When you offer a good quality 1 BHK apartment, with a well-planned society, to a slum dweller, you are offering sheer luxury to that person/family. Moving into a proper apartment, in a semi high-rise, for urban-challenged citizens in Mumbai not only means luxury but a life-transforming development.
What makes Mumbai a global real estate market to bet on? There are many USPs of the city property market to make it a global property market, like luxury landscape of the city; its positioning as a job market; social life of Mumbai; investment in the city; appreciation potential; and insulation against price crash. Mumbai is one of those markets that have also weathered the slowdown challenges without crash; not even New York, London or Dubai have this distinction.
ASSOCHAM has urged the Government, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India to treat homebuyers in real estate projects at par, if not above banks in the pecking order, by providing a separate carve-out for those stuck in the incomplete construction, and any legal hurdle should be immediately removed, by a Presidential Ordinance, if need be.
Many of the homebuyers in their desperate instinct are thinking of immediately stopping EMIs (Equated Monthly Installments) to banks. However, many of them are conscious of the fact that stopping EMI is not a solution. If buyers stop servicing their home loans (as they are not sure if they will get a house), it may impact their credit rating.
Goa real estate has been witness to a prolonged spell of slowdown and both the homebuyers as well as the developers have waited for long to see a turnaround. Slow moving market, demonetization, GST and RERA have collectively led to a situation where the fence sitting buyers have preferred to defer their decision of buying a house. While the first three factors have dented their confidence, RER
What has also fuelled this inventory creation is the fact that the Centre recently gave infrastructure status to smaller homes. This will help builders get funds easily and also give them more time of five years from the current three years to complete the projects.
Indian real estate is yet to reach to a level of maturity where there is authentic due diligence that is accepted and honoured as third party and neutral platform for the buyers. Unfortunately, there is a collective conspiracy of silence on part of the developers by dismissing any such platform, as and when any attempt is made. The larger universe of the developers are still not very comfortable with a critical review platform that would rather lend them credibility for the right kind of projects.
Mumbai has been the undisputed financial capital of India. The emergence of other business destinations, like Bangalore, Gurgaon or Pune could not take the sheen out of the city, even in the wake of infrastructure deficit and other urban problems plaguing the peninsular city. Now the Mumbai city is poised to elevate itself to the next level of business destination. The MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority) plans to make Mumbai a major global financial hub.
Industry is nevertheless clear that such apprehensions are just teething problems. Jaxay Shah, President, CREDAI maintains that even though most states have not been able to implement it immediately and are in the process of doing so, yet both consumers and developers need to look at it optimistically. There will be teething problems initially, but as the regulatory mechanism sets in place, we will see a smoother transition into the new administration.
The real estate developers in India are, more often than not, having inwardly obsessed approach to deny that a study is a relative study. They live with the illusion that they understand exactly what their brand represents. However, such mirage may be more reflective of their aspirations for the brand, rather than the reality of public opinion.