, blamed the hike in property rates on the increasing cost of raw materials and various government policies. He said that the diminishing availability of space and increasing demand for houses would soon be addressed with many new projects.

Profest 2012 was inaugurated by divisional commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh, district collector Vikas Deshmukh, Pune Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma.