Real estate market of Bengaluru regains life
The secondary real-estate market in Bengaluru has recovered from its nadir in the months that followed demonetization and has been seeing improvement in sales in the past four months. The size of the deals is smaller, said brokers who deal in resale of properties. Brokers said the turnaround star
Published -
Jan 29, 2018 5:04 AM
The secondary real-estate market in Bengaluru has recovered from its nadir in the months that followed demonetization and has been seeing improvement in sales in the past four months. The size of the deals is smaller, said brokers who deal in resale of properties. Brokers said the turnaround started in October, and it would take time to reach the pre-demonetisation levels. "Sales have picked up after the confusion of RERA (Real Estate Regulation Act) and GST (Goods and Services Tax). Previously, we used to do one or two large deals every month; now, the ticket size has come down and we are doing 2-3 deals a month," Abdul Suhail, who runs Coldwell Banker SamOne Realty, said. ‘No demand for luxury properties’ Suhail, who deals in properties around upscale Sadashivanagar and Hebbal areas, said his deals used to be worth about Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore, but now most of his clients are looking for resale properties worth between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 80 lakh. “I do not see demand for luxury properties now,” he said. Cash plays a key role in resold properties, as the seller often seeks to save on capital gains tax. For the buyer, the attraction of cash deals is that they can report a lower value to the registration office and reduce the stamp-duty burden. Demonetization has impacted cash availability. Waquar Ahmed of Ahmed Realty now gets about 12 enquiries every month out of which he is able to convert two into sales, compared to about 30 enquiries per month and 3 sales before the government decided to ban the use of Rs 500 and Rs1,000 notes. “The numbers are still less, but there is a slight improvement from what it was in the beginning of the last year. I’m selling properties around MGRoad and Richmond Town at aboutRs2 crore toRs4 crore. Itwill take another year for the market to recover, with the elections coming,” Ahmed said. Real-estate consultant Prime Properties’ proprietor Ram Rajpal said sales have picked up from October. While enquiries started a few months prior to that, they were not getting converted to sales. “We’re now selling about 2 per month compared to 4 before demonetisation. That’s better compared to last year when we did nothing.”
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