It was a necessity that remained a dream for most. Till some time back, a home to call one's own was an aspiration that a major slice of the middle class fondly nurtured and awaited for the day when the entire family can join for the auspicious 'gruha pravesh'.
Even recent developments that suggested real estate boom either curving down a bit or decelerating, does not seem to cheer this section. There was no way, the pricing which scaled quite high in two years would come down to earlier rates.Owning a home was treated as an achievement of lifetime and a possession one has to ensure before retirement from service by the middle class. However small a dwelling one might own, the landlord was viewed with certain envy by those chasing the home dream.However, the sudden buzz on real estate front about two years back made the middle class view the dream as something that was within achievable reach. For several, the long held aspirations began turning into a reality as dollars and pounds began flowing in the wake of IT boom. While the father on verge of retirement brought back a pay packet of say Rs.10,000 to Rs.12,000, children in their early days of career returned each month-end with a salary that was several times higher than that. And investment in property was seen as the most proper option for the kind of money that kept coming home.While the IT-employed families went for properties at a price that kept scaling high, others were left behind in the race. The chasm widened as the market was taken over by highly priced properties. And one was forced to shell out at least three to four times more for a flat or a plot. And the middle class housing concept started getting more blurred with developers trying to come out with luxury flats even in the remote corners of the city."My salary hardly allows me a home loan of Rs.4 lakhs and with savings that have been made, I cannot afford to pay more than Rs.6 lakhs. Despite my best search, I am unable to locate a builder who has a project with flats in this range," laments G. Radhakrishna Rao, a senior assistant in government service.Employed with a private firm at Balanagar, Sriramulu says he almost gave up the idea of buying a property after scouting the city for a flat costing Rs.9 lakh.For every IT employed family, there are many more that still are dependant on earnings that hardly allow for investments in the bracket of Rs.30 lakhs to Rs.75 lakhs.Earlier the city fringes were where the middle class tried to locate itself, given the low property prices there, but now the suburbs too have raised their price bar so high that the idea of a flat at even say Rs.12 lakh to Rs.15 lakh is getting dismissed with contempt.Even recent developments that suggested real estate boom either curving down a bit or decelerating, does not seem to cheer this section. There was no way, the pricing which scaled quite high in two years would come down to earlier rates, reasons a builder. Even the smallest of the developer has plans to build big and was keen on big returns, it is pointed out.The uncertainty following suggestions on the boom having hit a plateau also ended up deterring the section of middle class which looked at buying property purely as an investment. It is also agreed by most builders that the up-and-down mood swings of home loan rates and lack of response to recent auctions among other factors, had created certain indecision on investing in second or third property.
Source: The Hindu
Search Tags: Hyderabad Real Estate News Update October 2007
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