Gurgaon Real Estate is Delusional.
I'm in the market to buy a flat since past 2 months and here are the things I observed and finally I have selected one but I will wait, Here's why
Saw a few Societies/Apartments.
All of them were released in the affordable section which means they were allotted in 25L (2BHK) - 36L (3 BHK) to the people in 2020-2023.
The current rates are as follows:
2 BHK 55L to 78L
3 BHK 65L to 1.05Cr
I understand after covid a lot of migration happened and many people bought homes in NCR but there's no way a Flat which was sold for 25 can become 78 in 3 years.
Once I finally visited and saw most of the flats were never used in those 3-4 years, they were just empty. No renters ever and completely raw flats with not even a bulb holder. So I started observing, These were Investor bought flats which investors had kept completely empty so the Maintenance doesn't start. Most of these investors are desperately looking for exit to invest somewhere else as they know they will never get this amount again as there are no buyers currently in the market and the money is stuck.
I realised that brokers have scammed a lot of people incl. Buyers and sellers promising returns upwards of 200-300% in 3 years so they get their 5-10% commission from developers. Even I was told by a broker that he will help me sell the flat for 50% profit in next 2 years if I buy it for 78L right now.
I simply asked him 1 thing, if a flat was sold for 25 Lakh that means the developer must have built it for ~15L so why would someone buy a flat for 1cr which has material cost of a low grade flat. Even most of the flats I saw had cracks in the Walls and the Brokers didn't even explain and simply said will get it painted.
I simply put the "Owner only" listing filter on the Apps for those same societies and met a lot of genuinely good owners of flats in those same Societies and here are the Prices the Owners quoted.
2 BHK 55L to 78L was now being quoted for 42L to 55L
3 BHK 65L to 1.05Cr was now being quoted for 55L to 85L
A couple of owners even told me that they have strict pressure from the other society members to not sell below a certain amount because if the info becomes public their property value won't be that delusional amount anymore.
I mean ffs a Flat being quoted for 62L had a tenant paying 11K + 2.5K Maintenance. that makes the rental yield for that flat 2.1% and Imagine they were shifting because they thought the rent was too much for that society as per their Job and the amenities. The Broker didn't even know this calculation and said "Yahi rate chalra hai, kya kare".
The Brokers have set the expectations for the sellers so high that they would rather keep their flats empty and keep taking Losses but this is slowly changing.
for the societies which were completely occupied and sold out as per 1 broker, we started getting 20-30 calls a day for multiple units in the same project.
This is a clear indication that those investors are now feeling the burn and are desperate to sell these units and even offering upto 5% cut to these brokers hence these brokers won't even show you the flat which is being sold by an end user and will only show you those investor flats because 5% beats 1% commission.
My recommendation for anyone planning to buy flats anywhere in India especially GGN.
Visit all the apartments and make a Video of the Layout and make sure to record if there is any crack or issue.
Make sure to talk to the people already living there as they won't lie infront of the broker but a Tenant might.
Make sure to visit flats which are being sold by owners directly on the Apps like NoBroker,99 Acres etc.
Take your time, You are the buyer and you will get the calls quoting much cheaper prices if you just wait. Be absolutely shameless in bargaining.
Many societies have tieups with their Service providers especially internet. I knew about this and asked the Broker directly infront of the tenant if Airtel fiber is available and he said yes absolutely and right then the tenant mentioned the RWA won't let you install any other internet except some random one called Plex IT as they have a tie up and they had given up fighting the RWA and they won't let you install DishTV as well. only some local cable provider.
Brokers will lie and lie to simply sell you the flat. Do your research properly be it the Rera history of the builder as well as make sure the flat wasn't empty since past few months or more because the Pipeline would need a lot of work as they get jammed and other electrical issues will give you a surprise later. Make sure there's no transfer fees.
Now I am simply waiting because I understand there's a downward trend in sales due to Layoffs and the general sentiment where even the PM is asking to prepare of a possible crisis.
A crash is imminent and it won't be just property. Companies are telling employees that they are lucky to even get a Single digit increment because they still have their Jobs. The trend is of layoffs not due to AI but due to consulting corps suggesting Orgs to LayOff people to get Tax Writeoffs as well as increase revenue. Soon there's gonna be another trend of WFH and even the rents will crash because there won't be 6 bachelors to rent a single 3 BHK flat for 80k.