With Gujarat’s realty market showing signs of a slowdown, the Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED) has its fingers crossed that the just concluded 3-day property show at World Gujarati Conference (WGC) will help keep the market afloat by raking in NRI business of around Rs 1,000 crore by March 2009.
The 50-odd Gujarat-based realtors , who displayed nearly 150 projects , are hoping that after having a peek at properties on offer , NRGs winging their way during winter break will buy into Gujarat realty .
While high-end apartments and bungalows were sought after and realtors claimed to have booked 15-20 units, GIHED vice-president Suresh Patel said the basic objective was not just to sell realty but promote Gujarat an investment destination . “Properties are not bought on impulse. It’s just a way to connect with NRGs , who usually get friends and relatives to check out property before they fly down ,” explained Ahmedabad-based Sangath group ‘s Nephal Shah, who claims to have distributed nearly 5,000 brochures .
Added Ahmedabad-based Parshwanath Realty Pvt Ltd director Rushabh N Patel, “There are many NRGs who haven ‘t been to Gujarat in years and are not aware of the rapid development .”
And despite a huge crash in property prices due to the sub-prime crisis and the fact that visitors found property prices at the show ‘inflated’, many showed keenness in buying property in Gujarat thanks to prospects of higher appreciation.
“I am sure prices are negotiable,” said conference participant Sanat Desai hopefully , even as Princeton (NJ) based architect Ramesh Patel was excited about the ‘phenomenal’ appreciation . “If I buy a house worth $ 1 million here, I will get twice the returns in 10 years, while in Gujarat I can expect it to appreciate 10 times,” he said. “Investment is the basic objective. We have a house here and don’t plan to move to India permanently even later,” said businessman Dhiraj Shah.