Dark Diwali for realty, business down to half

The festival of lights, Diwali, failed to light up the businesses of developers, contractors and interior decorators this year. For most, the business was down to half.

Every year, Hitesh Patel, civil contractor in Thane, tries his best to stop his men from going to their hometowns in Rajasthan. Neither the carrot nor the stick works; and Patel struggles to complete his projects.

But this year, he was too happy to pack off half his staff. “There is nothing to do here. Business is down,” he said. “Last year I was juggling eight projects ahead of Diwali; this year, I have just four and that too low-budget ones.”

Patel said that contracts for new flats dried up in the past six months. “Even repair and renovation work in old homes has dropped considerably.” High interest rates on housing loans and rising labour and material costs have affected the real estate industry in the city.

Manish Jain, interior decorator from Mulund, said the labour cost has almost doubled over the past couple of years — the present rate for a helper has shot up from Rs150 a day to Rs300 and the cost of most material too has increased by more than 50%. “Profit margins were on a downslide; now, volume of business too has gone down,” Jain said. “If my earlier profit was 40%, it has been 15% in the past few months.”

He said he took up projects even if the margin was less this year to help his men. “At least they are employed,” Jain said.

“I never took up basic jobs like painting of homes. This year, I am accepting whatever comes my way to keep the
business rolling.”