City's real estate developers are hoping that the falling rupee would help woo NRI customers and prop up the market here. Stung especially by dropping of sales by about 80% in Mumbai, real estate developers are now going to the UAE in a bid to hardsell to Non Resident Indians (NRIs). The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) is holding its property fair from November 27 to 29. While the MCHI has been organising the property fair in Dubai since 2002, this year holds special significance. The rupee has depreciated from the Rs40-mark a few months ago to the Rs50-mark against the dollar last week, a fall of over 20% in a span of a few months. So, a 2-BHK flat which earlier cost Rs1.25 crore, an NRI will now have to shell out only Rs1 crore.

And if developers offer the NRI discounts such as stamp duty and free parking that they gave at the MCHI Property Fair that concluded two months ago at Bandra Kurla Complex, then buyers could be get benefit of about 40% and the flat could be available for as low as Rs95 lakh. "Prices too have begin to decline. NRIs can get a good deal now and we intend to highlight this,'' said Zubin Mehta, CEO of MCHI, adding that the rupee depreciation against the US dollar would be a major selling point to NRI buyers. Mehta said the main reason for targeting UAE NRIs was that they were mainly working-class people who have gone to Dubai and other places in the UAE with the aim of earning a living and buying a home in India. "They are not permanent residents like in the United States or the United Kingdom. They primarily earn their living in the UAE and buy a home in India,'' Mehta said.