Realty sector sees rise in prices in Hisar after S+4 policy

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, July 7

The stilt-plus-four-floor (S+4) policy has created a flutter in the real estate market in the upmarket residential sectors in Hisar town.

RWAs Plan ‘Sector Bachao Andolan’

• A meeting of the Resident Welfare Associations of all sectors of Hisar town was held on Sunday
• State convener of All Sector Confederation Yashvir Malik said it was unanimously decided to launch ‘Sector Bachao Andolan’
• A meeting of representatives of sectors from all over the state will be held next Sunday and a formal strategy of the movement will be prepared

Though the property rates in the residential sectors have gone up slightly, real estate agents and small builders, however, are still keeping their fingers crossed about the business potential of the policy.

The residents of the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) sectors in Hisar said the multi-storey buildings in the residential sectors will reduce these spacious localities into congested housing societies. “We have been opposing this policy, which seems to have been formulated under the pressure from the builders’ lobby,” said Rajpal Nain, a resident of Sector 33 here.

Nain said as per HSVP, currently one house (of any size) has an average occupancy of 13.5 persons. But with the advent of the floor system, it will go up to 20.5 persons per house. “Obviously, the existing infrastructure for water, sewerage, roads, parking and parks will be overburdened. In fact, the sewerage system and water supply is set to burst at seams in the next few years,” he said.

Nain said about one-fourth of the new buildings in the newest sector of Hisar has stilt-plus-four-floor buildings. It has also shot up the prices of the plots with the property dealers looking for an opportunity to make their debut as builders.

“It does not require even a big builder to do the business of erecting floors on a 250 sq yd or even a 500 sq yd plot in a sector in a city like Hisar, Rohtak or Karnal,” he said. Nain said it was a profitable business model for these ‘new builders’. As per the real estate market, a builder nets the profit of one of the four floors on sale of four floors after construction.

“In my sector, a builder has built a four-storey building after purchasing a plot of 270 sq yd at the rate of Rs 52,000 per sq yd. Now, he is offering one floor at Rs 1.5 crore. And as per his estimates, he would cough up Rs 1.5 crore by deducting his entire cost, including construction and purchase of the plot,” he said.

However, property dealer Bhag Chand said they were still in wait-and-watch mode. “We are yet to get the finer details of the policy. The policy seems to favour the residents who are opposing the floor system. If two neighbours object to construction of four floors in a 200 sq yd plot, the builder has just 18 feet front size erected building as the policy requires a six feet gap from the neighbouring plot on one side in case of objection,” he said.