Property prices to stabilise, says HDFC chief

MUMBAI, JANUARY 11: After going through a four-year long recession, the real estate industry is expected to stabilise at the current level...

MUMBAI, JANUARY 11: After going through a four-year long recession, the real estate industry is expected to stabilise at the current level with no price increases in the near future. Rentals in metros are expected to crash after the Rent Control Act is removed by the State government.

“In fact, in many pockets in Mumbai, prices have already fallen by over 50 per cent… and this, we believe, is the right time for the fence-sitters to make an entry into the market,” he said. “Lack of transparency and information were the main reasons why real customers were running away from the market,” Satvalekar said. “We hope the builders will inculcate more sense of corporate governance in their organisation,” he added.

The HDFC managing director said in a pre-budget meeting held in Delhi yesterday HDFC has appealed to the Finance Minister to increase the Income Tax exemption limit to Rs 1.5 lakh as compared to Rs 75,000 announced by government in last year’s budget. “As the RBI is treating Rs 10 lakh loan as priority sector lending, a loan of equal amount for housing should be given the same treatment and yearly interest of Rs 1.5 lakh should be comepletely exempted from income tax,” he said.

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The news conference was organised to announce India’s largest exhibition of housing and real estate projects – Property 2000, to be held in Bandra Kurla complex from January 14-17, 2000.

Niranjan Hiranandani, Vice President of Maharashtra Chamber for Housing Industry (MCHI) said the property prices in Mumbai is expected to come down further due to removal of Urban Land Ceiling Act, Rent Control Act and actual users coming into the market.

“This is the right time for individual buyers to buy a property as the prolonged recession has bought down the real estate prices to more affordable rates,” he said. “We also want MHADA to decrease prices of its properties so that overall prices come down,” he said.

According to MCHI President, Rajni Ajmera, the real estate market has seen a paradign shift from a sellers market to buyers market. “Demand for housing has increased due to liberalisation, low interest rates, and tax benefits. Besides prices are also down. We expect buyers to find solutions to their housing problems due to all the cleaning up which took place in the last few years,” he said.