hyderabad as people are getting cautious about investing in property real estate agents are turning to rental deals in the hope of earning some money despite rents seeing a good 1520 per cent dip in the last three months agents feel it is comparatively more stable business and assures some returnsimtiyaz ahmed khan an agent who had not managed to sell many properties of late is glad about the money he is making through rental deals commissions on sale of properties is anyway not great we charge only 2 per cent for a property valued at less than one crore and one per cent if it is more than one crore but people are not ready to pay even that now anyway sales have dipped hugely and even prospective buyers are only using us to get introduced to the owner after that they are directly negotiating with the owner in order to save on our commission he saysagents like khan also cash in on the desperation of house owners aware of the poor market condition owners are now ready to pay agents extra commission to get tenants what seemed like a waste of money earlier has now become a preferred choice of owners says a brokerage managerhowever not many agents in the city share the same view the dip in rents have reduced their commissions drastically with people opting for cheaper places their monthly income has come down by almost 3540 per centhouses that were earlier rented out for rs 25000 per month are now being given for as low as rs 18000 duplexes in the malaysian township that fetched at least rs 45000 as rent per month is now on offer at just rs 25000 with owners settling for such low rents our commissions are suffering as against one months rent for these deals we are now charging something between rs 5000 and rs 10000 says asim khan an agent adding that furnished houses with the latest amenities situated in posh localities which in better times would have owners demanding rs 35000 to rs 40000 are going for an unbelievable rs 20000 only real estate experts point out that the dip in rentals is also a much needed correction in the last few years house owners buoyed by the rising property prices in the city had been quoting astronomical rentsbuilder p srinivas whose residential complex in banjara hills has several flats lying vacant for long is hard selling them to any customer who looks even remotely interested he is not only renting out twobedroom flats that would have fetched him anything between rs 12000 to rs 15000 for just rs 8500 but is also relaxing the deposit amount for his tenants instead of the usual three months advance money he is settling for only two months depositthe fact that people are now ready to compromise on certain grounds is also affecting agents while some are moving to the outskirts of the city in search of cheaper accommodation others are