Waiting to buy your dream home will remain a dream if you don’t make up your mind soon!

If you are waiting for property prices to come down, you could be waiting for a long time. If you are hoping for those achhe din, when home loans could be cheaper, you may be seeing a distant dream. Basically, if you are waiting for the right time to buy a property, here’s why you could be losing out in your dream home then.

“Buyer paralysis – or, as it is popularly known these days, the ‘wait-and-watch’ syndrome – is one the main reasons today why aspiring home owners do not make their move. There are various reasons why people prefer to sit on the fence rather than in their dream home,” said Arvind Jain, managing director of Pride Group.

He further added that various factors have contributed to this trend—the most common being correction of property prices and home loans getting cheaper.

“There are also other reasons why people who long to own a home do not take the plunge. For instance, they may have become confused by conflicting objectives and are looking at the whole issue of home ownership from an investor’s viewpoint. Another reason for buyer paralysis can be the expectations one has set with regards to the desirable size for a home. Many aspiring home buyers feel that their dream home should be large enough to make their own senses boggle, and the source of envy for all their friends and relatives,” Jain added.

But if you are still confused whether to go ahead or wait a little longer, BI India lists down a few tips to remember that could help you make up your mind.

Price correction is selective

If you thought price correction will happen uniformly, then you have mistaken. Jain said that price correction happens only in selective property markets. “In the first place, they do not take place uniformly across all cities, but only in cities – and more importantly, in locations – where there is too much stock and no sales. If sales are taking place, even at a slower rate, prices will not drop. This is, in fact, one of the main reasons why investment in the right property at the right location is such a safe bet,” explained Jain.

Reduction in interest rates

If you thought RBI’s rate cuts could help your home loans become cheaper, it’s not that simple. “Home loan rates are decided by the state of the economy – banks cannot arbitrarily bring down interest rates, even if doing so would increase disbursals and therefore their own business. When the economy improves, so do lending norms,” he noted.

Waiting for a bigger home?

If you are waiting for a bigger dream home, then you could be waiting for a long time. One must remember that the size of a flat becomes relative as a home buyer grows in his life. Jain pointed out that if a home buyer is in the position to buy a 2 BHK in a good location today, he should go ahead and buy it as it can be assured that it will appreciate in value.

“Assuming that you expect your income to grow steadily as well, you will always be able to upgrade to a bigger home in a few years. The appreciating nature of well-chosen property also means that waiting until you can make that hefty down-payment on a larger home may not work simply because the prices for such homes would also have increased,” said Jain.