NRGs set sights on realty too

RAJKOT/VADODARA: Ever wondered why so many apartments and bungalows in upmarket residential schemes always stay vacant? Those having close links with the construction industry in Gujarat know the answer very well. It is not just apparel and jewellery stores that the NRIs are descending upon this season.
With the property rates appreciating in the past few months, NRIs are now eyeing luxury flats and bungalows to make investments.It is a home away from home that they want — a foothold in their native land which they can call their own. Builders say with the international bank interest rates coming down, NRIs are increasingly diverting their savings to realty in Gujarat.
According to them, the NRIs pick up almost 15 per cent of luxury residential properties. President of Vadodara Estate Brokers’ Association Harshad Brahmbhatt says, "A number of schemes like Nilambar I & II, Archade, the Orchid on Old Padra road and Green Field have come up especially to cater to the NRG market. These posh bungalows are spread across 2,000 to 3,000 square feet.
Some have swimming pools and cost anywhere between Rs 25 and 30 lakh.� There is stiff competition among builders to construct posh bungalows to cater to this clientele, he added. In Rajkot, builders claim there is not a single bungalow or flat scheme where the NRIs would not have invested. Rashmi Patel, president of Rajkot Builders’ Association, says, "NRIs have booked about 10 to 15 per cent luxurious flats and three to four per cent bungalows."
In Radhika Apartments on Kalawad Road, five out of 30 flats have been booked by NRIs, says Pramod Makadiya, architect of the project. Atul Sheth of Sheth Builders says in the Race Course Park, one of the biggest residential colonies in Rajkot, about 15 per cent houses are owned by NRIs and are lying vacant.
If the NRIs deposit their money in the bank the interest rate abroad would be 4.5 per cent, but in property the appreciation would be about 18 per cent. In Surat, NRIs prefer buying properties on the outskirts of the city, where new schemes are coming up, according to Jayant Ganatra, president, Surat Builders Association.
"Lots of NRI investments were made in the recent past in Bardoli, Navsari, Bilimora and Vyara where specific schemes for the NRIs were designed," Ganatra says. "The NRI investment is normally in good schemes — anything upwards of Rs 20 lakh for an apartment or close to Rs 40 lakh for a bungalow," says one developer in Ahmedabad.
Secretary of Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers Suresh Patel says the trend of NRIs investing in properties back home has become stronger in the past couple of years. "The NRIs also find property rates in Ahmedabad cheap, so investment here has been increasing." (With Tina Parekh in Ahmedabad and Amarendra Jha in Surat)