[DEVELOPERS SHOULD KEEP THE LOCAL PSYCHE, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS IN MIND BEFORE PRESENTING THEIR PRODUCT, SINCE THE MARKET STILL HAS A HUGE POTENTIAL]
The possession of a home is the ultimate dream of every citizen. Kathmandu, being the only secure resource centre in Nepal, it attracted population from the rest of the country which eventually lead to the necessity of making the city a metropolis. The tremendous pressure for ownership of property and to build a home created horizontal urban expansion, hence raising land prices to a point of unaffordability.
With the lack of infrastructure beyond the city limits, the government had to come up with revisions in the building bylaws bringing in the concept of multi-storied apartment housing and thereby at tracting a vertical expansion. Due to reasons of commonly shared infrastructure facilities like round-the-clock water supply from deep bore tube wells, electricity availability during power cut hours, vehicle parking facilities within the site, 24-hour security, etcetera, apartment housing concept had a phenomenal take off. More and more private developers started coming into the fray increasing apartment availability and enlightening the general public on the hidden advantages of owning apartment houses rather than single homes.
In fact, not too long ago real estate housing became the only lucrative line of investment, with banks and financial institutions chipping in with attractive home loans. While the demand for apartment homes started increasing, the prices also started soaring at a geometric pace.
Concurrently, with the general euphoria, apartments became an avenue for speculative investment. Investors would buy apartments for resale at a later date. This increased activities in real estate housing and the developers hurried up to catch the market frenzy.
[DEVELOPERS SHOULD SKILFULLY TARGET THE STILL EAGER END USERS AND ACCORDINGLY PROVIDE PRODUCTS THAT THEY WOULD IMMEDIATELY IN DULGE UPON THUS ENHANCING THEIR LIVING VALUES]
In the process, the custom need for a comfortable abode got left on the wayside. The actual users were finicky about the design like proper ventilation, openness, and comfortable sizes of rooms, adequate bathrooms and other essential facilities to make the home a living experience. Buyers were looking for planning efficiency like optimal saleability to carpet area ratio, perimeter efficiencies, and adequate green areas. Also the planned use of a combination of inverter and generator bridged cost effectiveness and environ mental friendliness at the same time. Apart from this providing a centrifugal exhaust system in the double basement car parking area, for exhausting out the concentrated carbon monoxide created by vehicle emission and letting in fresh air was also taken into consideration. Again, buyers diverted their attention towards the ambience, value for investment, and an economical and well-organised infrastructure that their present homes lacked.
However, the inventory pile up of speculators did not qualify the market product demand and the glut started creeping in the real estate market slowly. There was a strange calm and serenity, a seeming crash in the market. Nonetheless, this prevalent lull left the well designed products unscathed. They weathered the storm and are still very much in demand.
Now there is an important lesson for the developers to learn. The end users have become knowledgeable and they not only want a qualitative product, but also value for their money. The developers should keep the local psyche, environmental and social factors in mind before presenting their product, since the market still has a huge potential. By not targeting the need based market, the entire industry could take off on a wrong tangent.
Therefore, it is my recommendation to all developers to skilfully target the still eager end users, understand their psyche, and accordingly provide products that they would immediately in dulge upon thus enhancing their living values.
Courtesy
Sidhartha Gopalan
(The author is the architect for housing project of Nepal like `Imperial Court,' and consultant for `Mercury Apartments,' at Sanepa)