Though the residential segment of the market will not be affected, there has been a consensus among developers that the policy decisions regarding land development will meet road blocks until a new Government is in place.

According to Colliers Jardine CEO Akshaya Kumar, the commercial market will be impacted as the Government approvals required for land development will be frozen until a new Government takes over. "We will have a healthier market after the elections," he points out.

Leading property advocate Anil Harish echoes the same sentiment when he says: "With elections at the Centre and severalstates round the corner, the environment is not investor friendly. The commercial property market pertaining to factory land, dereservation and ULCRA will have to wait another three months."

Stability at the Centre is imperative to give a fillip to the market, experts say. Brooke International vice-president Ashok Kumar says: "Stability matters for the property market. While corporate investors would prefer to wait-and-watch before putting their money into fixed assets, residential mid-budget segment will continue to flourish."

Richard Ellis manager (corporate realty services) Sanjay Dutt also feels that it is long-term stability--and not the immediate political developments--that would govern the property trends. "The recession has pulled down the value of properties. Corporate investments looks attractive now but they (corporates) would prefer to invest in an atmosphere of long-term stablity," he points out.

There is also a school of thought among the property experts that the economic indicators willhave the lasting effect on the property prices. Facilities management India head of StanChart Ajoy Kapoor says, "The economic indicators are encouraging. The inflation rate is hovering around 2 per cent and the FIIs have shown confidence in the Indian economy. The property transactions will depend on these variables."

The immediate corporate needs like office and residential leasings for operational efficiency will be unaffected. Says Chesterton Megharaj senior manager Uday Mathur: "The office leasings will continue to be driven by demand and supply while the residential segment will largely remain unaffected."

Goldstar properties chief M Balachandran also feels the same way when he says: "Though prices may unaffected by elections, certain clearences pertaining to large land usage and user changes where the approvals are politically-sensitive will have to wait until after the elections."

However, K Raheja Constructions vice-president Kishore L Bhatija strongly feels that everybody has reconciled to thefact that the elections will only throw up a coalition Government and therefore its effect on the property market would not be felt at all.

With a slowdown in the construction activities--triggered by the election-eve lull and the monsoon--retail borrowings are bound to come down. Says Hudco's executive director in charge of the western region RK Khanna: "We will generally have lesser number of borrowers as new projects do not get approvals during this time. Only the city development projects like the sewage treatment and water supply which reqire the clearences from the municipality will go on schedule."