The Realty Sector Dissents

March 12, 2010 – 12:31 pm

Days after the budget is announced the Realty Industry is showing discontent in concern with the service tax policy announced by the Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee.The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) with the Surat Builders Association wrote a letter dated March 5 to the finance minister to withdraw service tax imposed on sales and renting of residential and commercial spaces.

100409-SthSth029a World Bank

Union Finance Minister

In the letter to the Centre, the association has also said that a comprehensive action plan for urban housing is a must as there is a shortage of 27 million houses in the country at present.
President of Surat Builders’ Association and the Vice-President of Gujarat chapter of CREDAI, Tarun Rawal said that if we look at the population explosion in the city the figure has gone up to 46 lac very fast but there is a shortage of about 5 lac dwellings in the city itself. He added that the need for affordable housing in all the big cities is huge and to fulfill that we must have a central policy and plan to guide it.

The association urges the Union finance minister to look into the matter of service tax imposed on housing sector as the sector is crucial for growth to create affordable housing. Slum re-development and integrated township incentives are also required. “Only if this is provided will the sector be able to fulfill the need of a growing nation,” said Rawal.

It is argued by real estate developers in the letter that the imposition of service tax will ultimately make buying houses more difficult for the middle and lower classes. Likewise, service tax on rented property will adversely affect segments like IT sector as they are already showing declining trend when the US restrictions have affected them.

What the finance minister decides is what should be looked for now.

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Second Phase Of ‘Ecospace’ Announced

March 12, 2010 – 12:30 pm

Bengal Ambuja Upohar Condoville, Kolkata
A Business ParkMarch 12, 2010

The first phase of Ambuja Group’s ‘Ecospace’ Business Park on the northeastern margin of the city, Kolkatta, i.e. in Rajarhat, was inaugurated on Wednesday September 23, 2009 in presence of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, the FM. Yesterday, on Thursday March 11, 2009, the launch of its second phase was announced by Harshavardhan Neotia, the Chairman of Ambuja Realty.
The complete Ecospace is a 20-acre project, but Ambuja is constructing only 10 acres of it. The rest is being readied by RMZ of Bangalore. The second phase will have two blocks with an area of 4.5 lakh square feet for sale. The Chairman told media that 85% of the area in the first phase is already sold out or leased to the likes of Voith, Bajaj Allianz, Bayer  Corp ,HDFC Bank, Indus Towers and Thyssenkrupp.

Also, Ambuja plans to invest an amount of Rs 200 cr. for a 5-lakh square feet Business Park in Salt Lake, and the second project will be set up over 1.5 lakh sq ft and will entail an investment of around Rs 60 cr. In all, a plan of three IT projects is the emerging plan of Ambuja. The total investment on Business Parks will be of an amount of Rs. 300 cr.

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Project Launch by Supertech

March 11, 2010 – 12:12 pm

Supertech, one of the leading real estate firm announced on Wednesday that it will invest Rs.4, 000 cr in developing 15 mega housing and commercial projects in the next three years. The project is concentrated along the northern India.

Mixed Use - Residential Project, San Jose, California
Photo by Architecture & FoodMr. R.K.Arora, Supertech Chairman and Managing Director said they will develop 12 residential and 3 commercial projects on which this Rs.4, 000 cr will be spent .The projects include a luxury residential project in Noida with 750 units and a 1,500-unit township at a cost of Rs.500 cr. The new residential and commercial projects will be located in Noida,Meerut, Haridwar and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand).On being asked about their IPO plans, Mr. Arora replied it would come up by mid-2011. He told they have started to prepare for an IPO. But as the market is still to completely come out of economic downturn, they will wait till next year to raise fund via IPO.

The national capital region-based company also launched a 6,000-unit residential project in Noida, envisaging an investment of Rs 1,000 cr. The Eco Village will be constructed in different phases over the next 30 months and will be funded through a mix of internal accruals, debt and money coming from sales. Mr. Arora further added that they are also developing a 120-room luxury hotel in Haridwar, which will be managed and operated by the Radisson group and also constructing a budget hotel in the holy city that will be branded by them.

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Assam Gets a Taj.

March 10, 2010 – 4:23 pm

The chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi today laid the foundation stone of the first five star hotel in the state – Vivatna by Taj, in the presence of top industry captains including Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata Sons.

