Feeling suffocated in your new home? We tell you why!

Are you looking to buy the flat in that new project which is available at affordable prices? Or do you feel that your new home is much smaller than the one you previously checked out? Have you ever wondered how have these developers managed to make their new and upcoming projects ‘pocket friendly’ at a time when the input costs have been steadily rising?

Well, while there are a plethora of factors that determine the prices of a property, there is one trend that has been growing rapidly in the Indian realty market—reducing the area of the apartment to keep it affordable.

“Builders are exploring innovative ways to make residential housing across major cities more appealing to potential buyers at a time when it is increasingly becoming difficult to sell expensive apartments. Around the country, builders are emulating the famous sachet marketing strategy adopted by FMCG companies in the late 1990s,” said Anuj Puri, country head of JLL India.

Puri added that developers have been resorting to this trick simply because the skyrocketing property prices have turned away home buyers from the market. “Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) – including Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai – witnessed the maximum fall in apartment sizes on annualised basis, along with Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. Other cities also witnessed varying degree of fall in median apartment sizes,” he explained.

Statistically, Mumbai that already has compact apartments saw a decrease of 26.4% in the past five years. It is followed by Bangalore, which recorded a 23.7% reduction in average apartment sizes followed by Chennai at 22.2% and Pune at 7%. Interestingly, Chennai continues to deliver the largest unit sizes today among tier-II cities and Bangalore in tier-I cities.

“The dynamics of apartment sizes have a tale to tell – that developers are paying conscious attention to consumers’ requirements. The fall in average apartment sizes across all top seven cities is a clear indication that developers intend to make houses affordable for buyers by reducing average apartment size instead of reducing the capital values. While property prices are not purely a product of developer’s discretion, the decision to alter apartment sizes as per the needs and spending power of buyers is definitely within their ambit,” clarified Puri.

Industry players have also attributed this rising trend to the change in the buyers’ behaviour.“Buyers are increasingly opting for homes that are closer to work-places in order to reduce commute times. As these locations are expensive compared to the suburbs, buyers may be able to afford smaller units, which is more than acceptable,” noted Puri.

So the next time, you hear ‘affordable apartments, you know what you are getting into!

Representational Image: diyhealth.com