Realty in for a dull festive season this year

HYDERABAD: Dasara festival this year, much like in the past, is set to be flooded with `gruha pravesham’ (house-warming ceremony) across the twin cities. The auspicious day, market watchers say, is likely to see at least a dozen families (on an average) move in to each of the newly constructed projects in Hyderabad.
But while this rush of home buyers might seem to indicate a steady growth in the ailing real estate sector, city builders say that it’s clearly not the case. The many house-warming parties notwithstanding, they confess that the festive season so far has been dry and lacklustre.
Take for instance Aparna Constructions. While the firm has as many as 43 customers moving in to their new properties on Dasara this year, only a couple of them are fresh sales. And this is true of both their projects, Aparna Sarovar (Gachibowli) and Aparna Cyber Commune (Nallagandla). “Most of these are old customers who had been waiting for the auspicious occasion to have their `gruha pravesham’ ceremony,” said D S Prasad, director, Aparna Constructions adding how his company has managed to sell just about five apartments this festival season. “This is a poor show considering we usually manage to seal at least 20-25 deals during this time of the year,” Prasad added.
Similarly, Ramky Integrated Township Ltd too has close to 25 home buyers stepping foot in to their new apartments at Ramky Towers, in Gachibowli, on Thursday. Though company officials see this as a good sign, considering the current situation in the city, they admit that the company could have done with a better profit figure. “I will not say it’s completely dull. But yes, business is a little slow,” said Ashish Mathur, chief executive officer, Ramky Group.
And this poor show is partly thanks to the shutdown of registration offices in Hyderabad. With over a few hundred property registrations already pending with the state authorities, market experts say that prospective buyers are skeptical of finalising deals at such a time. “There are quite a few negotiations, but nothing seems to get sealed. Perhaps, buyers are waiting for government offices to start functioning to take a final call,” said Asif Ali Khan, MD of Maci Developers Pvt Ltd.
But besides builders and their clients, the temporary stalling of registrations has also hit the state coffers. Rough estimates suggest that the state has already lost revenue worth Rs 15 crore (approx), from Hyderabad district alone, due to this ongoing strike. “Close to 300 registrations take place in the city every day, which fetch the government revenue to the tune of Rs 1 crore. Considering it has been over two weeks now, the losses are huge,” said an official from the sub-registrar’s office.