Residential flats becoming affordable due to reduction is size
Do you live in a small apartment? Many of us whether by choice or necessity live in smaller apartments. But do you know that you are not alone. Many people are going for smaller apartments as residential flats in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai have become more affordable due to the reduction in their dimension, says global real-estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield. In its report published in a local newspaper, it says apartments in Mumbai and other cities have become more affordable following a reduction in their sizes in 2014 launches.
Mumbai this year witnessed a 12% reduction in apartment sizes, easing cost by 9% over the last year.
Noida recorded the sharpest decline of 16%. In the over 50,000 mid-segment units which comprise one and two BHKs of new projects across top eight cities in the first quarter of 2014, most cities have seen a reduction in size of approximately 100 sq ft.
Significantly, not just Mumbai but other markets also saw unit sizes drop including Ahmedabad (8%), Chennai (3%), Hyderabad (9%), Pune (6%), and Gurgaon (3%).
Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield Mr Sanjay Dutt, said: “The residential sector is banking on end-user driven demand and developers are tweaking products to make them more affordable. It also signals a degree of stress among developers, which is forcing them to launch products to inject doses of robust sales numbers into their balance sheets. Affordability holds the key right now. End-user buyers have been shying away from making purchases for a long time, owing to lacklustre economic conditions and low confidence.”
Chennai, Gurgaon and Hyderabad witnessed an additional push towards affordable options as they saw a decline in prices of new launches, though most of these launches have been in the peripheral or futuristic locations with lower benchmark pricing. “These locations are generally price-sensitive and driven by end-user purchase, making it necessary to meet price expectations,” the company said.
