8/10 home buyers are unhappy with their purchase: Survey

Only a poor two out of 10 home buyers, both first-time as well as second-time, feel satisfied with the homes they buy as a whopping 80 per cent are dissatisfied with their purchase, says a survey.

The study conducted by Track2Realty, an information platform for the realty sector based in New Delhi, says still larger portion (92 per cent) of the respondents are highly dissatisfied with the private developers and would prefer government housing.

The survey was conducted among nearly 2,000 middle and upper middle-class buyers.

What is more interesting is that in the absence of any effective regulatory mechanism in the realty sector, 74 per cent of these people would not mind investing in shares of the same realty developer they are dissatisfied with, says the survey.

 

Again, as many as 70 per cent of these home-buyers repent investing their life savings in the real estate they bought even though 65 per cent of them saw their real estate price appreciate.

Out of these 80 per cent dissatisfied buyers 31 per cent have already filed or are preparing to file cases in consumer courts against their developers, and 43 per cent of those who have moved the courts or are preparing to do so have refused out-of-court settlements with the developers.

Again, 87 per cent those polled with double income are already looking for a better home.

The main grouse against the developers include poor construction quality (92 per cent), poor facility management provided by the developers (69 per cent), with 67 per cent sulking over hidden costs.

Other complaints include delayed possession, and short-changing on the floor area and carpet area among other issues.

Within the dissatisfied lot, 62 per cent are first-time buyers while 38 per cent are second-time buyers. On a scale of 1,000, the customer satisfaction is a dismal 212.

The survey-covering 28 private sector developers was conducted in 10 cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Patna, Kanpur, Allahabad and Indore — between December 1 and 25 by Track2Realty.

A significant number of the respondents (1,672, 34 per cent females and 66 per cent males) were buyers of mid segment houses and majority were first-time buyers (62 per cent) who shifted to the new house either from parental homes or rented accommodation.