By: Manju Yagnik,Vice Chairperson, Nahar Group
Track2Realty Exclusive: The story of the informed buyer and his crucial assistance in real estate has a great history of revolutionary changes in last two decades. The real estate sector has undergone a massive transformation in India in the recent past. The boundaries of metro cities are ever expanding. For instance, the city of Mumbai has expanded into huge Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) today.
Post economic reforms of 1991 that opened up opportunities for different industries in the country, led to indirect growth of the real estate. The transformation witnessed tie up of foreign real estate companies with Indian real estate companies and over dozen of real estate companies were even listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.
This vibrancy in the real estate was supported by series of reforms such as entry of private banks that directly affected the real estate sector which eased out the procedure for loan and finances for the buyer as well as the developer. While this transformation was evident on the supply side, an equal amount of change was seen on the demand side. The buying pattern in the real estate sector has also changed to a major extent.
Economic liberalisation led to entry of many corporate and foreign companies. The lifestyle of people has changed due to higher pay packages and changing economic conditions. The educated home buyer who has travelled extensively and worked in a corporate sector, began opting for the residences of the new era that provided for holistic quality living. The new home buyer preferred lavish residences in towers than in flats in single building.
The modern home comprised all the amenities and facilities that matched the homes at par with international standards. Spacious homes, open spaces, club house, jogging track, swimming pool, and gymnasium are some of the amenities commonly found in modern homes. This trend of creating modern homes brought a revolution in the residential real estate sector.
Developers did not restrict themselves to metro cities in order to create these homes. Considering the high demand for housing and limited availability of space in cities, developers began constructing holistic residences in less developed suburbs located along the periphery of metro cities. This created a huge opportunity for the real estate market in terms of growth and opportunity.
The finance required for making an investment to such an extent was sought from the banking and financial institutions that supported the real estate sector. Apart from easy availability of home loans for home buyers, developers also began coming up with attractive strategies for creating funds for the home buyer to purchase their new homes. Schemes like 80:20 was floated that allowed the home buyer to purchase the home by paying an amount of 20 percent of the flat and the remaining could be paid on the completion of the project. This scheme proved to be extensively successful.
…to be continued
