Prestige eyes Aug launch for 1566 apartment B'lore project

Bangalore based Prestige Estates has been one of the top picks of influential brokerage firms like Jefferies. In the first quarter, the company launched projects spread across 5 million square feet for around Rs 1,100 crore and has a decently healthy debt-equity ratio of 0.4.

The company has other big launches planned for the year. Prestige's chairman Irfan Razack spoke to CNBC-TV18 regarding the new launches and their expectations going ahead.

Also Read: Bengaluru property experiencing positive flux across sector Below is the verbatim transcript of Irfan Razack's interview on CNBC-TV18 Q: You have launched a couple of projects in Chennai recently, including a villa project. How exactly are you reading this market?
A: Chennai is a nice, steady, conservative market and is very strong fundamentally. Unlike the launches that keep happening in Bangalore, launches in Chennai are not many and are far between. There is a lot more potential in Chennai and we are pursuing various options there. Q: What exactly are those plans?
A: In Chennai, we have tied up a couple of large properties. There is another villa development that is approved this month and we will be doing a soft launch called Prestige Silver Springs on the ECR Road which will be an exciting project in terms of look, feel and design. It will be the ultimate luxury living. It is a large piece of land, almost 20 acres with only 77 homes and will be a sellout as soon as we do the prelaunch. Q: What is its likely pricing?
A: Ticket price would be Rs 4 crore upwards and would range between Rs 4 and Rs 6.5 crore. Per square foot price would be in the range of Rs 9,500-10,500. Q: Isn’t Rs 4-6 crore way above market rates?
A: I do not think it is above the market rate in that area when its a good project with all the specs, because we are loading it fully including wardrobes, kitchens, air conditioning as well as white goods. So a whole lot of things have been packaged into it. I don’t think there is a product like that, but if I take off all the additionals, price will be less. It is only the size and the look, feel and the overall ambience that will be the differentiator. Q: What about the rest of the launch pipeline for the fiscal?
A: In Chennai we have tied up Pallavaram. We have a big land there and the design stage is on, but the approval process is a little longer, so, in the next 6-9 months we have Pallavaram. Then we have something close to Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) which is a large part of land that we have tied up. Apart from this, we have also concentrated on cities like Hyderabad and Goa.
In Hyderabad, we have tied up with two very prominent properties, one is Kondapur and the other is in the financial district that is in Gachibowli. All these plans are getting done, but it is also question of how soon the plan approval comes in. In Bangalore, we are going to launch the product called Prestige Royal Gardens and that is a large project. It is 1,566 apartments. We did a soft launch earlier, but now we are going full-fledged and that will be another exciting project to watch for. Q: What will be the pricing of the high-rise project with over 1,500 apartments?
A: The Prestige Royal Gardens will start at 4,000 plus. We have single bedroom apartments also in this project, so ticket price will be fairly decent. You can even start with a ticket price of around Rs 27 lakh. Q: What exactly is on the anvil for Hyderabad?
A: The design process is almost finalised and if the approvals come, in the next six months we can launch both Kondapur as well as the financial district in six months, but they are two different locations, so the price points will be very different for two different products and even the product will be different.
One is premium product, the other is standard product. In our company, we have one product called standard, the other one called the premium then you have luxury and then super-luxury. So, these are four different bands that we go into.
_PAGEBREAK_ Q: The standard one will be in which location of Hyderabad and what will be the pricing?
A: Financial district will be a standard product. Standard will not be any less in terms of luxury living, but numbers are more and the overall land size is about 25 acres. The Kondapur one is a five acre property and the sizing of the unit also defines the difference between premium and standard. In Kondapur the sizing is going to be big.
We are going to have 3 and 4 bedroom units that will be between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet and maybe a small percentage of small three bedrooms and a few two bedrooms. So there will be a mix, but then overall sizing will be different from the financial district. Q: Is it too early for me to ask you about the final ticket prices?
A: Yes. This is because we need to go through the process of costing. Closer to the launch we can talk about pricing and another big project that we are on the anvil of doing a launch in a large way is in Bangalore which the approval has just come in, but we are waiting for some more papers to come in so that we can do it in a grand style as the Prestige Lakeside Habitat which is a 100 acre property. It is in Vathur, Gunjur. It is abutting Whitefields. At the same time, it has a lake close by and is connected closely to the outer Ring Road where the entire IT belt exists.
We also have schools and have tied up this project and are co-branding with Disney-inspired homes. It will be another little variation in the wavy market. Though Prestige itself is a strong brand, we wanted to make a differentiator because there is a large amount of supply that will come in and we have to give something different to our clients. Q: Disney is on board, what is the launch price? Also, there will be 270 villas as well as high-rises, what are the specks?
A: We haven’t fixed any pricing and the sizing of the villas starts between 3,000 upwards and goes upto 4,800 square feet. The apartments per se start with 1,100 square feet for a two bed and will go upto about 3,000 square feet for a four bed. Q: What is the market rate today in the vicinity of this project?
A: Whitefield area today like Prestige Shantiniketan is commanding a price of about Rs 6,000 plus per square feet and when we do a pre-launch we will not be targeting the highest price band.
We always give certain benefit to the customers in terms of price, so there is an appreciation even for the client who buys. But we will come with the numbers as soon as we are sure about our costing because these are high rise apartments, input costs have gone up. But at the same time, I can promise my customers that whoever wants to invest in this, we will give them a great deal and they will have a good appreciation in the long-term. Q: Does that mean the launch price is going to be around Rs 6,000 per square feet?
A: No, it won’t be that high and that will be a surprise. We are always in favour of our clients and will work the numbers which will be a win-win for both the company as well as for the clients. Q: Most developers these days have no choice, but to offer special rates in pre-launches. What exactly are you planning in Goa?
A: We have just tied-up a piece of land and have already bought the land and the planning is also done which is in North Goa. We are doing one acre Farm Houses. It is a 75 acre property where we will have about 50 Farm Houses coming in there with a lot of amenities and it will be an eco-friendly development with lot of greenery and all the elements that are required to make it eco-friendly.
There are a lot more open space, a lot more land and the built up area itself will not be so huge, but each Farm House will have an acre of land around it. It is another project to look forward to if somebody wants to look at even a place to stay or a holiday home. Q: One acre Farm House is probably a first in Goa. Will you also offer maintenance services?
A: At Prestige we always innovate, which everybody follows and being holiday homes we will definitely offer our customers the complete property management as well as our caretaker services. All that has to happen and will help us in making people commit and that makes it easier for people who are buying it as a holiday home whenever they come in they can just come and use it and can also rent out the premise and we can help them in doing that. Q: How much are you planning to charge for all of this?
A: We haven't yet decided on the final pricing, the ticket price between Rs 4-5 crore a Villa.