After a lull of almost six months, real estate developers are once again launching residential projects aggressively to cash on the Navratri festival, considered auspicious for property buying.
The festival of Navratri comes after the Shraadh period, considered inauspicious in the Hindu religious calendar, when property buyers do not book houses.
The interest from developers was so much that over a dozen residential projects by companies such as Parsvnath, BPTP and Emaar MGF were launched in the National Capital Region in the past week.
DLF, the country’s largest developer, is launching the second phase of its Capital Greens in West Delhi on Tuesday. DLF sold 1,356 apartments under its first phase of the project in a single day in April this year, due to competitive pricing.
Emaar MGF, a Delhi-based developer, launched Emerald Floors Premier on Monday after it sold off Emerald Floors and Emerald Estate in the Emerald Hills integrated gated community project in Gurgaon. The same company launched plots and villa floors at Jaipur Greens on September 19, where it has sold 120 plots so far, while Parsvnath Developers also launched Parsvnath City at Saharanpur in UP last Sunday.
According to property consultants, this year the new launches were double the number of last year’s Navratri launches, when the property market was in a bad shape. Home sales had fallen by over 50 per cent from the beginning of the year, and developers were offering freebies and discounts to sell their existing projects.
Though on a lower scale, Mumbai also witnessed a couple of launches of luxury projects in South Central Mumbai by companies such as Indiabulls Real Estate and Orbit Corporation last week.
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“Every day, we are seeing one or two launches and every developer is launching projects. Last year, most of them were selling old products due to the downturn. This year, we have a seen a slew of new projects during Navratri,”said Raminder Grover, chief executive of Homebay Residential, a unit of property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.
Consultants say the increased activity in home sales is giving confidence to developers to launch new projects. Residential prices have gone up by 15 to 20 per cent in the past six months or so, as developers sold projects which were aggressively priced and marketed.
“The last few months were indeed good for the residential market. There is an increased activity due to good launches and better pricing by developers,’’ says Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director of CB Richard Ellis, South Asia.
Grover says that unlike last Navratri, developers are not giving any freebies and discounts, as they were confident of selling their products without any added attraction. Magazine adds that developers are selling homes with better amenities and designs to prospective buyers.
“Though developers are marketing their products aggressively, buyers have a high level of awareness on the available projects. It is certainly a buyers’ market now,’’ said Magazine.