Shortage of parking space hits real estate deals

Spacious parking space is nowadays one of the primary requirement of buyers followed by the location, absence of which halts many deals as confirmed by the major property dealers.

According to Yashwant Dalal, president of the Estate Agents Association of India (EAAI), in South Mumbai, where there is an acute shortage of parking space, most potential buyers insist on exclusive parking space for at least two to three vehicles per flat.

“ Around 90 per cent of the deals that do not go through are just due to the fact that the seller is unable to provide the car parks as demanded by the buyer,” Dalal said.

Added Rajesh Goenka, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Delhi- based Axiom Estates, “ After location, parking remains one of the major areas of concern for home buyers.

However, for recent projects generally developers have provisions for double parking space. But where people demand parking for more than two cars, problem comes up.” Dalal added if buyers are willing to compromise on car parks they are able get decent discounts from sellers. “ Buyers willing to compromise on car parks are able to get 10 to 15 per cent discount,” he said.

Pankaj Kapoor, managing director (MD), Liases Foras, a real estate consultancy firm, said that consumers are compelled by the developers to purchase the car parks. “ In places like Andheri, a suburb of Mumbai, the car parks sell for anywhere between Rs 3- 5 lakh,” Kapoor said, adding that as one moves towards south Mumbai car parks get costlier.

In Delhi, a car park sells for about Rs 1.5 lakh for the mid- segment and Rs 3 lakh for the highend segment. But unlike Mumbai, the parking charges are included in the property price.

However, there are additional charges for covered parking or double covered parking.

According to Subhankar Mitra, associate director (strategic consulting), Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), while there is a shortage of adequate parking in Mumbai, middle- income housing buyers are often willing to compromise.

“ It is certainly true that many high- end transactions, where buyers ask for more than one parking slot for their units, fall through because of the developer’s inability to meet these expectations. Areas in Mumbai where this happens include Bandra, Nepean Sea Road and Pedder Road,” he said.

“ Parking is a problem in certain pockets in Delhi but I feel.

So far as the new projects are concerned, parking issues in Delhi and NCR are not as severe as in Bangalore and Mumbai,” Rohtash Goel, chairman and managing director (CMD) of NCR- based Omaxe Ltd, said . Kapoor said that developers have also been adding floor space index (FSI) for setting up additional car parks for the public.

However, this could lead to a situation of oversupply, he added.

“ Real estate giants like DLF and Indiabulls are creating around 4,000 car parks and 2,500 car parks, respectively, for the public. I am very sure that most of the car parks won’t even be utilised but the developer gets to gain through the additional FSI. We are soon getting into a situation where the supply of car parks will exceed the demand,” he said.

Another area of concern is parking spaces in commercial and official areas. “ These days people are very specific about the parking space for offices and commercial spaces. It shows how anxiety is building up,” Rakesh Khanna, chairman, Khanna Properties of Delhi said.

The acceptable industry norm, in the commercial property space, is to provide one parking slot per 1,000 sq ft of space.