Few takers for DDA luxury flats, 500 register on Day 1

The luxury houses will be allotted through an e-auction, while the other flats are allotted on a first-come-first-serve basis

Registrations for the new luxury housing segment offered by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) found few takers on day one, with only 500 people signing on for the 1,130 flats — HIG, Super HIG, and penthouses — on offer.

New Delhi, India - Sept. 22, 2018: A view of the market inside Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Flats at Narela in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, September 22, 2018. (Photo by Amal KS/ Hindustan Times) To go with Manoj Sharma (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

LIG apartments and those reserved for the economically weaker section (EWS) category did not fare much better, with DDA receiving only 7,739 registrations for the 27,000 flats, which are mostly located in Narela, since the online portal opened on November 24.

The luxury houses will be allotted through an e-auction, while the other flats are allotted on a first-come-first-serve basis, officials said. The last date of registration is December 29 and e-auctions will begin in phases from January 5.

The 14 penthouses come with a hefty reserve price of ₹5 crore — the highest price at which DDA has launched any residential property in the city — while the reserve price for the 170 Super HIG flats is around ₹2.5 crore, and that of 946 HIG flats is ₹1.4 crore. A prospective buyer of these luxury flats will have to deposit ₹25 lakh for the penthouses, ₹20 lakh for Super HIG, and ₹15 lakh for HIG flats.

These apartments are part of what DDA is billing as a luxury society at Dwarka Sector 19B — around 13km from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport — and will be ready to move in by December-end or January, officials said.

“This is our premium scheme that had several queries beforehand and many people waiting for it. However, the serious registrations take a few days as the deposit amount is also high. We are expecting better response in the next couple of days. Overall, we have seen a much better response to our residential schemes this year, compared to the last few years,” said a DDA official.

DDA officials said that immediately preceding the opening of the current scheme, around 20,000 probable buyers signed up, adding that 83% of the registrations have converted into actual sales.

Since 2014, DDA schemes have received a poor response, and during the last financial year, the authority announced losses amounting to over ₹18,000 crore, mostly due to an unsold inventory of around 40,000 flats, most of which are located in Narela.

On Thursday, officials from the lieutenant governor’s office said the LG has taken several decisions to ensure that DDA’s unsold inventory is cleared.

“Relaxing the eligibility and other norms to allow ownership of more than one flat in Delhi, coupled with an aggressive outreach campaign, seem to have made a substantial difference. DDA, that has been burdened with an unsustainable inventory of unsold houses, finally appears to be taking a turn as far as sale of houses is concerned. At the same time, a comprehensive plan to develop the Narela area in terms of connectivity and ensuring overall upgradation by way of establishing university campuses, court and prison complexes, hospitals and a push to Metro, has also encouraged buyers, according to the marketing agency employed by DDA for this project,” said an official from the LG’s office.