Affordability of Dream Houses

India’s real estate market has been under a ‘time correction’ since a decade. Time correction is a fancier way of saying that the prices are stagnant. After some time, this stagnation is expected to end and the real estate prices will head upwards again. There are several reasons behind the stagnation.

The major one is that prices rose way too fast and too far on the strength of investors who had more money than sense. These investors kept selling apartments to each other at higher and higher prices until finally the prices got too high for the real buyers – those who actually want to live in those houses. This stagnation is a phase when the buying capacity of the real users in catching up to these prices.

Another factor has been the tremendous distrust that buyers have for real estate developers for known reasons. As time goes on, a greater portion of potential buyers will turn into actual buyers. Real estate is unique unlike other investments in that one house is a necessity for every family and it’s only from the second house that the buyer becomes an investor with the risks and baggage it attracts. 

The problem is that buying a dream house is very different from buying a dream vacation or car.  Housing is different because of the scale of the expense behind it. The financial hole due to the dream house can cause financial damage and might take years to repair during which, the family will face many hardships.