By: Ravi Sinha
Track2Realty Exclusive: Agreeing that it is time for fresh approach and marketing strategy, Anshuman Magazine, CMD of CBRE, South Asia says the recent policy moves from the RBI—vis-à-vis the rise in repo rate as well as the 20:80 scheme—are expected to further dampen investor sentiments in the upcoming festive season.
With home loans having gone up now, home buyers are likely to continue to remain cautious and delay their purchase decisions further. Together with the macro-economic factors highlighted earlier as a reason behind the present demand slowdown, the burden of inflated EMIs may be expected to deter buyer sentiments in the upcoming festive season too.
“Although discounts and freebies have been the norm for luring home buyers during festive seasons, this year the season has clearly become a buyer’s market. Some builders with high unsold inventory levels have begun to face liquidity issues, leaving them with little option but to reduce prices and offer discounts in a bid to sell off vacant units. Such sale strategies range from discounts of around 5–7%over limited period; absorbing stamp duty charges; or providing furnished homes with air conditioners, modular kitchens, free parking, etc. This season certain developers have also been known to offer overseas travel packages to home buyers,” says Magazine.
Diipesh Bhagtani, Executive Director, Jaycee Homes says selling strategy is different from developer to developer and the developers with inventories are offering attractive unique selling propositions to the buyers in their own way. Some are offering white goods and furniture along with modular kitchens; others are offering free international holidays. These incentives are based purely on the policy of their individual business and cannot be generalized.
“Yes the developers are optimistic of the property market and feel that the market will show vibrancy during the festival season. This is the right time to buy a property as the rates are quite stable now and is expected to go up after the festival season. Also there are a lot of attractive offers by the developers during the festival season,” says Bhagtani.
Manju Yagnik, Vice Chairperson, Nahar Group says the festive season hold a great significance in India and contributes in a big way to the market. Buying a house is an emotional decision and people prefer to wait for an auspicious occasion for a new beginning.
“Mumbai especially cannot be compared with any other city in terms of the property market due to its ever increasing demand for housing. The festive season will see a brighter side in the property market as the prices have also been steady since quite some time giving buyers a good time period to plan their investments. Inspite of the rising cost of material, labour and land there has not been a rise in the pricing of property,” says Yagnik.
Some developers have overtly displayed their marketing strategy much in advance, while others are doing it tacitly with the sales channel; yet the fact remains that Mumbai realty has learnt to experiment with the tried and tested marketing format and sales innovations.
Some are doing different things, while others are doing things differently. For first movers the strategy has paid well in advance and the sales graph is just indicative of the thought process that has been put into.
