AUDA expects 25% dip in property prices by Diwali, builders differ

Having permitted builders to go vertical in the city, the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) is expecting real estate prices here to drop by 25 per cent by Diwali even as developers are in no mood to relent.

"We have given more field of play to developers to build vertically. We are expecting the real estate prices to come down by 25 per cent by Diwali this year. As not much of real estate is selling, realtors will have to make it affordable to recover their cost," said AUDA chairman Dharmendra Shah.

AUDA in its new Development Plan (DP) had raised the Floor Space Index — the ratio of a building's total floor area to the size of the parcel of land upon which it is built — allowing builders to build up to 22 floors from the current limit of 12 floors.

According to Neela Munshi, senior town planner of AUDA, the new DP not only permits builders to build more, but also infuses more land.

"A parcel of land measuring 75 sq kms in length and 1-km width, beyond SP Ring Road, is available to builders. Apart from that, along the high density corridor there is around 56 sq kms of which 16 sq kms is along the BRTS /Metro corridor. Moreover, an area of around 50 sq kms in R1 and R2 zones is open to developers to build," said Munshi.

According to Munshi, the increase in overall FSI is aimed at increasing the land use and if used efficiently, developers will be able to build more. "This will bring more supply of land to the end user thereby making housing more affordable," said Munshi.

Neeraj Tomar, Head of Ahmedabad Operations at Jones Lang LaSalle, feels the real-estate prices will be "contained" in most of the areas, while some developers having projects on the S P Right Road and South Bopal will be under pressure to sell their schemes.

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