Track2Realty Public Perception Survey, however, proves these assumptions wrong. More than half of Indians, as many as 54%, track the real estate news, analysis and launches even after they have purchase their house. Even more in number, 58%, monitor real estate sector and developers’ performance along with reputation for future investment purposes.
The Jaypee buyers question the devaluation of assets by bidders.They do not believe that any new builder will be able to do justice with these projects.
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.
In a fresh controversy, the homebuyers of Supertech Ecociti at Sector 137, Noida Expressway are taking to streets after being robbed by the builder of what is as basic service as the potable water. The developer has collected the money from the homebuyers of the housing society for the supply of Ganga water and not deposited the same to the Noida Authority.
The Google search of Ratan Pandit, a prospective homebuyer, for Noida Extension market completely confused him. With various conflicting reports where one of the property consultancy firms endorsing the market as future investment magnet and the other one advising to stay away due to over-supply in this market, this homebuyer could not reach to any conclusion. Even various property listing sites were of not much use in terms of the understanding of the given market.
The journalists covering real estate news are always on the lookout for the grey areas and these buyers’ associations feed them. In exchange, they are always in the news and that lends them credibility in the given market.
The hopes of middle class homebuyers have dashed and they blame the Finance Minister for presenting an election-oriented budget. Many even question the direction of the government where the focus has suddenly shifted towards the rural and farm sector in the last full budget presented by this government.
The homebuyers’ acting as de facto consumer courts raises a fundamental question as to whether any of these buyers’ associations have any legal right to intervene suo motto and address the grievances of the buyers. The legal opinion is pretty clear on this.
The real estate markets across the major cities is today witness to a new spate of consumer activism which is more political in its functioning than consumer centric. Worse even, many of them even operate as the de facto consumer courts in advising others in how they should take on the builders.
Dissatisfaction among the homebuyers was noticed at every level, and every set of buyers had their own set of grievances. Of course, the level & extent of dissatisfaction is different in different phases of house purchase and ownership.