Demand for semi-luxury condominiums

Harshini Perera

Sixteen certificates for the construction of condominiums have been issued for the past two months this year. Among them four condominiums are for luxury while one is for the semi-luxury category, Condominium Management Authority (CMA) General Manager G.U. Upawansa told Daily News Business.

He said that three condominiums has been constructed outside Colombo.

One is constructed in Kandy while the other two are constructed in Wattala.

The total condominiums constructed in Wellawatte amounted to nearly 200.

“Some developers have violated the rules of condominium construction and it resulted in an issue of deeds.

To address such issues in the future, the CMA is working out mediation services for constructors,” Upawansa said.

A high demand was there for luxury condominiums but little was constructed targeting bankers and other Government officers. Due to the global recession, consumers of luxury apartments lost their buying power.

Therefore, the demand for luxury and super luxury apartments have dropped drastically. We expect that the low cost apartments will have a better demand in the future,” he said.

Apart from that, consumers tend not to place deposits for under-constructing condominiums and thus developers depending on the deposits were unable to complete the condominiums.

At present, a luxury apartment is priced between Rs. 19-30 million while a semi-luxury apartment is priced below Rs. 15 million.