And now houses you can afford…

I may have written about this earlier but it’s worth mentioning again.

People keep asking me if this is the right time to buy a house?

My answer is YES

The recession in the realty sector has certainly helped bring property prices down and that has given rise to the new mantra – affordable housing.

That’s exactly what builders today are focusing on. Look up any newspaper and you would find many schemes for 2BHK and 3BHK houses, which are affordable.

What’s more there are builders who have devised newer strategies to sell their apartments especially the ones, which are off the city limits or not easily accessible.

To lure the buyers many not only give proper layout plan of the area around the site but also provide with transport facilities, in case there aren’t many.

There are builders who have promised luxury busses offering pick and drop facilities at nodal points.

The idea is to provide affordable and easy to reach destinations to the customers.

Today’s ET too sheds light on the trend of affordable housing.

Here’s what an article with headline – Affordable housing: New mantra of realty companies says –

With real estate market facing considerable slowdown, a new trend of building affordable houses is emerging in the National Capital Region of Delhi. After Ghaziabad, Indirapuram , Noida, Greater Noida and Faridabad, a number of projects in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh for an apartment, have been launched in Gurgaon.

So far, Gurgaon has been known for its luxury apartments. In the last two years, the township witnessed the development of apartments in the price range of Rs 3,500 to Rs 10,000 per sq ft. On top of this, the size of most of the apartments used to be upwards of 1,800 sq ft.

Thus, the cheapest apartment available in the area was priced around Rs 60 lakh. This affected demand in the residential real estate sector here. At the same time, as most builders were into the construction of premium apartments, these properties are in oversupply and witnessing correction in prices.

Once again I would say go for it!

Of those SMSes and advertising gimmicks

A couple of days ago I got an interesting SMS suggesting an investment opportunity. Better put, it was an advertisement relating to real estate investment.

I am sure you would have tumbled upon such SMSes in the past. Considering that your mobile phone has now become good advertising tool that delivers personalised messages and at negligible costs…the fad certainly is on the rise.

And it isn’t just restricted to real estate but stretches across the board with many companies especially the ones in retail using this method to promote their wares.

This one was from GoDirect.in and here’s what it said:

“Property investment next to Expressway, Noida, Buy at 11.88 Lakhs and (earn)
rent for 9 years at 11,880 to 22,300 per month.”

Seems like an interesting proposal, but here I must add that there always are some hidden clauses in such cases. But, if you are interested do check out their website www.godirect.in.

Here’s another one. It was from a Noida-based BPO and it too offered a similar proposition. The site too was located near the Expressway, Noida and it said:

“Book an apartment in JP Wish Town Klassic on Expressway – Noida and pay no
interest or EMI from next two years.”

The options in this case were 2/3/4 bedroom apartments with a starting price of Rs 35 lakhs.

No doubt, good investment avenues…but the point is are there any takers considering the hoopla surrounding the recession.

Satyam - the fallout continues

In my last post I had said that the ‘Satyam saga’ will carry on for some time and have it’s effect across the board especially on the IT and real estate sectors.

And that’s exactly what is happening now, the fallout is continuing.

The government on Monday decided to widen its sphere of investigation and look into realty firms Matyas Infra and Maytas Properties.
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which is conducting the investigation against Satyam, has been asked probe the accounts and other assets of the two companies.

No end to Satyam saga

Satyam Chairman B Ramalinga Raju did he wanted to do. He maybe behind bars but the fallout continues and my bet is that it will carry on for a pretty long time.

Today, both IT and realty stocks took a beating pulling the BSE Sensex to a one-month low before ending with a loss of over 323 points at 9,046.74.

Realty stocks suffered after Maytas Infra fell further in the lower circuit to end in the red. The primary reason for the nosedive by the news that a high-level probe would be ordered into the projects sanctioned to the company.

But, there was another reason for the slump in IT stocks. According to experts Nortel Network Corporation, which has filed for bankruptcy had an adverse impact on Indian software majors Infosys, Wipro, and TCS, which provide back-up support to Nortel.