The three-day Kerala Property Expo which opened on Sunday has seen a large number of visitors as well as potential buyers. The Expo being held at the Kuwait Ramada Hotel in Riggai was organised by the Kerala Builders Forum (KBF) and showcases a wide range of projects of top real estate developers from the state of Kerala. Thirty seven reputed builders showcased their projects during the Expo.  

The Kerala Builders Forum (KBF) is registered with the state government and is an innovative group of renowned builders from Kerala. The Forum is made up of professional builders who have a proven track record of developing quality projects.

This is not the first exhibition held by the KBF in the Gulf, providing Non Resident Indians (NRIs) an opportunity to buy their dream homes in their native country. After Doha and Dubai, Kuwait is the third GCC state where the KBF is holding an exhibition. Being the only professional body of builders affiliated with the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), which is the highest organisation of promoters and builders in India, it covers more than 80% of real estate development activities in the country.

The mood in the exhibitor camp is optimistic about the result of the current Expo. G. Satheesh, Chief Manager, Marketing Overseas, Heera Homes, summed up the situation in this way: “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 assess the builder, choose the location and quality of the project,” said G. Satheesh, Chief Manager, Marketing Overseas, Heera Homes.

Harish Babu, Managing Director, Impresario Event Management India Ltd, the event managers for the Expo, highlighted the advantages to the customer this way, “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 here – State Bank of India and HDFC Home Loans – who can arrange loans for the customers on the spot.”

Premanandan G, Chief Marketing Executive, Home Loan Sales Team, State Bank of India elaborated on their function in this way: “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.”

Kapil Kapur, Manager Mortgages, HDFC Home Loans summed up his organisations functioning at the Expo thus, “We are providing consultancy services here in Kuwait. NRIs can apply directly from here and receive the loan in India.” According to Kapur, loans are available for buying flats, houses or land.

The Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Kuwait Times, Abd Al-Rahman Alyan, also toured the Expo and was impressed by the variety of projects on display and showed interest in visiting Kearla in the near future. Other prominent visitors on the second day of the Expo included Ali Al-Otaibi, CEO and Chairman of Danat Al-Sultan, the local event organiser, Lal Pereira, Country Manager (Kuwait and Lebanon, SriLankan Airlines) and Lalith Peres, Sales Manager, SriLankan Airlines.

Commenting on the Expo he said, “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.”

The organizers estimate that investments worth several million dollars were concluded on the first two days of the Expo and they were hopeful that this year’s figures would out do those of the previous year.

Babu had this to say about this year’s Expo: “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.”

According to Srikant K, Director, Skyline Foundations and Structures (P) Ltd and former chairman of the KBF, “The real estate sector in Kerala has emerged as an organised industry today. The real estate market is growing by at least 50% a year.”

Sirkant did add a note of caution saying that despite the rapid development sweeping Kerala, the industry is struggling to cope with the burgeoning demand. Elaborating further he added, “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.”

The demand for housing has been fuelled by 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.  

Elaborating on who the players in the industry Srikant said, “The primary mover in Kerala, besides NRIs, is the IT industry. Today, the real growth cities are Cochin and Trivandrum. 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.”

As for the future, Srikant is quite optimistic and doesn’t anticipate any downturn in the market. “Even new builders are able to sell well because the demand is so huge. So, we don’t expect any burst in the market.”

So what is the key for success in this fast developing market? According to Srikant, “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.”