Buyers look for affordable housing at GIHED show

AHMEDABAD: Over 60,000 people visited the seventh annual property show of Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED) on Friday.
Over 500 properties ranging from Rs 5 lakh single-bedroom flats to lavish bungalows costing as high as Rs 7 crore are on display. About 60 per cent inquiries came for two and three BHK apartments.
"People are demanding affordable housing ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.Mostly salaried class people were seen looking for housing units. Interestingly, they don't mind going far looking at the city's infrastructure and ongoing mass transit projects including BRTS and the upcoming metro rail project," said Jaxay Shah, vice president, Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI).
Shekhar Patel, immediate past president of GIHED said that number of expatriates including NRIs, visitors from cities like Vadodara, Rajkot and nearby towns were seen inquiring for properties in Ahmedabad.
Builder Uday Vora said around 4000 visitors registered at his stall in four hours flat. According to him, apart from residential segment, inquiries for shops and offices were also on the higher side.
UK resident Martin Cook came looking for suitable property on lease for his company on the western part of the city. Cook said that the MNC in which he is working required at least 20,000 sq ft office space.
Tejas Thesia, 33, has been staying in Australia for the last seven years. The NRI is interested in investing somewhere in Gujarat. "I was in Ahmedabad for two days. The show provides good investment options under one roof. Ahmedabad's infrastructure has improved in last few years," says Thesia, who has fixed five site visits on Saturday with different developers.
Ashish Desai, a 35-year-old banker from Rajkot made it a point to visit the property show. Desai already owns a house in Rajkot and he is looking for a flat in Ahmedabad for investment purpose.