News: Developers using innovative ways of sale during lockdown-02-04-2020
Updated On: Apr 02, 2020
Noida-based Gaurs Group has started a campaign, Ghar Baithe Ghar Kharido – Knockdown offer. Some like the Mahagun group have offered discount schemes. Another NCR-based developer, Migsun, charges just Rs 51,000 to book a flat.
Staring at an inventory pile-up, cost overruns and a sales slowdown, real estate developers in the National Capital Region are coming up with innovative offers to sell flats.
The developers, some reeling under debt, are paying money to existing customers for references, offering refundable booking amounts, creating cashback schemes, promising gifts on bookings and making exclusive arrangements with prop-tech platforms to push sales at the time of the lockdown.
Noida-based Gaurs Group has started a campaign, Ghar Baithe Ghar Kharido – Knockdown offer, under which a customer can book any residential or commercial unit by paying Rs 1 lakh. The balance booking amount can be paid over the next 100 days. The payment can be made via online and the entire amount will be refunded if the booking is cancelled within 90 days.
Some like the Mahagun group have offered discount schemes. “We will be providing a cashback up to 5% of the property value to all those who book units during the lockdown period. In absence of site and office visits, the booking amount needs to be transferred via an online channel,” said Dhiraj Jain, a director of the Noida-based group.
Another NCR-based developer, Migsun, charges just Rs 51,000 to book a flat. Also, the first three EMIs after the loan disbursement will be borne by the developer.
According to Anarock Property Consultants, the Covid-19 pandemic has had considerable impact on the Indian housing sector and residential sales saw a 42% year-over-year drop in the January-March quarter.
“In this difficult time, we have to come up with innovative ideas to ensure that momentum is not affected. Though not much sale is expected, we are telling builders to come up with offers so that booking can continue,” real estate consultancy Investors Clinic’s corporate director, Sachin Arora, said.
Meanwhile, the lockdown hasn’t deterred developers from offering Navratri schemes to buyers. An intermediary even hit upon an ingenious idea to turn home-bound people into salesmen.
“We rolled out a special scheme wherein any individual sitting at home needs to make a minimum number of calls daily and upon five references, we are paying them a specified amount. Once the lockdown is lifted and site operations start, we will pay them money per site visit, which will be over and above the amount paid for references,” said Amit Raheja, the chairman of Wealth Clinic.
