Those of you who wanted to buy a house, but have found the prices too steep, can take heart. If realty experts are to be believed, the coming March will see property prices coming down. The past one year has seen investor groups from across the country and abroad pumping money into Ahmedabad’s realty market.
Developers have taken advantage of this and hiked the residential property rates, comparing the city with metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
This had resulted in the investors’ share in residential segment going up to 75 per cent. According to experts, this is not an ideal situation for real estate. Hence, realty experts and consultants are expecting around 25 per cent correction in the residential property by March 2011.
Mukesh Vasani of City Estate Management said, “Investors’ share in residential segment here has gone up to 75 pc. Of which, 50 pc comprise investors from Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, NRGs and NRIs.”
Moreover, Vasani added that around 50-odd under construction schemes will produce an additional 12,000 to 15,000 unit houses. So, the investors of overpriced properties are willing to exit first. Same is the case with the small-time investor, he said.
Ashutosh Limaye, associate director (Strategic Consulting), Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, agrees with the trend. Explaining the reason for the looming crises, Vinod Thakkar, CEO of Square feet realty firm in Mumbai, said, “IT cities such as Pune, Hyderabad, Banglore and Chennai are still struggling to come out of the financial crisis. Hence, the realty market there is unstable, whereas Delhi and Mumbai have become super-speculative markets. The outskirts of Mumbai is also seeing some correction. For example, Kalyan has a poor infrastructure and is far away from the city.
Thakkar, who has opened a branch here, is hopeful. “Gujarat being a progressive state and Ahmedabad being the financial hub, it is seeing robust realty boom. This has motivated other state investors to pump in money here. If this continues, it can go the Mumbai way.”