Real estate sector 'booming' but 'unorganised'

Apr 16, 2007, 13:00 GMT

New Delhi, April 16 (IANS) The international realty fair held here for the first time prompted a Dubai-based organiser to say that while the sector was 'booming' in India, it was also 'highly unorganised'.

After a successful stint at the Asian Real Estate Show (ARES 2007), which had participants from 15 countries and concluded in the capital April 15, Iqbal Siddiqui of Al Fajer Information and Services said that while he was happy with the response, he wished the sector was more organised.

'There is no regulatory authority, no structure to talk of in the real estate sector in India. Anyone can do anything here and can get away with it,' Siddiqui said in a conversation with IANS after the show.

Giving an example that raised his concern, he said that one of the developers in the show was approached by an agent who was trying to sell a property in Goa which he said was on the beach side.

Luckily, the developer happened to be from Goa and caught the agent red handed. 'The developer knew there was no such property on the beach side. The agent was in fact talking about a property near the shipyard where the water is black,' said Siddiqui.

'There should be a regulatory body at the central, state and even district levels to ensure that the real estate sector gets structured and the consumers are protected. Sometimes people put all their lives savings into a property. It is a big risk,' he added.

He also said that as in many other countries, in India too a person should have a trade license before even putting out an advertisement in the newspaper.

Exhibiting in India for the first time, Siddiqui said that ARES 2007 would travel to various Asian capitals showcasing properties from around the world and offering investment options to people. Countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Britain and America participated in the fair in Delhi.

Since the real estate sector is booming, there are a lot of exhibitions on real estate happening and Siddiqui suggests that there should be a clear demarcation of the type of exhibition so that it helps the exhibitors as well as the consumers.

'For example, there could be an exhibition where you have investment options from Rs.1.5 million to Rs.5 million, then another from Rs.5 million to Rs.10 million, and so on,' he said.

Siddiqui however signed said that despite everything he would love to organise more such fairs in India. 'The entire world is waiting to take a bite of the Indian real estate pie.'

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service