Chennai : Maximum Flats sold are priced under Rs. 5,000 Sq. Ft..

Nearly 78 % of the sales in Chennai were in this Category..

Flats priced under Rs. 5,000 per sq. ft account for about 3 out of 4 homes sold in Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR), Pune, Bangalore & Chennai over the past year, data from real estate research firm Liases Foras shows. While such homes comprised 73% of the total sales in these areas, the figure was an even higher 84 % in Bangalore and Pune.

Nearly 78% of the sales in Chennai and 80% in the National Capital Region were in this category while the Mumbai Metropolitan Region saw the lowest proportion of apartments sold in this segment, at 42%.

 Mr, Lalit Kumar Jain, chairman of builders' association Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, (CREDAI) "People in this segment realise that prices will only go up and this level of affordability will be hard to get in the future"

Property prices saw a spurt between 2010 & 2012, but in the past one year prices have stagnated in most places and even dropped in a few areas.

According to National Housing Bank (NHB) Residex, the quarter to September, 2013 saw prices drop in 10 cities while 12 cities saw a marginal rise. NCR saw a drop of nearly 4.5 % while prices fell 1 % in Bangalore.

 According to Liases Foras, At the end of September, 2013,  71.10 crore square feet of homes remained unsold across India, an increase of 4.10 crore squafe  feet in just one quarter.

People in this segment are still buying because prices have come down in recent quarters and developers / promoters are offering discounts and schemes, said Ms. Shiv Priya, ED,  Amrapali Developers. "Now there is a perception that after elections prices will start increasing again," Ms. Priya said.

The home loan requirement in this segment is relatively lower, so servicing it is also much more affordable, said NHB chairman Mr. R.V. Verma. "Prices have also corrected or stabilised, so people feel it is the right time to buy a house," he said.

For Indiabulls Housing Finance, this category accounts for 80 % of housing loans. "A majority of people in this segment work in middle management of companies. From a job continuity perspective, they are safe. There is no fear of job losses in the economy at the moment," said Mr. Gagan Banga, MD, Indiabulls Housing Finance.

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