Sandeep Runwal, director, Runwal Group speaks on the slowdown in the real estate market

The real estate market in Mumbai is one of the complex ones in the world. Right from getting clearances to meeting approvals and acquiring land, the whole process is full of hurdles. Moreover, the poor infrastructure is a huge problem. The builder community has to spend from its pockets to improve the basic facilities in certain areas. 

For the past few months, we have seen a slump in the real estate prices that has been hugely speculated upon. It's true that this lull has badly hit certain factions of the builder community.

However, the past few years were very good for the real estate sector. As a result, many people like short-term traders, speculators entered into the market hoping to cash in. These people have suffered huge losses as they don't know how to survive this 'slow market'. But we have seen such a period from 1993 to 1995 when the market was going really slow and therefore we know how to survive.

The plus point is that the rates of overpriced housing in certain pockets of the city have fallen. But this is just a marginal amount as houses within a crore of rupees are easily sold even today. 

The media has also hyped up this slow down, making the home-buyers more apprehensive.

But a person who needs to buy a home for residential purposes shouldn't wait endlessly for rates to drop. Many people lose out on good bargains in such periods as they feel that the market will fall further. I think the market will start looking up from December onwards.  

Watch out for Runwal's advice to home buyers and solutions to mass housing next week