CASA for Real Developers

Yet it is hard to deny that no buoyancy has happened in the primary residential market. The CASA formula has worked well for the industry. In the Spanish language, CASA means a home.

In the Mumbai housing market – a different CASA has seen traction. It is

a) Credible developer
b) Aggressive pricing
c) Small apartments
d) Amenities

Credible developer: It doesn’t matter if a builder is ‘branded’ or ‘listed.’ there are branded developers who have not yet delivered a single project and there are listed players who have done a shoddy job in projects. The key element is whether the developer is credible or not. Many credible developers who are focused and have consistently delivered in their micro-market have done well despite few people from outside having even heard of them.

Aggressive pricing: If there is one major change within the industry in the last year – it is that waiting for an elevated price (or a government bailout) is futile. In response, an overwhelming majority of players cut their prices and tried to attract demand. Some have cut their prices to an extent that has frankly surprised even someone like me. It is tough to state the average price fall – but I would reckon that the cost of ownership for most consumers reduced by 15% with developers contributing a dominant chunk. Customers have responded by opening their cheque books.

Small apartments: Apartment sizes on an average have shrunk by more than 20% in the last decade as developers tried to lower their ticket size to address a larger audience of buyers. Not everyone has succeeded and this phenomenon is beginning to unravel, but the ones who have designed their small apartments intelligently have gained. The ones who have not done optimal utilisation of the space have seen difficulty in sales.

Amenities: Townships with a range of amenities have been the preferred flavour in recent years. That trend has only accelerated after COVID-19 emphasised the importance of having amenities within your project. The projects that have seen traction are the ones that are providing or planning to provide a holistic living experience of living. This may include amenities ranging from a swimming pool to an office center. The key question then is this: will things fall sharply for the industry after the removal of the stamp duty waiver? It seems that – things will not crash.

Courtesy: Vishal Bhargava