Flats: city goes the Mumbai way

Flats: city goes the Mumbai way
Anshul Dhamija | TNN

Bangalore: Like FMCG companies that are introducing more sachet variants to make products more affordable in this age of job losses and salary cuts, real estate developers are redesigning their projects to suit today’s smaller sized wallets.
Homes have been cut to size to be more functional and affordable. However, most are retaining lifestyle facilities like clubhouses, swimming pools, gyms, tennis courts, children’s play areas, gardens, and lobby areas.
“Bangaloreans are not willing to settle for a Mumbai-like 500-600 sqft home, but they are certainly now ready to accept about 800 sqft, which is trendy and sleek, at the same time affordable,” said a property analyst. And the city’s leading developers are paying heed to these sentiments.
Nitesh Estates has just redrawn the expansion plans of two of its projects — Nitesh Forest Hills and Nitesh Hyde Park — to include homes of 800 sqft to 1,050 sqft in size at a price of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. While the B-wing at Nitesh Forest Hills in Whitefield was to earlier have apartments of 1,200 sqft to 1,600 sqft in size, priced at over Rs 50 lakh, phase two of Nitesh Hyde Park on Bannerghatta Road was to have apartments of 1,350 sqft to 1,600 sqft in size, priced at over Rs 70 lakh.
“Today there is a huge demand for functional, value-formoney homes as buyers have become more cautious and conservative. A few years ago, the aspirations of buyers were very different. First time buyers too would go in for homes that were 1,200 sqft in size,” says Sushil Mantri, CMD of Mantri Developers. “Paying loans for such homes were not an issue as salary hikes were in the range of 20% to 30% annually,” he adds.
Mantri Magnolia, located on the Outer Ring Road-Sarjapur Road junction, which was originally supposed to be a serviced apartment, was converted into a residential housing project, consisting of 850 sqft size units going at an all inclusive price of Rs 32 lakh. Mantri is looking to launch a new project consisting of 800 sqft apartments in north Bangalore along Bellary Road. Sobha Developers, which has focused on luxury apartments, is also now looking at 800-1,000 sqft homes. Ozonegroup’s Evergreens, off Sarjapur Road, was initially designed to be a high-end project, with each unit priced close to Rs 70 lakh. After reworking on the size and specs of the project, the developer was able to bring the cost of the apartment to the Rs 28 lakh to Rs 35 lakh price band.