E-auction of 152 CWG flats: How NRIs can buy a premium living space in Delhi

By Tripti Rai

The PIOs and NRIs searching for premium living spaces in Delhi now have a reason to applaud. Delhi Development Authority (DDA) with its plans to publicly sell around 152 ready to move-in flats in the CWG Village in June, 2015 has given the buyers something to look forward to.

The announcement for the online auction noticeably mentions that the bids have been invited from PSUs, firms, PIOs, and, NRIs in addition to the individuals. Interested people can visit the DDA's e-auction portal: www.auctionwizard.in/DDA from 25th May, 2015.

DDA has estimated a reservation cost of Rs 7 crore for every 3 BHK flat. Yet, seeing the demand for a property in the New Delhi and National Capital region, the closing price can be expected to be well above the reservation cost, as suggested by the real estate experts.

The 152 ready to move in flats are 3BHK units and have a base area of approximately 3,000 sq ft. The present value of flats varies in the range of Rs 18,000 and Rs 23,000 PSF. According to Balvinder Kumar, the vice chairman of DDA, base price of the flats is estimated at Rs 3, 15,320 sq. m. The reasons like amenities, location advantage, and, large BUA are certainly going to attract the niche buyers searching for the high-end housing segment in the city.

Remarking about the price of property and buyers' curiosity on the DDA online auction, Aman Nagar, Director of Paras Buildtech says that because of the prime location and the luxury factor linked with the flats, the price range set by DDA is right.

The total earning for DDA from the sale is expected to be over Rs 1,000 crore.

While this auction was deliberated some years back itself, Delhi Government's plea in 2012 to occupy 60 flats for its official housing pool had postponed the plans earlier.

In the year 2009, DDA spent approximately Rs 11,000 PSF to develop the CWG flats. Out of all, 74 of these units were sold at a rate of Rs 22,000 PSF in the last auction that was held in 2012. The intention of DDA then was just to inspect if or not the auction receives a favorable response at all. The other lesser told purpose was to get clear of the inventory. At that time, the highest bid that DDA received then was of Rs 7.32 crore at a rate of approximately Rs 24,137 PSF.

But with the announcement of selling the 152 premium flats, the government has surely given a reason to the city's property seekers to rejoice.

The formal advertisement of the auction is probably going to be aired from next week, giving the interested bidders enough time to index themselves for the event. The authority expects to close the sale by last week of June.

(Tripti is a writer for 99 acres.com. Her articles talk about new developments in the real estate industry. She is an avid reader and a keen observer.)