rajkot terror tuesday has adversely hit the economy but at least one sector is looking up and may be its beneficiary the real estate and property market in saurashtra which had been crippled in the past two years due to successive droughts and of course the recession sees a silver lining the prices of land and buildings skyscrappers and shopping complexes had skyrocketed three years ago so much so that estate brokers and property developers had alltime historic boom but the economic recession and the drought brought the estate business virtually to a grinding halt that was till recently things are changing now dramatically property developers and the estate agents are active though in a slow mode the market which had become totally silent is now active thanks to satisfactory monsoon on the one hand and the recent wave of terrorism in the united states on the other the estate market gets a major boost around diwali when the new crop of groundnut the principal cash crop of saurashtra reaches the markets but this time perhaps the major factor which may prove rather decisive to boost the estate market may be the inquiries from the nonresidentindians who have been shaken by terrorism in the united states many have started rethinking and look homeward with the theme of home sweet home some have already evinced interest in buying houses in rajkot jamnagar among other cities the dormant property market has suddenly come to life after a very long interval though there is no rush as it was witnessed in the seventies and eighties in the wake of the migration of nris in east africa but the latent feeling to return to the homeland has resurfaced of late some estate agents said they were daily getting inquiries though they have yet to translate into transactions all the same they say it is a good sign and gives them a new ray of hope many nris are so much shaken with the terrorist threat that they were reconciling psychologically to return home maybe not now but later and with that objective in mind they would undertake planning to buy property though they had an easy secure life over there their top priority as some estate brokers put it is nothing but safety and home is where safety is rajkot city is perhaps the costliest in the state so far as property rates are concerned despite slackness in demand land flat or shop or office prices have not dipped but new constructions are slow after the earthquake people prefer tenements to multistorey flats the result is that there are no takers for flats even if owners sell them at lower prices now in view of the latest situation in the united states the nris who may be intending to buy property may go for such flats which would satisfy their needs and have modern facilities till recently people in rajkot jamnagar and other towns used to prefer lowbudget houses say rs3 to lakhs flats