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S. Shanker

Mumbai, Aug 19 The Mumbai-based Matheran Realty project could well be termed as a demand-supply match.

The company has sold over 45,000 applications for booking of 3,000 units in a week and over 17,000 people have sought allotment of the flats.

The units of 300-500 sq ft, at Rs 999 a sq ft in Karjat, are priced in the range of Rs 3-5 lakh each.

Karjat is about 100 km away from Mumbai and over one hour and forty-five minutes travel by train from the metropolis.

Looking at the specifications, the promoters will make negligible profit or no profit at all, said Mr Anand J Gupta, General Secretary of the Builders’ Association of India.

However, it is a good marketing strategy and they are bound to raise prices in subsequent phases as such low-cost projects have a huge demand due to their proximity to rail and road.

Such ventures cannot be taken up in Mumbai or its near suburbs as the construction cost here varies between Rs 1,300 and Rs 1,700 a sq ft, he said.

Mr Pravin Banavalikar, CEO, Matheran Realty, said the residential units, especially the Rs 3 lakh ones would not make any profit as infrastructure provisioning such as roads, streetlights, sewerage and drinking water would be Rs 250-300 a sq ft. However, the 500 sq ft units would generate marginal profits.

The promoters, who intend to construct 15,000 units, are banking on the commercial spaces to cross-subsidise the project as 15 per cent of the 100-acre campus would be commercial, providing a gated community of 15,000 families.

After failing to tie up with the postal department to vend its forms on August 11, the company began the process on its own at its offices in Karjat and Belapur. A couple of days later, about 20 outlets of retail chain Subhiksha and Apna Bazaar were roped in for the distribution.

Mr Banavalikar said the distribution of applications would end on August 20 as scheduled and a couple of days might be given for submission of forms.

More Stories on : Real Estate & Construction | Maharashtra

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