Under Rs 1 Cr

A new flat under Rs 1 crore has almost stopped existing inside Gurgaon's municipal limits. What is left under that figure is three quite different things: affordable-housing flats allotted by draw, plots and floors in Sohna, Kharkhoda and Jhajjar, and resale stock in the older sectors. This page sets out what each of those actually is, what our own listings show at this budget today, and the four checks that decide whether a cheap flat in this band is a good buy or a long wait.

What Rs 1 crore buys, by where you look

The pages on this site in this band

These are live listings whose quoted entry price sits under Rs 1 crore. The figure is the entry, not the average: a two-bedroom unit in the same scheme can sit a third above it.

• 4S Aster Avenue Phase 2, Sector 36 Sohna — about Rs 30 lakh, affordable housing, allotted by draw
• ROF Antares, Sector 7 Sohna — about Rs 36 lakh
• TLC First Acre, Sector 78 Gurgaon — about Rs 45 lakh
• R2R plots, Kharkhoda — about Rs 60 lakh a plot
• Ganga Valley plots, Sector 78 Gurgaon
• DLF Garden City Enclave, Sector 93

Two more sit at the edge of the band and are worth naming because buyers ask about them by name: GLS Arawali City at Sector 4 Sohna and Meffier Golden Park at Sector 4 Sohna, both quoted close to Rs 95-99 lakh, and M3M Paragon 57 at about Rs 80 lakh, which is a serviced-apartment product rather than a family flat. The whole set of schemes at this end of the market sits on the Sohna affordable housing page, and the surrounding market on Sohna projects.

Affordable housing: how the allotment actually works

Most new flats under Rs 1 crore in this district are sold under Haryana's affordable housing policy, and that policy, not the builder, sets the terms. Three consequences a first-time buyer should know before applying:

• You cannot simply buy one. Applications are invited for a fixed window, and where applications exceed flats — which is usual for a well-located scheme — allotment is by a draw of lots conducted under the authority's supervision. Money paid with the application is refunded to applicants who are not drawn.
• Unit sizes are capped by the policy, which is why every scheme in this band offers roughly the same one, two and three-bedroom plans. A builder cannot offer a larger flat at this rate; a scheme advertising one is selling something else.
• There is a lock-in on resale from the date of possession. It exists to keep the flats with people who intend to live in them, and it is the single biggest reason an affordable flat is a poor short-term trade.

The rate per square foot is fixed by notification and differs inside and outside municipal limits, which is why a Sohna scheme and a Sector 78 scheme can be priced differently for the same carpet area. Ask for the current notification the scheme is registered under and read the rate off it rather than off a brochure.

Plots under Rs 1 crore: what you are buying

Plots at Kharkhoda, Jhajjar and parts of Sohna are the other half of this budget. A plot removes construction cost from the purchase and adds it later, so the honest comparison is not Rs 60 lakh against Rs 90 lakh; it is Rs 60 lakh plus roughly Rs 1,600-2,200 per sq ft of built area against a finished flat. Two questions settle most plot purchases:

• Is the licence for a residential colony, and is the plot inside it? A licensed colony carries an approved layout, and the plot number on your agreement should appear on that layout. Ask to see it.
• What is already built? Roads, a sewer line and a boundary are the difference between a plot you can build on next year and one that waits for the next phase of development.

Kharkhoda's case rests on the Maruti Suzuki plant and the IMT around it; Jhajjar's rests on the same industrial spine further west. Both are real, both are slow, and neither produces rental demand for a family flat in the first few years.

The four checks that matter at this budget

1. RERA registration, with the certificate in front of you. The number should name the phase you are buying in, and the completion date printed on it is the one that binds. A scheme quoting a registration for an earlier phase is quoting somebody else's approval.
2. What the price excludes. At this end of the market the quoted figure is usually bare: external development charges, infrastructure development charges, power backup, club and parking are added on top, and together they can move a Rs 45 lakh flat above Rs 50 lakh before registry.
3. Registry cost. Haryana charges stamp duty on the circle-rate or transaction value, whichever is higher, at a rate that differs for a male, female or joint buyer, plus a registration fee. On a Rs 60 lakh flat this is lakhs, not thousands, and it is payable in cash at registry — no bank funds it.
4. The commute you are actually signing up for. Drive it once at 9 am on a weekday before you decide. Sohna to Cyber City on a bad morning is not the same trip as the one the brochure map implies.

Who this budget suits, and who it does not

It suits a first home bought to live in, where the lock-in is irrelevant because you were not going to sell, and where a 45-minute commute buys a flat you own instead of rent. It suits a plot bought with a ten-year horizon and no loan on it.

It does not suit an investor looking for two-year appreciation: the schemes at this price are allotted in volume, they complete within a few years of each other, and a corridor filling up with several thousand similar flats is not where the next price jump comes from. A buyer with Rs 1.5-2 crore has a materially different set of options in New Gurgaon and on the Dwarka Expressway, and the step up is worth considering before settling here.

Where to look next

If the budget can stretch, the Sohna corridor and Sector 89 show what another Rs 40-60 lakh adds. For ready homes with the cost of construction already paid, the builder floors listing is the closest substitute at this budget. Every scheme named on this page has its own listing with the price, the registration number and the plans on it.

Resale under Rs 1 crore, and why it is often the better flat

The quietest option in this band is a resale two-bedroom in Sushant Lok, Sector 4-15 or one of the older DLF phases. It is rarely advertised as a Rs 1 crore product, but it is: a 1,100-1,300 sq ft flat in a twenty-year-old society, inside the city, with schools, markets and a metro feeder already in place. What you trade is the building's age — lifts, plumbing and facade are the owner's problem now and yours later — and the absence of a gym, pool and clubhouse.

Three things separate a good resale purchase from a bad one here. Check the society's maintenance record, because a building with an under-funded corpus passes every major repair to residents as a levy. Read the last two years of the association's accounts if they are shared. And confirm the flat's share of parking is deeded rather than informal, since an unallotted stack space is the most common dispute in these societies. On a per-square-foot basis a resale flat in old Gurgaon at Rs 7,000-9,000 is frequently cheaper than a new affordable unit an hour away once the commute is priced in.