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"With housing finance becoming easier and the interest rates falling, the market has also seen serious and focussed players with reassurance about their credibility in completing the project at a reasonable time-frame and cost."

BANGALORE, April 2

FROM the niche segment of IT sector infrastructure requirements, the real estate business is slowly gyrating towards where it left at the height of the boom period of 1990s — affordable housing sector.

The distortions have been weeded out after the real estate crash towards the end of last decade. This brought in stability in prices and also with the housing finance becoming easier and cheaper, serious and credible players brought back the confidence among the property buyers.

"The confidence has come back to Bangalore" and that is the reason there was a trend among the real estate business to shift focus from the `high niche' segment to the affordable dwelling units sector, said Mr Sandip Khanna, Director, Citilights Estates Pvt Ltd.

With housing finance becoming easier and the interest rates falling, the market has also seen serious and focussed players with reassurance about their credibility in completing the project at a reasonable time-frame and cost, Mr Khanna added.

Citilights, which draws its experience from its venture in Los Angeles, where it specialised in affordable home segment with considerable success, has embarked upon in similar projects in South India and has chosen Bangalore as its major base. It made its bow in India last year and is upbeat about Bangalore, where it was developing its first project in the city's newly sought after address Sarjapur.

Will not many players concentrating on same area create a surplus situation bringing adverse turn to the industry?

With a huge pent up demand to own a house in Bangalore and its attraction among to settle down in the city due to its climate and an overall peaceful environment, there was no fear of surplus situation affecting the business, Mr Khanna said, adding that anyway the promoters of the housing projects would also balance the options on implementing the projects on the basis of the feedback they get.

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