Gurgaon realtors focus on independent floors

Developers such as DLF, Omaxe and Raheja having land banks in Haryana are planning to go for plotted developments and sell independent floors this year rather than building high-rises.

Last year, Haryana had notified a rule under which up to four floors can be constructed on a plot and sold individually, making Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi attractive for buyers who prefer to live in independent floors.

DLF, while announcing its quarterly result, said it would upgrade existing plotted inventory to independent floors, which generally have shown better traction in the market. The plan is to offer about seven million square feet of finished homes on its already developed plots.

“The construction of these builder floors will be much faster as compared to building high-rises; the company expects to monetise these within the new fiscal (year starting April 2020),” the company told analysts in its quarterly update.

In the first phase, DLF will launch four million sq ft in Gurgaon and Panchkula, and it expects to generate revenue of Rs 5,000 crore from this. It will be investing Rs 1,700 crore in building the floors.

Developers say in plotted development, money flow would start within nine months while in high-rises, it would take 3-4 years.

“The company is now working towards re-positioning its finished inventory and bringing differentiated products according to the current market dynamics. The new buildout will happen over the next few months and we will complete and sell these flats which are in line with our strategy of build and then sell,” said a company executive.

The plotted inventory will be in DLF City, phase one to four, New Gurgaon and Panchkula. Each plot will be of more than 300 sq yards.

DLF said it received good response for its ready-to-occupy premium project — The Ultima in Gurgaon. It posted sales of about Rs 800 crore from the phase two launch. The project now is 90% sold out, it said.

“Plots offer better appreciation as compared to apartments; and multiple floors can also be constructed thereby making it affordable. Moreover, plots are also available in gated communities offering round-the-clock security as well,” Omaxe chief executive Mohit Goel said.

People nowadays want quick possession, and turnaround time for handing over of plots and independent floors is much less compared with that for housing societies and multi-storey apartments, a reason why many of the developers are offering plots and independent floors, Nayan Raheja of Raheja Developers said.

However, according to ANAROCK Property Consultants, of the total 1,816 residential projects launched across the top seven cities in 2019, more than 52% were high-rises. The National Capital Region with nearly 70% of its total launched projects in the high-rise category is the second on that list.

Data indicates that an increasing trend of vertical development has taken the sheen off a once highly-preferred property type — villas.

Both demand and supply of this format are diminishing, with wealthy homebuyers preferring the latter-day concept of ‘sky villas’, according to ANAROCK.

Source