MiD DAY interviews Satish Magar, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Pune and the pioneer behind the real estate revolution in the city about the construction scenario and his projections for the future
MiD DAY interviews Satish Magar, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Pune and the pioneer behind the real estate revolution in the city about the construction scenario and his projections for the future.
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| President of CREDAI, Pune, Satish Magar. PIc/Jignesh mistry |
During the Magarpatta City project, the original owners of the land were given stake in the project. Is this model of land acquisition advisable?All landowners are stakeholders in the company. Farmers who owned land in Magarpatta promoted the project. The biggest hurdles come during land acquisition. This model of land acquisition is according to me, the most suitable for large-scale projects. The landowners do not feel cheated.
The RBI is increasing repo and reverse repo rates along with lending rates to control inflation... This will definitely affect the 'affordability index' of the common buyer because the interest rates and prices of essential commodities and raw materials are increasing at the same time. This dual increase affects the purchasing power of the citizens and thus affordable housing remains a far cry away.
Builders in the city used to construct small 1-2 BHK houses. But this trend is diminishing...Consumers are mostly interested in high-end apartments and we are just catering to their changing tastes. In India, even the average middle class buyer needs a large space to live in. As regards to low cost housing, it is the responsibility of the government.
The Supreme Court had said some time ago that car parking should not be charged. But some builders still charge for it...The SC judgment was the result of a case in Mumbai where the parking space was sold to an individual who does not own a flat. We have to honour the SC judgment. But if a society has 500 flats and 700 cars, if anyone comes and parks his/her vehicle, it will become a major problem. In this light, they should allow us to charge for car parking.
Shouldn't CREDAI declare on their website the percentage of loading charges that a builder can levy? There is still confusion as several people have complained that builders charge on the basis of the built-up and the super built-up area.
We have a rule that says that flats should be charged on the carpet area in addition to 25 per cent of the loading. This is mandated by a government rule as well. Before the government rule came into force, we had displayed this rule on our website. All the sales are taking place on the basis of the carpet area.
