Buying a Home - Primary vs. Secondary

Apart from the several new upcoming properties in India, there is also another lesser known option – secondary homes.

New or primary homes are the ones which are acquired directly from builders, whereas resale or secondary homes are homes which are bought from another individual seller or simply put, properties that have had a previous owner.

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Primary homes have been the key contributor towards the growth of India’s real estate market over the past few years. On the other hand, commonly categorized under resale property in India, secondary homes are less popular among home buyers. The chief cause behind this has been the ease of transacting when it comes to buying primary homes.

Listed below are some of the key reasons why primary real estate transactions are easier to conduct. Read on to gain knowledge on the factors to consider while choosing between new and resale properties in India:

Affordability
There are two key factors contributing to affordability of new homes. The first one is that most new homes are constructed in upcoming locations where land is available at affordable prices, thus resulting in reduced cost for buyers. The second reason is the presence of a staggered payment plan, wherein the buyer has to pay only 20-30% of the total cost as upfront payment, and there is ample time to pay the remaining cost of the home over 3 – 4 years of construction. Developers of new property in India also come up with several attractive payment schemes and discounted offers to choose from, making this a highly feasible option for home buyers.

Multiplicity of Options
In the case of buying a new home, the buyer has plenty of options to choose from, and there are even choices in terms of the number of bedrooms, size of the flat, floor plans, view from the flat and many more. On the other hand, while buying resale property, the options are quite limited as not all flats in the project or locality are on sale. Also, finding the residence exactly as per your needs is difficult, as the information available is quite low in the resale market.

Simpler Purchase Process
While buying a primary home, the buyer simply needs to sign a cheque and rest of the process is taken care by the developer. However, in case of resale properties, price negotiations take much longer to conclude as the benchmark price is missing. Also, the number of steps involved are several in case of resale property i.e. background check of seller, title check and verification of documents, closure of home loan by seller, registration of property in authority etc. In addition to this, resale property will typically involve some amount paid in cash which is difficult to manage by all buyers.

Lower Transaction Cost
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In case of buying a primary home, the buyer does not need to pay any brokerage fees, whereas in case of buying a secondary home, the buyer has to pay 1% brokerage fees to the real estate agent, who is the intermediary in most cases. Also, locating the right real estate agent who can get you the home you desire and a good price for you is also a costly affair.

All these points sum up the advantage of choosing a new residential property in India over an old one. For more information, log on to PropTiger.com.