With sales gradually picking up in the real estate sector, developers are swiftly increasing prices.
Tata Housing has emerged as the lead developer to have hiked property prices in the recent days.
The company has increased prices of residential units at Eden Court, its first housing project in West Bengal, for the second time in the last one week, to Rs 2,900per square feet from the staring price of Rs 2,750 per square feet.
"The rise in prices is in tandem with the demand, as almost 70 per cent of the residential units in the project have been sold out," said sources at the authorised marketing agents for Tata Housing.
Tata Housing's first real estate project in the state is not a low-cost housing project, like the one it recently launched in Mumbai.
Widely applauded as a "Nano" in the housing sector,a 283 square feet flat in "Shubh Griha", the company's low cost housing projects in Mumbai, comes at about Rs 3.9 lakh.
Whereas, at Eden Court, about a 1,000 square feet flat will not come at less than Rs 30 lakh. A spokesperson from Tata Housing, while confirming the price hike, said, "The housing project in West Bengal has been well-received."
When asked whether the company would launch a low-cost housing project in West Bengal, the spokesperson said, "Our managing director has indicated that we will have a pan-India presence. We are also considering Kolkata for the housing project. The project commencement will depend upon the availability of land in the state."
Spread over 50 acres in Rajarhat, in Action Area II of New Town, the Tata Housing project would be a combination of residential, commercial and retail, and the first phase comprises the residential project.
The company bought the land from the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco), the nodal agency for allotting land in New Town Rajarhat.
The complex would be spread over five acres and would have three towers with two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. Two of the towers would have G+18 floors. The entire township project is expected to be completed in 2.5 years.
However, not just Tata Housing, it appears that the real estate sector was showing signs of recovery.Kolkata-based P S Group, is also developing a housing project at Rajarhat, and selling flats at Rs 1,899 per square feet.
Pradeep Chopra of the P S Group said, his firm had increased prices by Rs 200 per square feet recently. "Even by selling at Rs 1,899 per square feet, our margin is close to Rs 300," said Chopra.
According to experts, the spurt in prices could be in view of the lack of supply, mainly because for more than last six months hardly any new project has been launched by developers in Rajarhat.
With few ready-to-occupy flats available in the area, big real estate developers might have been leveraging from the imbalance in supply and demand, apart from the brandname, opined experts.
