Chennai: With the global meltdown badly affecting the real estate industry in the state, especially in Chennai, builders and potential consumers are adopting a ‘wait and watch´ strategy before purchasing property, according to industry experts.

“People who have bought land are waiting for the right time to construct as the cost of construction material has gone up,” Navin housing and Properties Managing Director, R. Kumar said.

Though the meltdown has had a huge impact on the industry, the company’s projects are on as scheduled. “Since April 2008, we have projects ranging between Rs35 lakh to Rs1.5 crore” he said.

Chief Marketing Officer of www.indiaproperty.com(an online portal which gives a platform for builders and customers), K. Gopalakrishnan said, “The meltdown has made potential customers postpone purchases.”

“Though cost of plots priced between Rs50 lakh and Rs1 crore have been hit, there is still a demand for plots priced between Rs15 lakh to 40 lakh", he said.

“The portal, in order to help consumers recently launched a campaign based on ‘affordable housing concept´”, he said.

“This concept has been launched for people who prefer to buy plots ranging between Rs15 lakh to Rs40 lakh” he said.