Real estate bets big on festive season
Hit hard by the prolonged slowdown in the real estate market, property developers are betting big on the current festive season for revival of their fortunes. In fact, they got into the festive mood a bit earlier as many of them were seen coming out with the festive schemes even before the start of the season, while others have unveiled their offers just now. Industry experts say that as the festive season is considered very auspicious for the purchase of property and close to 30-40% of yearly sales are generated during this short period itself, developers make every effort to woo customers with freebies and discounts. And this festive season is no exception. In fact, this year more innovative schemes are likely to be witnessed in the market, particularly in view of the mounting unsold stock of property. Nitesh Punjabi, Associate Director, Capital Markets and Investment Services at Colliers International India, says that purchase of a home for Indian buyers is a special occasion. In addition to the purchase being an investment or a need, it is also of a huge emotional and sentimental value. “Earlier, the purchase was linked to the festive season for multiple reasons. A part of the money needed for those purchases came through from bonuses, which in those days was distributed around the festive season. Also, most of the purchases during those days were first time purchases. Hence, the sentimental value was a lot higher. Most of the earlier purchases were also self-funded. So, the sentimental attachment was much higher,” says Punjabi. Over the past decade-and-a-half or so, the markets have changed and the purchasers have evolved. Today, in the age of housing finance companies, any shortfall in the funds can be met via bank loans. Today, the buyer is also much younger and not a big believer in making purchases on auspicious days. However, during the festive season, the sentiments of the people are much better as they are emotionally geared up to make decisions regarding high-ticket purchases. Real estate developers take advantage of these sentiments and offer various schemes during the festive period to cash in on the buoyant sentiments. Lots of freebies, discounts and deals are offered across projects to target buyers to enable them to make quick decisions. Due to this, most of the buyers like to wait for the festive seasons to start so they can evaluate the best deals and take informed decisions,” informs Punjabi.
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