For most part of the year gone by, realtors harped over the affordable housing strategy to lure consumers. But builders now are now trying to lure buyers through theme-based dreams! Do they even stand a chance?
As if to prove our conjecture wrong, the Italian-style Tuscan City developed by TDI International in Haryana with a starting price point of Rs.21.5 lakhs is targeted at the middle class mass-market. Says Kamal Taneja, Managing Director, TDI Group, “A judicial mix of mid and low-rise units offered at such competitive rates would definitely induce customers to come forward and own houses that suits their requirements.” Then there is CHD Developers’ Active Senior Lifestyle Township, which is marketing the project to people over 55-years of age. CHD Developers also launched a residential project near Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) with a unique architectural design of Sri Krishnalok capturing the spirit of the holy city of Vrindavan. Says Ravi Saund, Marketing Head, CHD Developers, “40% of the occupants who have purchased our Vrindavan projects, are localites. Interestingly, a lot of buyers from Gujarat and Chandigarh have invested in the project thereby signifying its success.”
And to our surprise, we found a few positive consumer sets too. Nitin Tiwari, a 39-year-old MNC executive and his wife Ritu, were hunting for a home for the past seven months (“House is a once-in-a-lifetime investment for working couples like us and we did not want to settle in for just anything. We were waiting for that ‘something’,” says Nitin). And that ‘something’ came in the form of a Jaypee Greens Sports City billboard that, Nitin says, caught his eyes. Complete with motor racing tracks, go-karting facilities, golf course and stadia and courts for other sports, the thought of buying and staying in such a complex sounded far too appealing to the couple, more so as Nitin had been a great sports enthusiast during his heydays. The case is somewhat similar for 35-year-old Jasmeet Virk who heads the Northern Sales division of a leading paints company. A career-oriented single woman, Jasmeet says to us that she celebrates womanhood and is proud to have made a mark for herself in a male-dominated corporate world. When hunting for a house, Jasmeet settled for Meriton Groups’ La Femme, as “buying a house in La Femme instilled into me a sense of solidarity toward woman-hood.” And that’s what the residential real estate marketers talk about today, as one real estate developer lets on – “If you’ve got an ego to massage, we’ve got a home that does just that!”
In the last one year, most residential projects were marketed by playing purely upon the price factor. In realty, pricing of a project primarily depended upon the location (still does!), as ultimate profits take place only if the location is acceptable. However, by properly marketing the projects in the name of themes, the marketer takes a leeway with pricing. Theme-based residential projects – even the ones targetted at the middle income community – are therefore priced slightly higher than the conventional affordable houses as they are targeted to a niche. “A real estate product is just like any other product or service. Buying a house is a high-involvement purchase and the marketer has to convince the customer of a value-purchase. Negotiating on price points becomes easier for marketers then,” says Neeta Walia, Director, Brand Talk. She adds that developers have very strategically themed their housing projects. For instance, a housing project for senior citizens will attract newly-retired people who have just got their Provident Fund and are looking for investment options.
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