A year back at the end of 2016, the doom mongers were out in force. In our office sector there were those who were predicting a slump in demand, uncertainty around the new Government in the US, the scare stories around automation and AI, the performance of the top 5 Indian ITeS companies, exaggerations around layoffs and even the dramas of corporate Boards of great Indian technology companies.
A Track2Realty pan-India survey finds that despite of high spending pattern of North Indians in general and Delhi-NCR in particular their investment and aspiration for a second home is far less than the citizens of Mumbai & Pune.
Technology is a great enabler that is today helping to reduce the construction timelines, cost of construction & optimise land competence. Pre-cast construction methods such as Alu-form and Waffle Crete technology and new construction materials such as Autoclaved Aerated Lightweight Concrete Blocks, fly ash bricks and building blocks made of mud that has been stabilised with cement or lime are alternative technological advancements.
Francis VanEeckhout is CEO of Deceuninck, an 80-year-old Belgium-based brand dealing in UPVC door & window system. The company is one of the world’s leading UPVC profile company, having customers all over India and is ranked 3rd in the global market.
A closer look at the given developer, Gaursons and the market that it operates in, clearly suggests that the sales figure is definitely not reflective of higher consumer confidence in the market that is notorious for the lack of best practices.
With about 10 million sq ft (0.9 million sq m) of office leasing in Q3, gross absorption totalled around 28.9 million sq ft (2.7 million sq m) over the first nine months.
Contrary to the general perception that the eco system is getting tougher for the builders due to home buyers’ activism, vigilante media and judicial intervention, the facts suggest that the developers have been given too long ropes to cross the bridge over the buyers’ interests. As a matter of fact, there are many instances of amnesty to the developers in the last few years.
A section of home equipment suppliers even admit that over-dependence on builder contracts that ensure bulk buying, going overboard on commitments and under-utilisation of retail network are the major reasons why they are trapped in a vicious circle today.
As per the data available with Track2Realty, the Malayalese and other South Indian NRIs are nowadays investing into Kochi and Coimbatore than Bangalore or Chennai. Gujarati NRIs are investing into Ahmedabad and Vadodara than Mumbai. Mumbai-born NRIs are investing into Pune and Nashik than Mumbai. North Indian NRIs are investing into Noida and Ghaziabad than Gurgaon. One common thread into all these investments is scaling down of property segment – from ultra luxury to mid-segment and premium housing.
The satellite towns and periphery locations of major cities across the country has been stigmatised as the last refuge of the struggling home buyers. The collective consciousness looks at these locations meant for buyers who have no choice but to compromise with their wants and needs. These locations often have not helped their cause with poor infrastructure and connectivity, thus lending credence to the critics’ aspersions as down market locations.