A property buyer in the city is a rare breed these days. A fact corroborated by the slew of schemes offered by builders to grab customer eyeballs. It ranges from a BMW or 2 kg gold for a high-end bungalow, an Indica for a 3BHK (bedroom, hall kitchen) to a two-wheeler for a one BHK unit. There are also the EMI waivers — you book the apartment, say builders, we pay the banks till you get possession.

In what real estate analysts say could be the last-ditch effort by city developers to salvage the situation before it spirals out of control in the post-Diwali season and a recession gathering momentum, the builders hope the indirect discounts will lure at least a fraction of the reluctant buyers.

A common thread binds all these discount schemes —they all translate into around 10 per cent of the mark-up cost of the property. This at a time when a 20 per cent price correction is what the pundits say is the order of the day.

“These schemes are on offer obviously because the builders are unable to find buyers. A smart customer would negotiate with the builder and reduce the price directly,” said a banker with a leading housing finance institution.

“This is one way for the builders to access cheap finance that can be available for the property market at a time when stocks are down and banking institutions are not easily offering finance. The builder is getting a commercial loan where interest rates hover at over 18 per cent at the home loan rates of 10-11 per cent,” he said.

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