Buying property involves long-term financial commitment, and one has to be in a position to afford the investment. A property under construction would definitely be cheaper than one available for purchase or ready to move houses.

Buying an under construction home is the most popular and preferred mode of buying a home. The initial requirement would be to find a reputed builder and check the track record of the builder or developer. It is always advisable to invest with a known and well-placed builder.

Under this, a builder advertises in newspaper, TV and other Media about a new housing complex coming soon. Agents start going around the companies, markets, malls, and even houses to advertise about the new housing complex coming up in the town. The goal of the builder is to sell as many flats as possible before the housing complex is built. In most of the cases, more than 75% of the flats of known builders are booked even before a single brick is laid.

Advantages of buying an under construction home

Cheaper: Buying an under-construction home is always cheaper as compared to buying the one that is already built. The difference in the cost is very significant. In the Delhi and NCR region, a ready to move flat with 2 bedrooms can costs home buyers about Rs. 40-50 lakhs. However the same can be bought anywhere in the range of Rs. 30-40 lakhs while the flat is under-construction, depending on the location. On an average, the difference is significantly between 20% and 40% and this is a big difference for majority of the home buyers.

Low EMI - The EMI is paid according to the work in progress hence the initial EMIs are very low in the case of an under constructed home.

Beneficial for both buyers and sellers - Buying an under construction home is a win-win situation for both customers as well as builders. The builder gets a ready set of customers even before he starts laying the foundation while home buyers get the cost benefit.

High returns - Since the prices are lower, one might get higher returns on the under-construction home. Such high returns are not possible in a ready to move home. However, with higher returns come with higher risks too. To give an example, people who invested in Noida authority plots earned high returns while people who invested in Samshabaad in Hyderabad are still waiting for the area to pick up.

Drawbacks of buying an under-construction home

High Risk-All the conditions are not favorable for under construction home buying. In many instances, the builders might not complete the housing complex and buyers end up losing their money. Real estate sector is full of such stories where the builders could not complete the property because of higher interest rates, cash crunch and high raw material costs.

False Promises- This is another common complaint that customers come up with. They usually do not get what was promised in the documents before buying the home. Even more distressing is the carpet area that buyers are promised after the home is constructed. The carpet area is usually 70% of the super built area. The swimming pool and golf course may never come up as promised before by the builders.

Important Points for buyers of under construction homes

Buyers should also check the past history of the builder. If the builder has done a good job in the past, chances are very high that the builder will do the same again. However, the builder's image is not good in the market, on should avoid going for that particular builder.

Hence the track record of the builder is of utmost importance.

Buyers should clarify loan tenure and how the money will be paid to the builder. Mostly some part of the total cost is paid in the starting and the rest amount is only paid after the completion of the project.