Games village flat goes for Rs 7.3 crore

Delhi now has another swish address — the Commonwealth Games Village.

Delhi now has another swish address — the Commonwealth Games Village.

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A five-bedroom flat in the village was bought for Rs 7.31 crore — more than Rs 24,000 per square feet — making it one of the most expensive properties east of the Yamuna.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) struck rich on Monday when it opened bids for the 110 flats in the village, which came in for a lot of criticism due to delays and shoddy work in the run-up to the Games in October 2010.

The Rs 7.31-crore flat was bought by the Delhi State Cooperative Bank.

In fact, public sector units and banks made the winning bids for as many as 87 apartments. The State Bank of India led the pack with 32 flats, which it plans to use as residences for its senior staff.

Asma Manzar, commissioner

(land disposal), DDA said the response was overwhelming. While the number of bids — 218 — were lower than expected, the DDA got 25% more than the base price for all the flats.

The land development agency, which owns more than 700 flats in the residential complex, wanted to gauge the market through the auction.
When the first block of flats was sold by the village developer, Emaar MGF, in 2009, the price per square feet was around R11,000.

The DDA based the sales pitch on the flats’ “quality of construction” and “location advantage”, and it seems to have worked. The price commanded by village flats is far higher than for those in east Delhi’s sought-after areas such as Mayur Vihar, Preet Vihar and or Anand Vihar.