I recommend mid-segment homes: Ravi Saund

Ravi Saund, COO, CHD Developers Ltd holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from Sydenham College, Mumbai and he further pursued an MBA from Sydenham Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai. He is a proud alumnus of The Scindia School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. With over two decades of experience in the real estate sector, his impeccable knowledge of market dynamics has helped him successfully launch various projects in sync with the requirements of the market.

Established over two decades ago, CHD Developers has effectively captured the north Indian real estate sector. Their innovative approach has led them to become a alarming force in the Indian real-estate industry. CHD Developers Ltd. is a publicly traded company at The Bombay Stock Exchange since 1995.

Speaking with CommonFloor.com, Ravi Saund put forth some insightful information about the Indian real estate industry and has shared some great investment tips.

Can you provide some investment tips to our users in the NCR region?

The residential real estate market stands strong in the NCR region. India is witnessing a steady growth in the mid-segment housing because with every year passing, there is an increased deficit of the houses in the mid segment. This makes the mid-segment residential real estate market the best and safest option for the investors.

While talking about places, NCR and Gurgaon are the best and safest places for investment.

If you are a seasoned investor, you can invest in group housing or plots that are under construction. And, if you are first-time investor should consider investing in projects which are about to be completed.

What is your take regarding the price correction in the NCR region?

Since the demand is far stronger in the mid-segment area than the supply, there will not be any price correction in the residential real estate market.  However, commercial real estate prices were corrected after the slowdown due to weak or no demand. While for a residential property, if your documents are in order and you are a serious player who delivers projects on time, there is no limit for you. You can confidently go ahead.

Does the success in real estate industry largely depend on the market conditions?

Success in the realty industry depends on various factors. What matters is your diligence, being customer centric, delivering projects on time, your focus on construction, building strong relationship with your customers, considering the needs of your customers while planning your buildings, upgrading your technology, being innovative, etc makes a project and thereby a company or a brand successful. So, one’s success or failure doesn’t completely depend on the market conditions.

How do you make sure that you meet the deadlines and deliver a project on time?

I’ll be worried about my clients’ impression on me if I don’t deliver projects on time. Also, by delaying a project by two years, you are making loss and no profit. Two years ago, the steel price was Rs 35/kg and now it is Rs 48-50/kg and it even reaches Rs 52/kg at times. Currently, the cement price is Rs.190 whereas two years ago, it was Rs 110-130. Since the Indian infrastructure is developing, the price of these items will rise every year. Therefore, if you start a project now and delay it by two years, your budget will get affected as the cement and steel prices will increase by at least 22% and thereby you will face loss.

Adding to that, delaying a project will affect your clients’ impression on you and your company’s reputation, so completing a project on time is very important.

Should location be the most important criteria for property buying?

Location of the property remains as one of the key factors when purchasing a home. A house constructed in a beautiful location will add demand to the property. Not only the location, a buyer should also check for the financial conditions of the builder, approvals, title and deeds and last but not the least the status of the construction site.

How do you keep your consumers informed?

We have a blue book, which has all types of documents such as land related documents, approvals, CDC IDC related documents, revenue related documents and so on. This blue book is available in all our offices and is also available for customers.

We update our consumer’s regularly regarding the construction status and if needed we can send them the links to our cameras. People are not allowed at the construction site, but we do have a construction observatory. This is a 13 feet high room where the customers can climb up and watch the construction progress. This room also has a chart which tells the amount of concrete and cement used in a day or a month, information about labour, and so on. This chart is updated daily.

Tell us about your new launch.

Our latest launch is 106 Golf Avenue in Gurgaon.  This project is truly a customer centric project and has a new wave of amenities and facilities. This is on sector106 and that is why the project is named as 106 Golf Avenues. The most exciting feature of this project is that 85% of the ground coverage is green.

There are total nine towers and the planning is based on the solar movement, so every flat has a sunrise and a sunset balcony, most of the flats are open on three sides and there is no shadow of one falling on the another tower. In 106-golf Avenue, we have provided a covered bus stop exclusive for 106 avenue residents with access from inside our township. Most of the parking is in the basement and pick-up and drop-off points are created in the basement in order to develop a traffic free ground floor.

The township has activities such as squash, football, golf, lawn tennis, etc. It has zoned areas for elderly with a library and sit outs. It has also zoned an area for kids to play.