Reeling under liquidity crunch, falling sales and delayed projects, real estate developers have found a unique punching bag —- the media.
Say journalists are ‘trying to be stars at their expense’
MUMBAI: Reeling under liquidity crunch, falling sales and delayed projects, real estate developers have found a unique punching bag —- the media.
At a Ficci-conducted two-day real estate summit, which concluded here on Thursday, developers took potshots at the media during a panel discussion accusing them of “trying to be stars at the realtors’ expense”.
Developers such as Mumbai based-Kalpataru Properties, Bangalore based-Sterling Developers Pvt Ltd, Shriram Properties and Parsvnath Developers —- all felt aggrieved by the “negative” coverage in the media.
“Journalists are blowing up the issue (of real estate slowdown) to become hot journalists and step into the limelight,” said Mufatraj Munot, chairman, Kalpataru Properties.
He said negative publicity in the media was one of the reasons why properties were not
being sold.
None, however, could explain the delayed projects or the apartments lying vacant.
“The media is hyping the issue up, but flats continue to sell, although at lower prices,” Munot said.
Will the festive season bring cheer to them?
Pranay Vakil, the chairman of real estate consultancy Knight Frank India, said he doesn’t expect any significant jump in sales of residential units this festive season because market sentiment hasn’t changed much.
“Normally, volumes pick up in the festive season. But this time around, we are not seeing that happening,” Vakil said.
An exasperated Ramni Shastri, managing director of Sterling Developers, had a suggestion for those wanting to buy property: “The media is hyping the decline, so when you see stories of a slowdown in news channels, just switch off your TV set. When you read the same thing in newspapers, stop buying the papers.”
Anuj Puri, country head in India for international real estate consultants, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, who was moderating the panel discussion, has been vocal about the slowdown since last six months.
He had told DNA Money some time back: “Developers have been holding on to properties for a long while, but have now begun to release them as the market is not as buoyant any longer. Smaller developers are going at it faster and prices have fallen by 25% in some areas.”
His view remains the same on Friday. Puri, on a lighter note, asked Ficci to have a session where media could voice its views.
Pradeep Jain, chairman of Parsvnath, said because of media reports fence-sitters are shying away from purchasing properties.
But there are a few who are also basking under media attention.
M Murali, managing director, Shriram Properties, said during a session a Wednesday: “We (realtors) are now like film stars, journalists run behind us for quotes. We should feel like superstars.”
None, however, had any objection to the many brokerages giving a ‘sell’ call on real estate shares.
pooja_s@dnaindia.net
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