Realty Bouncing Back with Mr. Dhaval Ajmera, Director of Ajmera Realty

[00:00:07] Hey there, this is the CREDAI MCHI Grand Property Expo 2020 new podcast. In this episode we have another very insightful conversation lined up for you with Mr. Dhaval Ajmera, Director of Ajmera Realty and Honorary Secretary of CREDAI MCHI.

[00:00:24] So welcome to the podcast, thank you so much for being here with us today. I wanted to start by just asking you how does it feel to be back here? I know it's been two years, it's been a bit of a break, so how does it feel

[00:00:35] to be back here? Well actually it's three years and I must tell you I'm quite excited. I have been part of this exhibition from the time it started. So when I would say the first exhibition happened as MCHI, CREDAI MCHI Property Expo

[00:00:50] in the year 2000 and I was a trainee then and from that time I've been part of this exhibition and it's really exciting, teaches you a lot of things and coming back to this 30th edition it is a different vibe and a great environment.

[00:01:07] Looking around at the number of people moving around, seeing so many people, the response being so great it is just exciting and great vibe and you know it makes you feel happy. Absolutely and like you said you have the gift of experience here.

[00:01:21] How have you seen the real estate industry grow and evolve? What are the key changes that you've seen over the past decade or so? Well over the past few years I would say the industry has evolved a lot.

[00:01:34] When COVID struck everyone was in their problems, everyone had issues, we didn't know where to go what to happen but I think real estate was a very resilient industry. They all jumped back, they all came back, the market really flipped, people got good

[00:01:51] response, people sold well and you know that's how the industry started moving and with industry moving, background 270, 60 other industries are moving around. So you know how agriculture is to rural economy of India? I am very confident and I personally believe that real estate is to the urban economy

[00:02:13] of India so that's the kind of job creation, the kind of economy runs because so many people work around this real estate industry. Over the last one decade there were challenges which came around in real estate,

[00:02:26] rare demonetization, ILFS crisis and so many other things came but still every time it evolved the Lehman-Gradhar crisis it started from there. Every time it evolved, every time it became better, it showed more projects, it became

[00:02:42] more confident and people really you know it eventually I believe that for the people of India real estate is a very sentimental thing, everyone needs to have one some kind of real estate in their life so I don't think this industry can ever

[00:02:58] go slow or it can have some issues but it will only grow from here. Absolutely so well said and you know just sort of going back to what you said about how in India you know real estate is something that's valued very much even more than other

[00:03:13] countries around the world but we're obviously always looking at a split where real estate is looked at as an investment or as an asset and what have you seen in terms of how does that change, what does the ratio look like today?

[00:03:24] During the last one decade we have seen that people especially youngsters and the young crowd they were not too keen on investing in real estate. They were very keen and you know if I have to put in as a ratio gold stock market,

[00:03:40] cryptos all those had probably a higher stake as compared to real estate because they didn't really believe in real estate but I personally see that change a lot happening from the time COVID struck because everyone were in their force to

[00:03:56] be in their homes for two and a half three months compulsory and that's when they realized that eventually stocks don't come into picture, gold don't come into as a help when there is nothing around right only home was

[00:04:09] their savior at that point in time so the importance of home really started picking up post COVID and now I personally see even amongst the youngsters although the rent yielding assets I mean interest rates versus a rent yielding home you know home is lesser yielding than probably an

[00:04:27] interest rate but still they want an asset like home to be with them so I am seeing the investment as a pie within a you know a young Indian probably higher than as compared to what it was few years back.

[00:04:40] That's so true I see that sentiment shifting as well and I think you know with that even for developers then there's another question how do we make these homes appealing to them right for example I know with millennial

[00:04:52] generally they want open spaces more that's what they're looking forward to more a better quality of life so how do you think today developers are adapting to this new reality. Nowadays you know every developer I would say will try to make you

[00:05:06] know not only normal buildings but something which will really excite the customer entice the customer and at the same time when the customer is actually living he's not forcibly living what he's enjoying his life so you know again coming back post COVID when when people actually enjoyed

[00:05:23] the lifestyle amenities which were offered in their complex I think those got a lot better value and then compared to probably a single building somewhere here and there and that's how I see townships gaining more importance because you can get those lifestyle amenities you can get retail

[00:05:41] you can get recreational activities you can get so many things where your child is taken care where your parents are taken care where you are so everyone's taken care in a complex so that's where I prefer that every

[00:05:53] person every millennial or old buyer or a new buyer would prefer to have in a complex apartment with having all amenities as compared to a single building unless those buildings are in a very prime location or somewhere which is

[00:06:06] of their sentimental value otherwise I think you know complex living is going to be the next future absolutely and you know speaking about you know different places to live in why don't you tell us a little bit more about

[00:06:19] the stall that Ajmera reality has well we at Ajmeras are really excited we have a lot of things to offer within this exhibition our projects in vatala malad pune kalyan bangalore juhu where we're just starting a new one

[00:06:34] so every project has something or the other different to offer whereas I mean just to give you an example of our vatala project which is Ajmera Manhattan we've tried to bring in the Manhattan lifestyle over here we have made sure

[00:06:47] that everything over there where the Manhattan has a central park we trying to bring in a brick central park with a very very large podium and a garden complex when Manhattan has a fifth avenue as the commercial shopping

[00:07:00] retail street we also have the same retail street happening here in Manhattan so obviously Manhattan has tall towers we also have tall towers with all this we also have a lot of open spaces great connectivity so that's the kind

[00:07:15] of lifestyle we want to offer for our customers we're giving that in kalyan making one you know top-of-the-line international lifestyle project and clubhouse coming in so every project has a lot of things to offer and it's been

[00:07:28] great to see people coming here and looking around and hopefully buying some things yeah and I think people are responding to that very well as well yes when you look at you know I think it really has seen great success in the

[00:07:40] post-COVID era so I'm gonna go ahead and ask you a cliche question but what do you think is the key to success here for us as Ajmeras I think our key to success is you know our tagline built on trust we've been you know in

[00:07:54] this business since last 54 years we are a three generation of businesses working together bringing in the utmost transparency utmost ethical thing and trying to you know always straight to our commitments what we've done so I think that's where we as Ajmeras have succeeded grown that trust in you

[00:08:14] know 45,000 plus customers so that's that's where I believe you know our togetherness is my key to success I would say thank you so much for being on thank you thank you very much