It is true that the GST burden is today a huge deterrent in the housing market and a large share of homebuyers are now waiting for the project to be ready as the ready to move apartment won’t attract GST burden. The problem, however, is with millions of buyers who are in the mid cycle of construction and the GST has suddenly added to their already over stretched budget in the housing market.
With the reasonable expectation of a roof over the head not very long ago, the real estate boom in this part of the world has scaled up the liberty of choice for the average homebuyers. While the aspirations of even the middle and lower middle income with moderate budget have gone up, there are very many residential projects launched in recent times that seem to fill the gap with the promise of hi-tech amenities, luxurious lifestyle, lush green surroundings within the range of Rs. 30-70 lakhs.
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.
Forest View as a marketing terminology has been so much over-used and abused that the mere mention of the name turns off most of the discerning homebuyers. Most of the loud claims of Forest View turn out to be the disappointing experience with even patches of bushes over some drains being referred as the Green View or its extreme far end of being referred as the Forest View.
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.
Ashiana Housing has been among the first to spot the potential of the town and move into Bhiwadi market. Its Joint Managing Director, Ankur Gupta agrees that when the promises of major infrastructure like roads, transportation, water, sewage facilities and education facilities are provided, the real growth of Bhiwadi is inevitable. Retail and commercial projects like Village Center, Angan Plaza are already there and many more landmark developments are also coming up.
Some discussions about best practices in the Indian real estate has started because today the investors also do not want their money to be locked in an asset that is neither growing nor is likely to get delivered. Worse even, there is no authority or court in India that has been successful in getting a stalled project restarted or in forcing a bankrupt builder into selling his assets to compensate his allottees.
There is a growing debate within the realm of second home market as to what is the psychograph of the buyer. Whether they actually go for affordability or location or amenities, or all these factors collectively drive the second home buyers. These are the emerging market realities and till recently the property investment pattern across the country in general and Mumbai in particular suggested that there existed a symbiotic relation between the second home and an affordable home.
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.
Where is the growth corridor of Noida that could lead this market as another case study in attracting that kind of investment? The answer to this is not easy, not because of lack of a growth corridor but due to the problem of plenty. While the Atta Market of sector 18 continues to be its main Central Business District (CBD) even today, the emerging growth corridors are even better positioned to put Noida high on the radar of investors.