This is one question for which there are no easy answers. With prices high, interest rates steep and the sector slowing overall, buyers are not easy to come by. But the question that inevitably follows is if prices are likely to fall or if it is time for the much talked about correction in the real estate sector.

Experts say that with real estate prices now beginning to get real, this is the right time to buy your dream home.

In the past six months, prices have plunged 5-10% across India and developers predict a further slide of 10% before the housing market bottoms out. Says Raminder Grover, CEO of Mumbai-based Homebay Residential Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj: "This is a good time to buy your home because you can negotiate with developers. You can bargain for many freebies such as special tiles, flooring or better sanitaryware."

Priyang Toshniwal, assistant vice-president (retail) with a property consultancy firm in Mumbai, bought a two-bedroom apartment in the metro's Prabhadevi area two months ago for Rs1.72 crore. Says the 29-year-old: "I waited through 2007 for a price correction. But after prices became reasonable post July this year, I didn't want to pay rent anymore. Moreover, I was paying for an asset which I was going to consume." As a consultant, though, Toshniwal advises buyers to hold on for some more time. He says: "A lot of supply is coming in and many are going to resort to distress sales to offload their stock."

It is good news if you are about to get into the housing market, but if prices are expected to slide further in a few months, should one wait? "If you are buying ready-to-move-in residential property and have to take loans and leverage bank money, then it makes more sense to wait," says Sanjay Sharma, MD of GurgaonScoop.com, a real estate portal. "The cost will not be compensated by the rent or the appreciation of the property in the next six-nine months at least."
While prices are expected to drop further, one can never catch the bottom of the housing market, says Anshuman Magazine, MD of property consultancy firm, CB Richard Ellis. "You can never time the market. How do you know what will happen to prices?" he asks.

With demand down by 30-40%, actual conversions from enquiry to sales too have been down, says S.G. Maheshwari, former chairman of Estate Agents Association of India. Realty players have been trying hard to create conversions by offering discounts and freebies such as free parking space, club membership, free interiors, modular kitchens and shower cubicles, to name a few. Many are also offering "EMI holidays" to buyers till possession of the flat. A number of developers also want to cash in on the upcoming festive season.

Yet, top developers aren't really giving away price discounts because they had bought land at steep prices and have to repay financial institutions and private equity companies from whom they have borrowed, say analysts. "Developers are offering sops. If you include those things then it is a decline in prices," says Magazine.