Builders offer 20% discount on budget homes

For some time, the city’s realty market has been reeling from the impact of the global slump but this has not affected the demand for affordable apartments. Demand for property in the affordable segment — 1, 2, 3-BHK apartments in the price range of Rs35 lakh —continues to be high. In a bid to make the most of this window of opportunity, builders are offering discounts of up to 20% and are also giving more commission to brokers to get bulk booking.

The global slump has turned Ahmedabad into a buyers’ market rather than sellers’ market insofar as real estate is concerned. But most of the demand is still for 1-2-3 BHK apartments measuring 1000 to 2000 square feet.

Suresh Patel, former president of Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (Gihed), said that buyers of bigger flats are generally investors or people who want to upgrade.

“But smaller flats are bought by genuine buyers who actually live in the property they purchase. Hence the impact of the slowdown on the affordable segment is negligible. Quality products priced reasonably will always be in demand,” he said.

Echoing Patel’s views, vice-president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai), Jaxay Shah, said that there is no impact of the slump on apartments priced up to Rs35 lakh. Builders believe that nearly 80% of the demand is for 2BHK apartments.

Earlier, builders used to offer freebies to attract customers but now they are offering discounts of up to 10-20% depending on the location and the quality of the property, said sources in the real estate market.

Further, realtors are also giving buyers relaxation in terms and conditions of payment. For instance, many builders have extended the time limit for down payment from two months to four months.

“Only builders feeling a liquidity crunch are putting pressure on customers for payment. Developers with deep pockets are offering relaxation to maintain good relations with customers,” said Hitesh Shah, CEO of Residential Segment at Space Management Ltd.

Apart from all this, buyers nowadays also get a choice of location as also more time to think about their decision to buy a house.
Furthers, developers have been convening brokers’ meet and using dinner diplomacy to boost sales. 

“Realtors are offering double the normal commission to brokers who can get group booking,” said a source in market. Jaxay Shah, however, denied that builders were offering huge discounts. He said that realtors are offering around 5% discount to buyers. “More discount is not possible and the market it unlikely to go down further. So buyers should take a prudent decision,” he said.