Realtors bank on freebies, festival sales but rule out price cuts

Realty developers are hopeful ofclearing a large portion of their inventory pile-up duringthis festive season by luring in buyers with freebies and

discounts, even as they sit tight on declared prices, saidindustry experts.

“Higher interests and the overall slowdown has led toa significant build-up of unsold units with developers in mostof the major realty markets over the past few quarters,adversely affecting cash flow and impacting new projectlaunches,” said KPMG India partner Neeraj Bansal.

Further, RBI’s stringent directives like banning the80:20 scheme is expected to make things more difficult fordevelopers, he said.

The September-December period witnesses maximumlaunches and publicity of real estate projects.

However, industry watchers are not expecting any pricecorrection during the period.

“We don’t expect any price correction now. Most projectshave maintained the price levels or in some cases gone upmarginally. But since they have already been factored inthe slowdown, they will cautiously plan their sales,” PwCIndia associate director Bhairav Dalal said.

Developers are likely to attract buyers through severaldiscount schemes/gifts with most common being gold coins,cash-back on monthly rentals, customisation, free parking andclub facility, zero brokerage, upfront cash discounts amongothers.

According to realty portal Magicbricks, developers inmetros like Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune,Chennai and Hyderabad have already announced various freebies.

“Offering such innovative schemes is most likely toresult in higher enquiries and footfalls, which coupled withfestive offerings, may help generate decent sales,” Bansal said.

PTI