Selling price in Sri Lanka’s apartments increase by over 47 pct: property tracker
ECONOMYNEXT – Overall selling prices of apartments in Sri Lanka increased by 45.17 percent when compared to June 2021, according LankaPropertyWeb’s housing price index.
Devaluation of the Sri Lankan rupee against the US dollar which has resulted in shortages of raw materials for construction which has in turn led to skyrocketing costs of construction and rising interest for housing loans, a report said, has prevented the construction of new houses leading to an increase in the purchase of houses and apartments.
The overall asking prices of houses in Sri Lanka had increased by 21.85 percent and prices of apartments for sale in Colombo had increased by 32.9 percent when compared to June 2021.
The Construction Industry Development Authority showed that the average price of a 50Kg cement bag sold by public and private dealers has increased by 187 percent from June 2021 to June 2022.
LankaPropertyWeb’s Development Consultancy and Research Team data showed that the top five searches for apartments for sale were from Colombo 2, Colombo 3, Colombo 5, Colombo 6 and Rajagiriya.
A resident from an apartment in Colombo 06 said, “We moved to this area due to the convenience, we spend less on transport and can go by bus, train or even walk to destinations. This was a massive save for us during the peak of the fuel crisis.”
Sri Lanka’s overall residential land price has dropped by 62.90 percent, a seasoned constructor told EconomyNext. This is because people are no longer interested in investing in lands and are less motivated to build houses because of the high rates of interest for housing and loans and there is value for money, he said.
Geethal Perera, an apartment builder in Colombo said: “Locals are not investing in assets or real estate because of the tumor in the economic conditions. However many overseas are investing because the international value for money on the rupee is favorable.”
The website also recorded a surge in search traffic from countries such as the UK, Australia, the US, Canada, and the UAE, said Tharindu Jayarathne, Head of Research at LankaPropertyWeb. (Colombo/Aug18/2022)
