Thursday, April 9, 2009

Soaring take – off for DLF’s Delhi project

Soaring take – off for DLF’s Delhi project
Business Standard, April 9, 2009, Page 4

The project is priced at least 24 per cent lower than the market price.

DLF Ltd, the country’s largest developer, sold more than 85 per cent of its West Delhi housing project in less than 24 hours of its launch, a company official said. The project was priced at least 24 per cent lower than the prevailing market price.

The New Delhi-based developer sold as many as 1,200 of the 1,400 units on offer at its Shivaji Marg (better known as Najafgarh Road) project, a company official said, declining to be identified. The project, close to the busy Moti Nagar crossing, was launched on Tuesday. City brokers, however, said DLF was able to sell only 500 units. The DLF spokesperson declined to comment on both project and sales.

DLF, which had earlier dropped prices at least three other projects, announced an inaugural price of Rs 5,000-6,000 per sq ft, with an additional discount of Rs 500 per sq ft for timely payment of future instalments. The project is being developed on a 38-acre parcel of land, for which DLF had paid Rs 1,675 crore in a 2007 auction, making it the biggest land deal of that time.

The project will be a ground plus 18-floor structure. Each apartment is between 1,200 and 1,525 sq ft, with the final price of Rs 60-91.5 lakh.

According to data from property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, the current market price in the nearest comparable residential area is Rs 6,000 per sq ft. DLF has kept its pricing competitive. “The residential market is seeing a revival and transactions are happening if the projects are rightly priced,” said Aditi Vijayakar, executive director-residential, Cushman & Wakefield.

DLF has been forced to drop prices in some projects after facing opposition from customers. In the past month, it has reduced prices in Chennai, Bangalore and Gurgaon projects by 10-20 per cent.

After the inaugural offer, DLF is expected to raise the prices of the Shivaji Marg apartments to Rs 6,000-7,000 a sq ft. The company had last month indicated a price range of Rs 6,500-7,000 a sq ft for the project.

DLF had earlier planned to develop an integrated township, combining an information technology SEZ, a shopping mall and a residential project, at the site. However, the IT SEZ was de-notified last year and the company does not want to talk about its plan for a shopping mall.

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