Pune builders working out 3-month relief package

Pune builders working out 3-month relief package
The Hindu Business Line, February 26, 2009, Page 19

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Feb 17 Realising that job security is uppermost on the minds of home buyers, the Promoters and Builders Association of Pune is working out a three-month relief package to address the EMI portion for the period in case of job loss.

The Pune-based builders would take up the payment of EMI for the three-month period, subject to buyers providing proof of job loss. The scheme is being framed on the presumption that the buyer would get employment in three months.

The builders would also not insist on any instalment due during the period and would collect the same without interest after the buyer was gainfully employed, said the Association President, Mr Lalit Kumar Jain.

The provision would be extended through an escrow account created for the purpose by builders or the association could take up the responsibility.

Mr Jain said prices have fallen by 20-40 per cent in Pune and the 260-member association has asked members to lower prices to the maximum extent to induce buying.

Some developers were also offering price guarantee schemes - in case prices fall after the booking is made, but before possession, the sale amount would be revised accordingly.

Mr Jain said the cost of a square foot in a residential built-up area across Pune was in the range of Rs 2,500-2,900.

This cost had been arrived after an extensive survey by the association, which had concluded that the sq ft rate, inclusive of inputs, expenses and overheads, was Rs 1,900- Rs 2,000, in addition to the land cost that varies from Rs 900 to Rs 1,400 a sq ft.

Any deal below this bandwidth depended on ‘builder comfort,’ as land could have been bought much ahead of the normal three-year horizon the builders adopt, he said.