No takers for Chandigarh properties: Only 3 out of 116 Housing Board flats sold

According to the details, the three residential properties that were sold fetched Rs 80.12 lakh against the total reserve price of Rs 79.12 lakh. Of these three, one dwelling unit that was auctioned was that of EWS in Sector 38 West which went for Rs 27.41 lakh while its reserve price was Rs 27.08 lakh. The remaining two were sold in Indira Colony for Rs 26.21 lakh and Rs 26.50 lakh.

A senior official of the Chandigarh Housing Board told The Indian Express, “Last January, we wrote to UT Administration for allowing conversion of leasehold into freehold in the commercial properties but we have received no response so far. The leasehold properties do not evoke any response the way freehold ones do. Hence, this lukewarm response again.”

The Chandigarh Housing Board has been facing poor response quite often now. In July as well, of the 128 dwelling units, only eight could be auctioned.

All the eight units that were sold were residential units with a two-bedroom flat of the board going for Rs 1.33 crore in Sector 51A.

Of these 128, the CHB had invited e-bids for the sale of 40 residential units on a freehold basis and 88 commercial properties on a leasehold basis. However, only eight residential units could go under the hammer and there was not a single taker for the commercial units on a leasehold basis.

According to the Chandigarh Housing Board, it earned a revenue of Rs 7.87 crore against the total reserve price of Rs 7.16 crore from the sale of eight residential units on a freehold basis.

In May as well, the CHB was unsuccessful as it saw only two residential properties being sold out of the total 123 properties. Not a single taker turned up for the CHB commercial properties on a leasehold basis as no bid was received against 88 units put up for auction.

The two freehold residential units that had fetched Rs 1.26 crore were against the total reserve price of Rs1.23 crore. A two-bedroom flat in Sector 51-A was auctioned for Rs 98.50 lakh against the reserve price of Rs 95.34 lakh, while an EWS unit in Sector 26 was sold for Rs 28.35 lakh against the reserve price of Rs 28.25 lakh. The CHB had invited e-bids for the sale of 35 residential units on a freehold basis, and 88 commercial properties on a leasehold basis from May 11.

Lukewarm response in previous auctions too

During a previous auction on April 25, the CHB had managed to sell only four residential units on a freehold basis out of 38 and two commercial units out of 90 on a leasehold basis. The four freehold residential units fetched Rs 3.16 crore against the total reserve price of Rs 3.06 crore.

Similarly, the CHB earned a revenue of Rs 68 lakh with the sale of two commercial units on a leasehold basis against the reserve price of Rs 63.86 lakh. In total, the board earned Rs 3.84 crore from the sale of the six units against the reserve price of Rs 3.70 crore.