With just to days remaining, take your pick from the wide- ranging and impressive array of projects displayed at the ongoing 10th CREDAI Mega Property Exhibition, says SUCHITRA PATIL

Over 80 developers and more than 500 projects being showcased ... the 10th Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, (CREDAI) Pune Mega Property Exhibition is back and is currently running at the SSPMS grounds near Le Meridian Hotel, Pune.

Launched yesterday; the three-day event will continue till Sunday January 17, 2010, from 10am to 9pm, offering different kinds of projects. Exhibitions have always been the best platform for selecting and comparing a wide-range of properties and CREDA. Pune, after a series of locality-focused exhibitions, has organized this annual exhibition.

Anuj Bhandari, Chairman of the exhibition committee, CREDAI Pune and Director, B. U. Bhandari Landmarks says, "CREDAI Pune's exhibition is a reputed one as it promises stability and security of the builder. We had five area wise property exhibitions that catered to specific localities in Pune. These were organized keeping in mind the convenience of people to visit specific projects of respective areas, since that is a big deciding factor for home buyers and it made things easier for the buyers."

Satish Magar, President, CREDAI Pune stressed the fact that the real estate industry was moving upwards. "We have seen the sales increase upwards and at the same time the economy is doing well, GDP has increased and industries are hiring again. All this will make house buying easier for the end customer."

With the market showing positive vibes, developers too are taking the exhibition as the opportunity to show their presence. Sanjeev Wani, Director, Marketing, Amit Enterprises Housing Limited, says, "The buyers are very confident and the conversion ratio is high as CREDAI is a branded association. It gives a platform for focused buyers to track different properties and make the right deal. Even developers have taken it as the opportunity to make a good display of properties so that they are noticed."

Stressing the same, Shyamkant Kolkar, Chairman, "CREDAI is a more focused exhibition with reputed builders and buyers are more confident while making investments. This time we are focusing on our recently launched project Nandan Inspera at Waked in the premium category along with few other projects. Areas in the western zone like Waked, Baner, and Hinjewadi seem to be more favorable among the buyers."

Nitin Nyati, CMD, Nyati Group and Hon Secretary, CREDAI Pune too feels it is the right time to buy as rates are low now and can shoot up in the next six months. Nyati County, Nyati Environ, Nyati Esplanade are some of their projects on display at the exhibition.

Vice-President, CREDAI Pune, Rohit Gera enumerated the benefits to buyers for instance, no registration charges will be paid by any buyer, even up to a month after the exhibition. The current registration amount of up to Rs 30,000 will be borne by the respective developer, subject to no increase in this amount. Another benefit being offered by the HFIs participating is the waiver of up to Rs 5,000 on processing fees."

Sonal Modi, General Manager, (Maharashtra) HDFC, says, "This is a good time to buy property. The cost of acquiring a property came down significantly between October 2008 and March 2009 due to factors such as drop in property prices, lower specifications, reduction in average size of the units and interest rates coming down sharply. This has brought in many prospective home-buyers who were waiting to buy a home but had deferred their decision. Thus over the past couple of quarters, developers have seen acceleration in sales and a substantial increase in the inquiry levels for properties."

Commenting on the real estate prices in Pune, Mr. Vijay Chandok, ICICI Bank Senior General Manager said they are indicating a steadily rising demand for homes. ICICI Bank has brought a host of value-added offerings including the list of approved projects, variety of home loans at competitive and attractive rates, guidance in legal, personalized counseling on home loans to ensure a "Khushiyon Ka Grihapravesh."

Visitors to the past CREDAI exhibitions also had a satisfying buying experience. Swapnil Kshirsagar says, "If you go looking for your house on your own, then you may be able to find just a few, but here you get to choose your home from hundreds. I bought a 1 BHK at Dighi and am happy with my buying experience."

Uma Khade, a housewife who wanted to purchase a 2BHK for her family says, "The area-wise exhibition helped us to get several options in the area we wanted to live. I think these CREDAI Pune exhibitions had very good choices in far-off places which generally are hard to come by."

If you are still waiting, this is the time for action. Go grab the opportunity and select the best deal before the prices increase!