37 Real Estate Builders showcase projects in exhibition

A large number of potential buyers visited the three-day Kerala Property Expo yesterday which opened on Sunday at the Kuwait Ramada Hotel in Riggai. The show organized by Kerala Builders Forum (KBF) showcases a wide range of projects of top real estate developers from Kerala state. The exhibition will end today. Kuwait Times Deputy Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Alyan toured the stalls yesterday and got a glimpse of the projects on display. He was impressed at the wide array of projects and showed interest to visit Kerala shortly.

The exhibition is very good as it reflects the solid relations between Kuwait and India. This also shows how things have changed dramatically over the years since the days of pearl diving. Today, Indian expatriates are buying flats and houses in India," commented Abd Al-Rahman Alyan, after touring the stalls.

According to organizers, investments worth several million dollars have already been concluded within two days of the expo. They hope that this year's turnover will cross last year's figures. Those who visited the exhibition yesterday included Ali Al-Otaibi, CEO and Chairman of Danat Al-Sultan, the local event organizer, Lal Pereira, Country Manager (Kuwait and Lebanon, SriLankan Airlines and Lalith Peres, Sales Manager, SriLanakn Airlines.

We see a huge response this time. Last year, about 600 people visited the two-day exhibition. This time, the number is expected to go up drastically. And most importantly, most of them are serious buyers," said Harish Babu, Managing Director, Impresario Event Management India Ltd, who is the event manager of the exhibition.

About 37 reputed builders are showcasing their projects at this year's exhibition. Kerala Builders Forum (KBF) is an innovative group of renowned builders of Kerala and is registered with the state government. It consists of professional builders with proven track records of excellence and quality.

The real estate sector in Kerala has emerged as an organized industry today," said Srikant K, Director, Skyline Foundations and structures (P) Ltd and former chairman of the KBF. The real estate market is growing by at least 50 percent a year, he said.

According to Srikant, despite the rapid development that is sweeping Kerala, real estate industry is struggling to cope with the burgeoning demand.

Demand for apartments and building complexes has multiplied in the last few years with the fast-paced economic growth and the launching of mega projects in the state," he said. Projects such as Vallarpadam Container Terminal, LNG Terminal, the IT and ITES projects in Infopark, Kakkanad and other urban development projects in and around Cochin have fuelled the demand for housing.

The primary mover in Kerala, besides NRIs, is the IT industry. Today, the real growth cities are Cochin and Trivandrum," he noted. In Trivandrum, Infosys is setting up its campus and will employ 10,000 people on a full time basis. Similarly, Wipro is establishing its campus in Cochin. Cochin airport area is going to be a mini city," he said. Srikant said he anticipates no downturn in the market in the near future. "Even the new builders are able to sell well because the demand is so huge. So, we don't e

xpect any burst in the market," he claimed.

If you have a good track record of delivery, good builder and good location, you can see a very good appreciation of your property. And the home care division which is also beneficial to the NRIs. All this put together, there is a huge boom in Kerala real estate sector," he added.

Kuwait is the third GCC state where KBF is holding exhibition after Doha and Dubai. KBF is the only professional body of builders affiliated to the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI). CREDAI is an apex organization of promoters and builders covering more than 80 percent of real estate development activities in India.

KBF has held several exhibitions in the Gulf region successfully, providing NRIs an opportunity to buy their dream homes back home. The exhibitors appeared bullish about the exhibition and the outcome. "Kuwait is a better market compared to other Gulf states. Here, people are ready to invest not only in flats, but in huge properties also. This is the time for them to realize the builder, choose the location and quality of the project," said G Satheesh, chief manager, Marketing Overseas, Heera Homes.

The advantage for the customer is that he can talk to all the builders and choose the best out of them. We have representations of banks -- State Bank of India and HDFC Home Loans -- here who can arrange loans for the customers on the spot," noted Babu.

Premanandan G, Chief Marketing Executive, Home Loan sales team, State Bank of India said, "We look into two things before we arrange housing finance; the cost of the property and the repayment capacity of the buyer. We extend loans on the basis of documents such as salary certificate and the bank statement. We seek legal opinion on the property and verify its position before we provide a builder tie-up certificate to the builder," he informed. "We are providing consultancy services here in Kuwait. NRIs ca

n apply directly from here and receive the loan in India," said Kapil Kapur, Manager Mortgages, HDFC Home Loans. He said people could take loans for buying flats, houses or land loans.

The local event coordinators are Danat Al Sultan, while Impressario is the event organizers. The last day of the exhibition is Tuesday May 13.