Property prices in Mumbai and beyond are falling fast — almost 15-20% over the past 12 months or so — with builders looking to rid themselves of unsold inventory. (Source: PTI)

Property prices in Mumbai and beyond are falling fast — almost 15-20% over the past 12 months or so — with builders looking to rid themselves of unsold inventory. Not only are discounts getting bigger, developers are throwing in freebies hoping to convince buyers. Sample this: An apartment in Chembur, Mumbai, comes with another one free in weekend getaway Alibaug. And that’s after the price of the Chembur flat has already been reduced by 15-20%. “The price of these apartments in Chembur are priced 15%-20% lower compared to the going rate 18 months back,” Amit Wadhwani, director, Sai Estate Consultant, a channel partner for the offer, told FE.

Tata Housing has come up with a cash-back offer of up to R10 lakh for projects in Kalyan, Bhandup, Mulund and Thane in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region(MMR) and in Dabolim, Goa. Prices start from R70 lakh and go up all the way to R4-5 crore. Last week, Kolte Patil Developers, announced buyers could book apartments at the launch price even for projects nearing completion. The Pune-based developer is willing to forego the premium over the life cycle of the project, which according to sector experts, is typically around 10-15% but could go up to even 30-40%. The offer is valid for homes in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Goa. Gopal Sarda, group CEO, told FE property prices were fluctuating.

“Demonetisation, RERA and GST have all led to buyers postponing purchases of homes,”Sarda said. A 300 sq ft flat worth R10 lakh in Alibaug bundled with a R1.75 crore apartment in Chembur — across 675 sq ft —might not seem much. But when it comes with a R99 lakh apartment in Nahur, a northern suburb, it’s a better deal. Ashwinder Raj Singh, CEO, JLL-India told FE builders’ cash flows have been under pressure for some time. “But they are beginning to accept this now and are more open about it as the advertisements show,” Singh explained. Developers, he said, continue to offer discounts as they have been doing for nearly two years now but these were now being packaged differently.

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Hoping to cash in on the auspicious and festive periods in March and April, builders are vying with one another to come up with schemes. The advertisements reflect discounts are fairly high —upwards of 20% in some instances. Stocks of unsold apartments are piling up after demonetisation hit sales hard post November 8. Even before demonetisation, however, inventories were high. At the last count, there were 6.7 lakh unsold residential units across the country with 1.55 lakh in MMR alone.

The high-end segment had been impacted the most with launches almost halving to 12,000 units in 2016. The registration of property sales had fallen to a six year low in November and December, in MMR alone. Knight Frank India observed in a report 2016 ended with the lowest launches and sales the residential real estate segment since 2010 owing to demonetization.