Noida's loss is Gurgaon's gain

Once a hot property for realty business, Noida Extension has ceased to be of interest to any dealer or buyer. Within days of the Supreme Court canceling construction of residential flats in the area, which it said was meant to be an industrial hub, potential buyers are looking towards other satellites of Delhi – Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad.

Real estate brokers say enquiries for residential projects in Gurgaon and Faridabad have gained substantial spurt. They say the crisis in Noida Extension is beginning to mar consumer sentiment in Noida as well.

‘‘We have done more sales in Gurgaon in the last 11 days than in other areas. This also coincides with new launches from Vatika and M3M, and plot sales by DLF. Customers today feel more secure about buying in Gurgaon than Noida,’’ said Samarjit Singh, MD, Agni Property Services, a real estate services firm.

Enquiries have dwindled for Noida Extension since the Allahabad HC order on Sahberi came in mid-May. Since then, brokers in Noida have been aggressively promoting projects on the Noida Expressway as projects with safe land title.

But brokers now suspect the crisis will have an impact on overall Noida.

‘‘Our call centre gets about 36,000 calls a day, of which 3,000-4,000 calls were for affordable housing in Noida. These have dropped to 300-400 a day. The level of queries have gone up for Gurgaon and Faridabad. This will open up Faridabad and new areas in Gurgaon,’’ said Singh.

But there is a problem. Gurgaon is an entirely different market. “You can’t get a 2 BHK in Gurgaon for less than Rs 60 lakh and only 10 per cent of the stock is 2 BHK (1,300-1,400 sq ft),” says Sunny Katyal, director (marketing) at brokerage firm Investors Clinic. Even in new Gurgaon, opposite Manesar, prices for a 2 BHK units are priced at Rs 72 lakh.

Developers sold flats in Noida Extension for Rs 13 lakh (for a 1 BHK) to Rs 20 lakh (for a 2 BHK). These prices are more comparable with prices in Ghaziabad, which has also seen an increase in investor queries or prices in Pari Chowk in Greater Noida, but not Gurgaon. ‘‘Around 10-20 per cent of the buyers, who can’t wait for a home, will settle for Ghaziabad, with some compromise on location,” said Katyal.

Prices in Faridabad are more competitive (Rs 20-40 lakh) and will attract investors.

Authority offers balm to buyers

GREATER NOIDA: Two days after the Supreme Court order on Sahberi triggered a wave of panic among buyers in Noida Extension, the Greater Noida Authority has finally broken its silence. For more than 24 hours after the verdict, Authority officials were out of reach. But on Friday, they held out an olive branch to farmers, developers and individual buyers, saying it's willing to hammer out a solution to the current crisis. While trying to soothe frayed nerves, the Authority is also keeping the option open to renegotiate and reacquire land from farmers — this time after giving them a fair hearing.

GNIDA CEO Rama Raman said the Authority's first priority was to implement the apex court order. Raman said buyers who have already booked flats should be provided all possible aid. He urged developers to either refund the money of buyers or shift them to an alternate project. Also reaching out to developers, Raman said, "If a developer wants to pull out of a project, it can approach the authority for a refund."

Noida Authority to file counter-affidavit

A week after the Supreme Court upheld the Allahabad High Court’s verdict quashing farmers’ land acquisition in Noida Extension, the Greater Noida Authority is gearing up to file a counter affidavit in the coming week.

According to senior officials, the Authority would file the counter affidavit in the Allahabad High Court by Monday as per the directives of the High Court.

Rama Raman, CEO, Greater Noida Authority said the Authority would be filing a counter affidavit in Allahabad High Court against the land acquisition quashing petitions by farmers of various villages.

“In our affidavit, we would contest the villagers’ petitions against the emergency clause just as we have submitted in Supreme Court. We have told the court that the emergency clause was evoked because we wanted speedy development without the land being encroached. We want that section 4 of the land acquisition Act should not be revoked in cases of farmers who have received the compensation and those who have agreed to take the compensation,” added the CEO.

Section 4 of the Act says that whenever it appears to the ( appropriate Government) the land in any locality (is needed or) is likely to be needed for any public purpose (or for a company), a notification to that effect shall be published in the Official Gazette and the matter should be advertised in all leading publications.

The Authority’s legal department is working overtime to make it sound convincing to the court as to why the land was acquired despite farmers’ unwillingness, Raman added. “We have agreed that we would do away with the emergency clause in further land acquisitions and will inform villagers to hear their objections before the land is allocated to others,” he said.