Punjab: UK real estate to attract Punjabis

New Delhi, Aug 31: Singh is always the king when it comes to ruling the number of NRIs in the United Kingdom and keeping this factor in mind, Britain's real estate developer Dandara is designing a 'special' marketing startegy to attract the Punjabi community to invest in the EU country.

Talking to sources, Dandara Country Business Development and Sales Director Mona Jalota said, ''A real estate developer cannot ignore the Punjabi community, especially when it comes to attracting Indians to invest in Britain's property market.'' ''In the UK, property prices have fallen to their historical low in the last few years, which make investments in the real estate in the EU country very attractive,'' Ms Jalota said.

''We are targeting the Indian investors. We are understanding the cultural sensibilties of each and every community and designing the marketing strategy accordingly, but we are focusing especially on the Punjabi and also on Gujaratis as they constitute a big a number of NRIs in the UK,'' she said.

However, she declined to comment on what the strategy is.

Dandara, which has opened its first office in India in Mumbai, internationally markets its own-developed flats in cities around the country to individuals and corporates looking for real estate in the UK.

The company has designed four projects in the UK with the Indian customer in mind and offers real estate options to the investors in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

''A person in India can own a property in the UK for a downpayment as low as Rs 20 lakh. One can invest in from a 500 sq ft studio to a 2,000 sq ft large three-bed apartment,'' Ms Jalota said, adding that our main aim is to sell UK property to Indians with maximum benefits to the investors.

Investment in Dandara's apartments calls for the buyer to pay only 20 per cent of the price up-front and the rest only after the apartment is complete and possession is handed over.

''Dandara will complete the construction and also assist the customer in signing up bank mortgage for the rest of the money payable. The customer can also rent out his unit to a company guaranteeing rentals for three years,'' she said.

''The buy-to-let concept ensures that the mortgage payment of the customer is protected by the rentals we guarantee for three years, at least,'' she continued.

To ensure maximum benefits to Indian investors, the company has tied up with Zurich Insurance to offer insurance cover for the 20 per cent payment a customer is expected to make. Also, it has tied up with ICICI Bank and Barclays to handle mortages and a team of lawyers to take care of legalities.

''We want to develop long-term relationship with our customers, and thus we aim at providing them with the maximum benefit on the money they investing in our properties,'' Ms Jalota said.

UNI