Ready to roll
With several advantages to its credit, home buyers in Chennai are increasingly considering ready-to-occupy homes.
Buying a house is one of the most important decisions of one’s life. Usually, there might be a long waiting period mixed with anxiety about realising one’s dream of owning a house. This wait has decreased substantially with ready-to-occupy projects gaining popularity. With income levels rising and increase in number of HNIs, ready-to-occupy projects are finding more takers in the city.
“In a significant trend seen in Indian real estate recently, ready to-move-in property has become the flavour of the season with buyers preferring to buy what they see. Also, they prefer to mitigate risks associated with new projects including incessant delays. In fact, as per our survey, a whopping 63 percent of prospective buyers in Chennai prefer ready-to-move-in projects, one of the highest among all metros,” says Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants.
There are many advantages that a ready-to-occupy property has over an under-construction development. Instead of a sample flat or just the floor-plan, you actually get to see and feel the finished project. Also, in case of an under-construction project, there are many incidents where in they are not completed within the promised time-frame much to the distress of the buyers. Also, as ready to move in property require complete payment before moving in, most of the buyers are end users who are looking to shift from their rented properties.
There are other financial implications also guiding this choice. As Santosh puts it, one of the major factors contributing to this rising interest is that GST is only restricted to under construction properties while ready-to-move-in homes are exempted from it. Thus, a buyer need not pay this new tax which could have increased the cost of the property by as much 8 percent.
So, it is in some sense advantageous for ‘real’ buyers to opt for ready-to move-in homes.
Developers in the city are now offering ready to move in apartments for sale, which now have been constructed. This has helped slightly to pep up housing demand. Also, with many freebies, discounts offered with lower risk ready-to move-in property, housing demand in the country may finally grow at a decent phase.
There are several areas in Chennai where one can purchase a ready-to-occupy house, which will provide good ROI in future. “The residential areas such as Porur on Mount Ponamalle High Road, and micromarkets located along Rajiv Gandhi Salai (Chennai’s designated IT corridor) such as Perumbakkam, Sholinganallur, Thalambur, Navalur and Siruseri, which enjoy proximity to major IT corporates, have potential to yield good ROI as the pricing are relatively stable in these locations owing to presence of good inventory levels,” says Shyam Arumugam, Senior Associate Director, Office Services (Chennai), Colliers International India.
As per ANAROCK data, Chennai currently has as many as 30,220 unsold units as on Q3 2018.
“Of these, nearly 30 percent are ready-to-move-in (approx 9,070 units) as on date. The top five areas with maximum ready-to-move-in supply include Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Oragadam, Guduvanchery, Mogappair West and Kelambakkam. Largely driven by IT/ITeS and industrial sectors, these areas are likely to give returns anywhere between 5-10 percent over the next one to two years depending on location, developer and the property-type,” says Santosh.