The lavish project in Guwahati will be completed and commissioned within two years and with a budget of Rs.90 cr. The premium hotel project will be located on 4.5 acres along the Guwahati-Shillong road (Khanapra). The company has been allotted the land on a long-term lease. The hotel design will be inspired by local architecture and will comprise of 150 rooms and suites. The hotel will have all the usual five-star facilities like a day-long dining restaurant, a specialty restaurant and a bar, but also recreational facilities like an expensive spa and fitness centre.

In 2006 Narayan Murthi, of Infosys, refused to invest in the state in the absence of any big hotel to host its guests. Gogoi said that since then he was “looking” for a five-star hotel in Assam. He said he then got in touch with Ratan Tata and impressed upon him to set up a five-star hotel in the city.

Shad suk mysiem

The State of Assam

On being asked why Guwahati, Mr. Tata said, “Why are we here? We are here because we have been drawn to the opportunities and the potentials of the state…This is a new Assam here and most of us are committed to be here…Guwahati is changed and it’s full of evidence of great development which I do not recall when I was here last“. He also said that the hotel would not only be the destination for business clientele, but it would also attract tourists.

Thus Taj marks a big start for hotel industry in the north eastern part of the country.

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Women Participation in Real Estate

March 10, 2010 – 12:27 pm

As the world joined hands to honor the 101th celebration of womanhood yesterday, the financially independent young women in India had plenty of reasons to cheer.

India - Faces - Rural women driving their own change 1

Women in Indian villages

For the past few years our country has taken measures to specifically increase the number of women buying property in India. Fortunately they have at large proved fruitful too. In the ancient times a woman faced difficulty in getting loans and if they were fortunate ones to get it, it was likely at a premium to what their male counterparts might receive. But now times have changed. The fairer sex is motivated to invest in property owing to a higher real estate tax rebate and cheaper loans for them in parts of India.

Here are some facts for women looking to buy property:

  • If you invest in an equity-linked savings scheme (ELSS), you could claim deductions of up to Rs 1 lac. Where as a housing loan enables you to avail tax benefits on principal repayment up to Rs 1 lac as well as up to Rs 1, 50,000 on interest paid on the loan.
  • If you want to purchase the house jointly with your parents (assuming you live there), you can claim deductions on your share of home loan.
  • If you are staying with your parents (in a house owned by them) and want to lease out the house you have purchased. In such a situation, in addition to deductions on re-payment of home loan principal up to Rs 1 lac, you can claim the entire interest paid as deduction against the rental income.
  • If the interest paid during the year is Rs 5 lac and the rent earned is Rs 2 lac, the interest amount can be claimed as deduction against Rs 1, 40,000. This will mean a loss of Rs 3, 60,000, which can be set off against your salary income, thus maximizing your tax gains.
  • If you plan to get married in the near future, your husband and you could maximize tax benefits on a home loan if you jointly own the house, besides lowering the repayment burden.
  • In the age of 20s-30s, there is a tendency to invest in a house on the basis of budget, i.e., if a 1BHK apartment is affordable, you are inclined to opt for the same, but you should keep in mind that you might need a 2BHK flat a few years from now.

Today women are on the same professional, personal and financial platform as men. You are independent, earn high salary, drive your own car, and have an impressive lifestyle full of luxuries. Owning a house would make you feel safe and secure for the future and serve as a wise investment option.

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The Realty Sector Growth Continues

March 8, 2010 – 7:00 pm
India, Day 1

LIC office in New Delhi

On March 7, T.S.Vijayan chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), India’s No. 1 insurer announced that LIC will invest nearly Rs 36,000cr in infrastructure in 2010-11 on the sidelines of a stone-laying function of a housing complex for its policyholders in Kolkata. He said LIC would undertake realty projects, both commercial and residential, across the country and the company expected an income of Rs 200-300cr from its real estate foray this year. LIC contributes to 4% of the country’s GDP as well as pays hefty dividends to the exchequer.

Most of the builders have increased prices and thus it is likely that real estate may see some slowdown in demand in the long term despite the fact that the housing finance companies like HDFC, SBI, and LIC Housing reported a strong 30% growth in loan disbursal in the December 2009 quarter over last year. Even the stock market performance of the sector has been good in the recent as The Sensex touched a high of 17,000.01 last week which is a benchmark.

The realty sector in India continues to grow particularly more after the fiscal  year 2010-11 budgets was presented. The investors rejoiced when the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said while reading the budget “We hope to breach the 10% growth mark in the not-too-distant future”. Now Tax allowances are raised, putting more cash in people’s pockets and large housing companies are trying to make full use of it.

