Piramal Realty to focus on mid-market segment to attract millenials; plans to invest Rs 1,500 cr for 'value housing' project in Thane

Piramal Group real estate arm Piramal Realty plans to invest in the mid-market segment. The configurations of these homes would be 1, 1.5 and 2 BHK apartments with access to premium amenities starting at 350 sq ft carpet area at Rs 60 lakh. For starters, the realty arm plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore for developing a residential project in Thane, targeting homebuyers with specific budgets by offering smaller configurations, a top company official said to PTI. Terming it ‘value housing’ segment, the company has for the first time configured the size of the apartments to attract millennials with relatively smaller budgets. The project is a part of the 32-acre township project Piramal Vaikunth, which will be spread across five acres and have a development potential of 2 million sq ft.

“With millennials at the helm, we have witnessed increased traction towards the value segment over the last few quarters. Our foray into this segment is in line with our expansion plans of creating presence across the consumer demand pyramid. We will be investing Rs 1,500 crore for this development,” Piramal Realty founder Anand Piramal said.

He further said the company plans to replicate the model in future expansion of its existing projects. However, he did not give further details on the same. The company will fund its investment plans through debt and internal accruals, Piramal said. [caption id=“attachment_4067269” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Developers, across markets, who have been primarily in the luxury and premium residential projects, are trying to right-price and right-size their offerings to meet requirements of first-time homebuyers. Piramal Realty, which currently has 17 million sq ft of residential and commercial space under development in and around Mumbai, plans to add another 10 million sq ft of residential space under development in 2020. “Along with this project, we will be launching a few more including the next phase of our Byculla project and the other at Mahim, which we are developing jointly with Omkar Realtors. Apart from these, we will be also considering a few stressed projects to achieve the 10 million sq ft target,” Piramal said. Banks and financial institutions are approaching the company to take up projects which they have funded and are now stuck due to various reasons, he added. “We are evaluating a few such deals. Moreover, its a good proposition for us as we will not have to make capital investments as these projects are already funded, but we will get project development fees,” Piramal said. --With PTI inputs