India Real Estate Link

Is the real estate boom finished? Have prices started to flatten out?
Indian real estate is observing a much-needed cool-off. Without suspicion, realty prices are at their climax and a correction is expected. However, it would be wrong to expect a sudden crash. We guess the downward trend to be gradual and concentrated in definite pockets. We realize several developers have already started witnessing a slowdown in sales. It now depends on the holding capacity of a developer. In fact, instead of reducing the prices outright, some developers are offering freebies like interior decoration, free air-conditioners or other consumer durables. Some of them are also willing to pay the first six equate monthly installments (EMIs) of the mortgage loan.
How much of this is driven by high interest rates?
Interest rates are cyclic in nature. It is property prices that tend to impact the buying assessment more than interest rates. HDFC has always catered to the middle-class segment. Even today, our all India average loan size is about Rs 12.5 lakh. Moreover, about 95 per cent of our customers are actual end-users, thus we have not seen much change in demand.