But Lack of long term strategic thinking will lead to unplanned development that will not only have an adverse impact on real estate investment and development but also on
macro economic and societal development. That is why it is important for Indian cities to provide a good quality of life to their people because economic success in the 21st century is going to be determined by the human capital a society is able to attract and nurture.

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Jaypee Greens Sports City in Greater Noida

November 9, 2009 – 5:15 pm

Jaypee Greens, part of construction major Jaiprakash Associates, has started construction of “Sports City”, a township with residential and sports facilities, near the Yamuna Expressway. “The Sports City is positioned for everyone who appreciates luxurious surroundings and spaces equipped with sports and recreational facilities,” according to a Jaypee Greens press release.

For more details and booking please visit: http://jaypeegreenssportscity.propertywala.com/
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Office rentals stabilize

October 9, 2009 – 5:50 pm


Office rentals, which dropped 40% from their peak in the middle of 2008, stabilized across the country in the September quarter as fresh bookings for office spaces partly reduced inventories, says a report by international property consultant CB Richard Ellis.

There was no change in office rentals in some of the major office locations in the national capital region, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata, while rentals at some others in Chennai and Pune fell by 5-6% in the quarter ended June 30. In contrast, rentals in Connaught Place in Delhi and Gurgaon in Haryana registered an increase of 5-8% in the last quarter.

“The increase in demand is largely due to improving economic conditions, positive market sentiment and growing corporate confidence. However, it will take some time for the supply-demand gap to get bridged. Thus, both rentals and capital values are expected to remain stagnant or under downward pressure in the medium term,” said Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director for South Asia at CB Richard Ellis.

In Mumbai, commercial office space is seeing a slight pick up in demand but rentals continue to be competitive. The September quarter saw close to 95,000 square feet of cumulative lease transactions as compared to 83,000 square feet space being rented in June 2009 quarter, according to the report.

However, as Mumbai continues to be 15th largest office construction site in the world with about 3.5 million square feet of office space coming up in extended business districts (EBD), capital values will remain low. This has resulted in a few unexpected transactions of outright purchase. Recently, Motilal Oswal, a brokerage firm purchased 90,000 sq feet office building for Rs 156 crore. Constructed by K Raheja, the property was purchased at Rs 17,333 per square feet as against the ongoing rate of Rs 19,000-21,000 per square feet.

“Indian corporates firmly believe that current valuation of commercial property is attractive, so they are capitalising on it rather than leasing as is being opted by MNCs,” said Sanjay Dutt, CEO (business), JLLM, an independent property consultant.

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Residential realty prices moving up

October 9, 2009 – 12:27 pm


Residential real estate prices are going up. In the last three months, prices of affordable apartments have appreciated by around 10% across the country.

Anshuman Magazine, MD – real estate consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis – South Asia, said, “With improvement in the sentiment in the economy, transactions in the affordable range of residential real estate have gone up. This has made developers to increase prices by 5%-10% in the last three months”.

The developers had cut prices by around 30% in first two quarters of calendar 2009 to revive the demand of residential units, which plummeted to a low due to the global financial crisis. Magazine said the price cut led to some recovery in demand. Enthused by the partial recovery, he said, the developers, who had sold a substantial portion of their projects at hugely discounted prices, decided to increase them marginally in the next phase.

According to a IIFL report, in Mumbai, prices are up 25%-40% from the bottom in early 2009, while in NCR, the corresponding figure is 15-20 %. “Constrained supply and a revival in demand drove up prices in Mumbai, and NCR,” the report said.

In Mumbai, the prices of apartment in Metropolis appreciated by 38% since March to Rs 10,500 per square feet. Similarly, the project, Planet Godrej, has become 20% costlier to Rs 25,000 per sq ft in the last six months. In NCR also, many developers like DLF, Unitech, Jaypee Greens, Mahagun and Amrapali among others, have increased prices by around 10% from the launch prices in March-June.

In the premium segment also, there is revival in demand, said Vibhor Gupta, senior official of Jaypee Greens. However, the prices have not witnessed any escalation in the premium segment. Similar trend has been noticed in cities like Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.

“The current trend of price escalation can not be sustained as it will affect the demand,” said Aditi Vijayakar, ED of Cushman and Wakefiled, adding, as the demand has revived following interest rate cuts by banks, many developers have announced projects in the affordable range. This will increase the supply and will put pressure on the price rise.

