Pre-bookings for real estate kick off ahead of festive period

Pune: Developers in the city have seen an increasing number of inquiries and pre-bookings coming in from interested buyers as the festive season has once again proven to be a seasonal catalyst for the real estate market. "There are many new project launches in the market, and we will be paying a token amount for the new flat on Ganesh Chaturthi," said Kothrud resident Rahul Deshpande."People are queuing up to express their interest and purchase refundable tokens ahead of the festive season. Pune's new homebuyer base is largely in the 25–35 age group. While they don't necessarily wait for a ‘muhurat' to book a house, many use the festive season to pay the token amount, register agreements, or move in. This period always brings strong traction at sales offices," said Kapil Gandhi, MD of Sigma One Universal.VTP Realty's ED and CEO Sachin Bhandari said, "Bookings have already begun ahead of festivities, and the response has been encouraging so far." Demand for homes priced between Rs 70 lakh and Rs 2 crore has more than tripled in the past four years. Within this, the Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1 crore and Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore segments are seeing significant new launches, said Manish Jain, president of Credai Pune. "In the first half of 2025 alone, about 44,000 flats were sold in the Pune Metropolitan Region, generating a turnover of Rs 32,800 crore. With the festive season ahead, industry players are confident that 2025 will surpass last year's sales figures."The Pune market continues to remain robust with several high-profile launches lined up. "Collectively, these launches will add significant fresh inventory in micro-markets such as Manjri and Kharadi, which are among Pune's fastest-growing residential hubs," said Ritesh Mehta, senior director and head of West, North and East Residential Services and Developer Initiatives, JLL.Many developers are extending festive offers and waivers on charges like stamp duty, GST or registration, especially in city-centre projects which have larger ticket sizes. Spot booking discounts, "no EMI till possession" schemes, and builder subvention plans are some other benefits developers have started offering. "We are planning a Diwali mela for our customers, which will include spot booking offers to encourage faster decision-making. Additionally, we are collaborating with banks to provide attractive festive finance schemes, including subvention offers, to make home-buying more convenient," said Aakash Agarwal, MD of Krisala Developers. He added that they have already received over 1,000 enquiries about their projects.Saurabh Garg, co-founder and chief business officer of NoBroker, said that many developers may look at offering material deals this year like home appliances and motorbikes ranging up to Rs 2.5 lakh. "Some of the offer amount is provided as a discount (such as a gold voucher or cashback), whereas the rest is presented in the form of a home appliance. These offers typically continue at least till Diwali, from Navratri, and they help in creating urgency," said Garg.

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