Akshaya Tritiya fails to enthuse realty market

Akshaya Tritiya, which is considered to be an auspicious occasion for buying gold and property, has turned out be a lacklustre affair for property developers, as it was for gold jewellers. Reason: high prices of property in many cities, vacation season and the ongoing elections.

"The response from buyers was not very positive given that many people are on long vacation and the elections are on," said Akshay Agrawal, director, Arihant Superstructures, a Mumbai-based developer.

Arihant sold five to 10 apartments on Friday compared with 25 to 30 apartments during Gudi Padwa, the new year day for Maharashtrians. It waived off development charges to the tune of Rs 2 lakh in one of its projects in Mumbai.

LOSING SHEEN

• Arihant Superstructures, a Mumbai-based developer, sold five to 10 apartments on Friday compared with 25 to 30 apartments during Gudi Padwa, the new year day for Maharashtrians
• Tata Housing, the realty arm owned by Tata Sons, saw around 50 bookings across its projects, which offered gold vouchers, home appliances, gold coins as freebies with bookings

"We did not see any great bookings. Now people do not wait for festivals to book homes. We consider it like any normal day," said J C Sharma, vice-chairman of Bangalore-based Sobha Developers. The company did not give any special discounts or gold coins either during Akshaya Tritiya.

However, Tata Housing, the realty arm owned by Tata Sons, saw around 50 bookings across its projects, which offered gold vouchers, home appliances, gold coins as freebies with bookings. "People have come out and bought homes. It is a good start to the current financial year," said Rajeeb Dash, marketing head at Tata Housing. According to Dash, it makes sense to convert "the fence sitters" into home buyers through freebies.

Sanjay Dutt, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, said there was not much traction in the market given that mostly end users, who were anyway looking to buy homes, either did registrations or made payments for their apartments. "That did not add additional buyers to the market."