E-Paper
Biding their time
Home Buyers in the city are adopting a wait-and-watch approach to falling real estate prices and believe the best time to put down that deposit is yet to come, reports Naresh Kamath.
Home Buyers in the city are adopting a wait-and-watch approach to falling real estate prices and believe the best time to put down that deposit is yet to come.
About 45 per cent of buyers have decided to defer their purchases as they believe prices will drop further, a survey conducted by real estate portal makaan.com has revealed.
Of the 4,456 respondents, 2,000 said they were delaying buying as they feel rates will come down.
Aditya Verma, business head for makaan.com, said the survey reflected market sentiments.
“Overall market conditions, along with the slowdown, have resulted in many genuine buyers putting off purchases,” said Verma. “They feel prices will come down significantly and waiting will help them.”
Buyers agree.
“How long can builders hold on to such unrealistic prices when there is recession all around,” said Sunil Gupta, who works in a private firm and has been scouting for a place in the Goregaon-Malad belt, where property rates hover at Rs 6,000 per sq ft onwards.
He said he was waiting for prices to come down to Rs 4,000 per sq ft.
“There is no doubt that prices will dip, but at some point, buyers will have to make a decision,” said Bhupesh Jain, managing director, Earth Developers. He said that since flats were limited in the island city, prices would fall by 10 per cent, while the suburbs, which have surplus stock, would see a dip of 30 per cent.
