Buy a house, get a luxury car for free

Your "dream house" now comes with a free Mercedes or BMW, or at least a few gold coins. In some cases, even a small flat is being thrown into the deal for those eying premium segment bungalows. As a slowdown in the realty sector stares developers in the face, these are some of the innovations they are coming up with to keep buyers interested.

Other builders have started shifting from the premium housing sector and are launching projects in the more affordable range for middleclass buyers.

Are these signs that realty prices will drop in the near future? Assotech CMD Sanjiv Srivastava said, "I wouldn't advise people to wait for prices to drop. If you are getting a property at a good location, bargain hard and close the deal." But Anshul Jain, CEO of the India arm of global property consultancy firm, DTZ, has a diferent take. "Yes, a correction in property prices is on its way," he said.

Many builders said they were now concentrating on the middle segment. Manoj Gaur, promoter of Gaur Sons, said the group had launched projects in Indirapuram in the range of Rs 2,500 per sq ft to suit middleclass buyers.

The promoter of Ashiana Housing, Rohit Modi, said they had started an apartment project at Rs 2,100/sq ft on NH 58 in Ghaziabad. Till six months back, apartments at these places were quoting at upwards of Rs 3,000/sq ft.

Not only this, many developers are reducing the floor size of the flats from 2000 sq ft to around 1,200 to 1,500 sq ft. This translates to a fall in the price of a three-bedroom apartment from Rs 60 lakh to around Rs 30 lakh.

Gaur said though sales of premium segment apartments had been hit, demand for mid-segment housing was okay. A number of projects in mid-segment are being launched in Gurgaon too in the price range of Rs 35-45 lakh.

Fears of a slowdown in the realty sector have been around for the past two years — ever since RBI first hiked interest rates. It all started with the apprehension that the heady rise in property prices between 2003 and 2006 was creating a bubble that could burst with disastrous consequences. Later, RBI further tightened money supply to fight inflation. Now, with the global financial crisis beginning to affect the Indian economy, the outlook for the realty sector does not look too good.

Developers said their margins were getting hit and, therefore, mid-segment buyers shouldn't expect any freebies.

In fact, CMD of Parsvnath Developers, Pradeep Jain, who has also launched a mid-segment project in the NCR, said prices are not likely to drop much. "The present conditions will lead to a slowdown in implementation of projects. Instead of selling at losses, developers would delay projects," he said.

In the premium segment, things are a little different because of an oversupply situation.

The NCR-based Jaypee group has offered luxury cars like Mercedes C200K, Toyota Land Cruiser and BMW 320i on the purchase of houses in the prices range of Rs 3 crore to Rs 8.25 crore in its upmarket project on Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. Even on the lower range of houses of Rs 85 lakh to Rs 1.50 crore, the group is offering cars like Maruti Zen, Honda City and Toyota Camry. The value of the freebies depends on the price of the house that is bought