Budget Homes!

Buying a home is every person’s dream. Whatever are your aspirations in life, you will always want to get a home for yourself at some stage. And I am no exception. But in India these types of materialistic dreams come at a huge price. So despite working for the last five years with an Ok type salary, I am still not able to get a small dwelling place for myself in Delhi NCR. The only thing that stands between me and my 2BHK dream is the sky-high price. And I strongly feel there are thousands of working professionals like me who are desperate to get a small shelter for themselves. But due to the demand supply mismatch and some builder friendly government policy, the price for this dream fulfillment is getting higher and higher. I simply donot understand how every successive government projects themselves as ‘Am Admi’ friendly.
The recession came as a boon for many prospective home buyers. Yes, the developers decreased their flat prices by some amount but then it’s too less to get maximum people like us interested. People like me are in search of affordable homes or budget homes. We cannot spend 50 lakhs for a 2-3BHK. We need something within 15 lakhs at the most. We are willing to compromise on space. We need a flat similar to the NANO. But unfortunately there is no one to fulfill our dreams.

The real estate market took a severe beating within the rising impact of the economic crisis. Demand fell and developers started having a tough time selling their stuff. Suddenly the prices started looking hyper inflated. The media was full of news highlighting the burst of the Indian real estate bubble. Analysts expected a huge fall in real estate prices. A correction seemed eminent. The budget buyers became overjoyed. I was one of those happy souls.

As the economic crisis went deeper, affordable housing became the buzzword. To get the demand back, developers were getting interested in affordable housing. Budget home projects started coming up. People like us started climbing to cloud 9. Finally dreams will come true. The news papers were full of advertisements for Affordable housing projects. Flats priced below 15 lakhs. Amazing! I wanted to be part of this budget action. And I started enquiring. I kept calling up companies, started visiting the housing project locations. The advertised prices were too cheap. Finally God has listened to my prayers.

Tragedy! Tragedy! Tragedy! On enquiring I found these budget homes to be trap homes. Builders were advertising/launching projects in faraway places and thereby pricing them below 15 lakhs. So on paper it seems very exciting. Once you enquire about the location you realize that you will be traveling 50-60 kms daily from those places to reach your office. This distance can increase phenomenally with decrease in price. And, as far as infrastructure is concerned please do not expect any. But still people are buying those. Recently, Unitech has launched their Affordable housing project called UNIHOMES. A 750 square foot flat is priced at approximately 25 lakhs. Although the location is not so bad, the prices will tease you like anything. God knows how they call it affordable! Jaypee Aman was a project in which I got terribly interested. It’s in sector 151 Noida. When I visited the site, I found the distance to be more than 60 kms both ways from my office in Sector 3 Noida. Bottom-line, with affordable housing comes smaller homes at God forsaken faraway places, where only eagles dare and dacoits rule.

So I have decided to continue staying in rent. And I sincerely request all the budget home buyers to please wait. Just hold your patience. We individually cannot do anything. But as a united force if we postpone our home buying for a year at least, I am sure the developers will start crying. And we will then have the much desired leverage. But I am no mass leader and so cannot mobilize public sympathy and support. So I am doing my part alone. I am not buying anything as of now. I am waiting. Will you?