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The
Indian real estate sector had been going through a high night
upto late eighties. With the commencement of the unprecedented
( and unreal ) bull run in the stock market across the country
during the early nineties, the real estate market actually
stabilised with steady business and growth.
However, as the great stock
scam was unearthed and broke down bourses, the real estate
market literally went through the roof. It grew in leaps and
bounds as people now chased builders to park their money,
creating an artificial demand even at unrealistic and absurdly
high property prices. Inevitably, there emerged a strong unorganised
sector in this trade, unscrupulous practices gained momentum,
and ethics to tally out of fashion.
Then came the inevitable
crash when we found ourselves up a blind line with abnormal
volumes of stock on drawing boards, higher inventory under
actual construction, an absolutely unlimited supply of ready
property, and most importantly, with no options out. The prices
started sliding down consistently till by about 1998 - 99,
they hit an all time low. The liquidity crisis in the national
economy was suddenly very real and pushed us all against the
wall.
The industry has gone through
a corrective phase where today the end user is the main beneficiary.
The trade has discarded most unwanted elements and retained
only the committed players with capability of providing high
capital investment and technical infrastructure, business
knowledge, desire for quality, and very importantly, long
term vision. The housing companies are wooing the flat buyers
with the best ever bidding rates in a fiercely comparative
home loan market. Hence fence sitters should no longer await
a further dip in prices as signs of escalation are already
showing up. The buyer gets true value for money today along
with a new and unique pleasant buying experience with professional
as well as personalized service.
For a densely populated
country like ours, housing is one area which requires constant
attention of the policy-makers. While presenting the Union
Budget 2000 Finance Minister, Shri Yashwant Sinha had a special
mention for the Rural Housing. "Housing for All"
has been identified as a priority area in the Agenda for Governance.
For the coming financial year, a goal of proving 25 lakh dwelling
units in rural areas has been fixed. Schemes for meeting the
needs of different sections of society have been prepared
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