railways, roads, port, and hospitality as well as the manufacturing sector had jacked up property price in the state capital. A 1,200 sq.ft apartment in an up market areas like Kharabela Nagar and saheed nagar used to cost between Rs. 30-40 lakh.

“There was a mismatch between demand and supply which also contribute to the northward movement of the property prices in the state capital at the time. Against a demand of 20,000 houses in the medium and upper housing categories, merely 1,000 houses were supplied. If you take into account the demand from the economically weaker section, the gap was huge, but things are changing very fast due to the recession across globe”, say Utkal Builders managing director Subash Chand Bhura.

Sources in the know of the developments around claim property price have come down by nearly 10-15 % by now and if this trend continues, the prices are expected to go down by nearly 10-15% by now and if this trend continues, the price are expected to go down further. “ The price of  construction materials have come down. In particular, the cost of steel has gone down  by 40% within a fortnight. The price of cement and other construction materials too, have dipped drastically. Real estate developers, therefore have been forced to bring down property prices although both developers and end-users have adopted a wait and watch policy for the time being, “ a property company executive adds

Since the government owns around 80% of the land, both developers and customers are waiting for the government to come to out with a clear cut policy. Corroborating, architecture and engineering consulting firm Creative Studio proprietor Sanjib Bala says: “The state government is yet to come out with a specific policy for the real estate segment in the capital city. Besides, there is no land consolidation policy. It is sad situation and probably one of the reasons behind the desperate competition between developers and individuals, with financial muscle, to corner at least 10% of the private land. We feel the economics recession could open the Pandora’s Box”.

Apart from land owned by the state government, about 10% of the private land  in the state capital is under legal dispute. The balance 10% is in the hands of landlords. Leading real estate companies, both national as well as international, have taken land from the government to develop mega scale projects.

Incidentally, the state –owned Bhubaneswar Development Authority(BDA) has blocked several places in the city for construction in the absence of a comprehensive development plan. Professional and developers feel the BDA should play a pro-active role in a recessionary phase to facilitate construction  of properties. “For this, the BDA must act as a professional regulatory agency with a single window approval system to meet the existing demand at competitive price so that end-users are benefited, “the property company executive points out.