Kolkata, Aug 2 - The booming real estate market that received a jolt during the slowdown last October-November seems to be recovering. People are slowly purchasing, but only for personal use. Not for investment purposes.

'In the last few months the real estate market has undergone major changes. The slowdown that migrated from the US has got corrected in India now. The prices have got corrected. And whatever pent up demand was there in the market has started getting converted into business,' Santosh Rungta, president Confederation of Real Estate Developer's Associations of India (CREDAI), told IANS.

With 4,000 members, CREDAI is the apex body of the organised real estate developers and builders across India, representing pan-India associations of real estate and housing developers.

People were virtually not buying during the slowdown as the real estate price was high and insecurity gripped buyers.

'The government made an appeal to us that the prices should be brought down and we (CREDAI) made an appeal to our fellow developers that they should try and bring down prices, and they acted accordingly,' Rungta said.

The pan-India price reduction was to the tune of 15-35 percent depending on various categories and geographies, he said.

'Today flats are being sold, but the pace could be better. Generally things have reversed. In Mumbai also, rightly priced projects have been sold. The major contributor to this is the government policy to generate demand. It brought in stimulus packages, ensured availability of liquidity to the home buyers, interest rates softened,' he said.

Another real estate player Indrajit De, chairman of Eden, also said housing loan lending rates cut may attract a few more buyers into the market.

'If the lending rate falls further by 50 basis points, the sales figure will climb up,' he said, adding, 'Certainly the market is looking up now. Sales have also improved.

'We are selling around 25-30 units (flats) per month.