BKC auction, warning sign to realty

There were no takers for two of the five plots in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) which were put for auction by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on March 18, 2008.

The three plots; one commercial and two residential, totaling up to three acres-fetched the MMRDA Rs. 1,322 crore.

At an auction in November 2007 at BKC, three plots in the complex measuring acres were sold for Rs. 2,790 crore.

According to media reports, a commercial plot, C-8 elicited interest from just one party, Jet Airways, whose offer of Rs. 826 crore or Rs. 3.44 lakh per Sq. Meters. for the 1.47 acre plot. The reserve price for this plot was Rs. 3 lakh a sq m.

In contrast, at the auction in November 2007, Wadhwa Group paid Rs. 46,800 a Sq. Ft. for a commercial plot less than two acres in size. Wadhwa paid Rs. 5.04 lakh per Sq. Meters against the reserved price of Rs. 1.53 lakh per sq m.

In the recent auction on March 18, 2008, two residential plots were picked up by Starlight System, a group company of Piramal Sunteck Realty, for Rs. 496 crore. Both plots are under an acre in size.