The recent demonetisation of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 by the Central government holds out the promise of bringing down land prices and would thus be beneficial to the organised construction sector, according to the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI).
CREDAI members who spoke to The Hindu here pointed out that the hardest hit by the move would be ‘land brokers,’ the middlemen in land dealings who often hold buyers and sellers to ransom.
“As we are under constant observation by the IT Department, we are very careful in dealing with money. We have instructed all CREDAI members to deal only with white money. So we welcome this demonetisation move. It would not affect the organised construction sector at all. In fact, it would be beneficial. I expect land prices to fall by 20 to 30 per cent in the coming months. We will be able to pass this benefit on to our customers. In other words, you can expect a fall in the prices of apartments and villas for our new projects,” said S.N. Raghuchandran Nair of SI Property.
K. Srikanth of SFS Homes said that the move would result in a clean-up of the real estate sector. The demonetisation, coupled with the passing of the Real Estate Regulatory Act, would weed out the black money elements from the real estate sector. “Genuine players have nothing to fear.
“ Land brokers are, however, having a tough time,” he added.
