An all-time high bid attracted by Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) on Thursday may be an indicator for the real estate industry showing signs of coming out of recession.
A 125 sq yards showroom site in Sector 70 of Mohali in Chandigarh was sold through an auction for a record price of Rs 6.05 crore as against a reserve price of Rs 4.56 crore.
Another site in the same sector was sold for Rs 5.95 crore against a reserve price of Rs 3.95 crore while yet another buyer made a bid of Rs 5.30 crore.
The Punjab Urban Development Authority (Puda) became richer by Rs 43 crore on a single day.
Puda officials told FE , ?With the auction, the average price of commercial property had touched Rs 3.37 lakh per sq yard against average reserve price of Rs 2.37 lakh per sq yards indicating a 33% increase in the average reserve price?.
The highest bid was made by Mohali Ramgariah Sabha while second and third bids for other commercial properties were made by a business man from Muktsar in Punjab, officials said. The auction took place at a time when private developers are offering huge discounts and gifts like cars, LCDs and free trips for families.
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) too has floated a scheme for residential plots at Kaithal, a little known town in the state at a rate of Rs 10,800 per sq metres.
The scheme floated on September 1, this month has evoked good response according to Huda officials. Interestingly, this is the ?highest? rate for plots by far announced by Huda for any scheme for residential sectors.
The schemes announced for cities like Panchkula and Faridabad recently had rates ranging from Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 per sq metres as against Rs 10,800 per sq metres for Kaithal.
Rajesh Oberoi, a property dealer from Oberoi Property Consultants in Panchkula says, ?Kaithal would be a trend setter for Haryana as it will push prices in residential sectors in other urban estates too?.
The Haryana Housing Board, which came out with a scheme for flats and independent houses for which scheme closed last month had got good response for Karnal, Ambala and Faridabad units.
Avijeet Ghoshal, an interior decorator and CEO of Design Studio told FE that ?the amendment in Huda Act allowing floor-wise registration in Haryana is also likely to result in prices going up?.
It is not only in Haryana that response has been overwhelming. For Ludhiana residential plots scheme that closed last week, the banks had run out of application forms for offers by Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA). The Amritsar Improvement Trust, which held a draw of lots on September 2 for 475 residential plots of various sizes, had received 9,300 applications.
Officials say that schemes of Puda, other improvement trusts and development authorities received more than 100 times applications in comparison to number of units available. Parminder Singh Sehgal CEO of Emaar MGF Land Private Ltd said that ?real estate was on a revival path and people would repent not investing in this sector now when it was a buying time?. The group is setting up integrated township in Mohali spread over 2,000 acre.