Even offers such as 'Buy three bungalows and get one free' did not enthuse homebuyers
Despite offers raining over homebuyers, the real estate market has behaved other than what was expected. Offers like — buy three bungalows in Karjat and get the fourth free, reduced prices on real estate deals, stamp duty, and free registration, or even exemption on VAT — haven't been able to attract homebuyers. Housing experts claim that the sales this Diwali were not as expected, and may even be lower than last year's, as buyers didn't enter the market. Builders say that property prices have come down, but homebuyers are still expecting it to come down further.
There are various reasons experts are citing for the bad performance of the real estate market. One of them being the negativity surrounding the market. Pankaj Kapoor, MD. Liases Foras Real Estate Research Agency, said, "The sale this festive period was not good. The launches were very few this year, and fence-sitters didn't jump into the market, because of the negativity. Developers did give discounts, but then there was no exhibition. The inertia of negativity in the market continued, despite there being no property price rise in three years."
Kapoor has placed the blame entirely on negativity in the market, saying that in spite of banking loan interest rates being down and prices not increasing in the last three years, deals should have taken place, but they didn't.
According to experts, buyers are reluctant to buy. Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi, executive editor of Accommodation Times, a realty newspaper, buyers no longer fall for the gimmick of developers offering cars or discounts. "Sales weren't as expected, and one can easily attribute this to lack of funds available. There were around 48 new project launches all over Mumbai Metropolitan Region, but still sales haven't happened as expected. Observing the market scenario, I will put it this way: This Diwali for real estate has been bad compared to the last one too."
Manohar Shorff, Vice President, CREDAI-MHCI's Navi Mumbai unit said, "There's hardly any money in the market. Homebuyers are noticing that property prices have come down, but they are still waiting, expecting the prices to reduce further. Meanwhile, developers are hoping that GST will come down on real estate, and this will lift the market again."
Whatever sales have happened, it has been in the affordable segment, that too in the far suburbs. He added, "Deals are taking place, but not in projects where a developer is offering freebies, but where he's giving a direct discount on prices. Flats are available."
Reason: Negativity
A developer cited that the reason for low sales is because of negativity in the market, despite property prices not rising in three years
Manohar Shorff, Vice President, CREDAI-MHCI said that deals are taking place, not in projects where a developer is offering freebies, but where he’s giving a direct discount on prices
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