Welcome to the world of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Indian real estate. The ground reality is that the real estate companies today get into CSR for fulfilling mandatory provisions and/or tax adjustments than any real concern for the society.
Ranging from 50 acre to 850 acre, integrated townships are slowly but surely catching up in Coimbatore and since this part of the property market has so far remained oblivious to the concept of a proper gated living, the developers are leaving no stone unturned to replicate similar success story that other matured property markets across the country have registered.
The satellite towns and periphery locations of major cities across the country have been stigmatised as the last refuge of the struggling homebuyers. The collective consciousness looks at these locations meant for buyers who have no choice but to compromise with their wants and needs.
Ever since I got into the hitherto-untouched & challenging business of brand rating of Indian real estate developers, I only get the reactions in extreme, depending upon whether the developer has been rated high or low. After all, every builder is a God’s gift to the world of brand, as per his own make-belief metrics.
RICS will continue to offer thought leadership, engaging with policymakers, end-users, service providers, employers and practitioners to foster trust in the built environment through enforced standards, transparency and accountability.
There is also a third set of buyers who buy properties in the second home locations as their first home. They are the buyers who look for locations that would be first home location in the next few years. Of course, the budget constraints force them to look for low-cost housing. Analysts believe this third set of buyers can not be classified as the second home buyers.
Competing against DLF, the company won the auction and soon made plans to construct a grant 18-hole golf course surrounded by luxury apartments and villas, to be marketed as the plush “Unitech Golf and Country Club”. Flashy advertisements were immediately published and huge booking amounts were collected from aspiring buyers who looking forward to their dream homes in the project.
This may not be music to the ears of the developers who are hoping against the hope that the recent policy changes & reforms would bring the homebuyers back to the market. But the ground reality is that for a vast majority of the Indian homebuyers the measures like demonetization, GST, RERA or Benami Transaction Act are more for academic discussions than making any tangible changes for them on ground.
The first quarter of 2018 has started on a positive note with a 23% YoY increase in the gross office take-up in India. As per Colliers International, approximately 11.4 million sq ft (1.02 million sq m) of gross absorption was recorded in Q1 2018.
RERA is one year old now and already the homebuyers are questioning the legislation, in the absence of any visible changes on the ground. The developers, on the contrary, feel RERA has already identified the challenges and hit the nail. Within the built environment the debate is inconclusive as to what extent RERA has brought in transparency and accountability and to what extent has it enhanced homebuyer confidence.