At the same time, another consultant said the financial condition of the developers has not improved to a level that they can hold a project for long. They need cash flow to service the debt, which they have taken to buy lands. The source said the money from other sources like dilution of equity is still not easily available. This has forced developers to depend on the sales proceeds to service debt.

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Godrej to develop Vikhroli property

October 8, 2009 – 11:47 am

Godrej Industries has entered into an agreement with Godrej & Boyce and Godrej Properties to form a special purpose vehicle for developing its property at Vikhroli, the company said in a communique to the BSE.
Without divulging details on the area to be developed, it said that the board of directors, through a circular resolution on Wednesday approved the proposal.
The Godrej group owns about 5,000 acres in Vikhroli. Though a part of the land has been used for residential and commercial purposes, the group still has huge vacant property left that can be developed before the Urban Land Ceiling Act is repealed.
The binding MoU provides for setting up a suitable SPV to execute joint development of the property as also the commercial terms for such development including the sharing of costs, revenues and profit. The Godrej Industries scrip was up 6% at Rs 201 on Wednesday.

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Buyers realize homes still not their cup of tea

October 7, 2009 – 11:17 am


Property prices across the country are 10-25% lower than their peak in early 2008. Bank rates are about 4 percentage points lower. Still, the vast majority of the exploding middle class, which aspires to own a home, is not taking the plunge. Homes are still not affordable. Affordable homes are hardly homes.
The rates may have come down, but even today, the prices quoted by sellers are too high. The developers have reduced the price, but have started charging more for the parking space, which one has to compulsorily buy and that too pay black money for that.

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Raheja gets 500 crores’ Delhi slum project

October 6, 2009 – 11:13 am

DDA has awarded Delhi’s first slum redevelopment project, worth Rs 500 crore, to a local builder, Raheja Developers, in a move that may see more such projects in the national capital resulting in better living conditions for urban poor and thousands of crores of businesses for builders.

DDA has awarded 5.22-hectare, or 13-acre, project at Kathputli Colony near Shadipur Depot in west Delhi to Raheja Developers for Rs 6.11 crore, a DDA spokesperson said. Under the scheme, the builder pays only Rs 6.11 crore—the bid amount—for the land, but has to build 2,800 homes, of 30 square metre size each, for existing slum dwellers of Kathputli Colony named after its majority residents of puppeteers and craftsmen.

In the bargain, the builder gets for commercial exploitation 10% of the total space slated for 2800 homes and also close to a hectare for high-end residential development. Therefore, the cost incurred in building 2800 homes for slum-dwellers will be offset by the sale of commercial space and high-end houses in the project, while land would come dirt cheap at Rs 6 crore.

DLF has recently sold 1250 apartments in its Capital Greens project, just 3-4 kilometres from Shadipur Depot at a rate of Rs 5677 a square feet. Raheja Developers will have to create temporary accommodation for the slum dwellers at a piece of land close to the project site that will be given by the DDA in a month or two.

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Sahara Prime City to use Rs 2860 crore from IPO

October 5, 2009 – 3:23 pm

Sahara Prime City, which aims to raise Rs 3,450 crore from an IPO, will utilize Rs 2,668 crore in the next 3 years to part-fund development of about nineteen thousand housing units across the country.

At present, Sahara Prime City is developing nine integrated townships and one residential complex in cities such as Lucknow, Indore, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Solapur and Cochin. The group’s ambitious Ambey Valley project is not a part of Sahara Prime City.

Sahara Prime City plans to develop 16 more integrated townships and would pump in another Rs 1426.83 crore from the proceeds of the IPO.

The DRHP said it would develop 13.41 million square feet of residential space in the upcoming projects across the country, including Bangalore, Chandigarh, Jabalpur, Jodhpur, Porbandar, Haridwar and Pune.

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Happy days are back into realty

October 5, 2009 – 1:16 pm


Realty industry is all set to be lift up this Diwali. At least 12 public offerings, a slew of new projects and the return of private equity funds that had turned away proposals due to the global slowdown last year.

‘After weathering the worst funds crisis for one and half year, the realty sector has now started seeing inflow of capital and funds,’ said Anuj Puri, the country head of leading global realty brokerage firm Jones Lang LaSalle-Meghraj.

Mr. Puri further said, ‘Sales are improving and private equity funds are coming back. With market sentiments getting bullish, prospects of fund-raising are even brighter. You can now see how every company is taking the QIP route to raise funds,’.

QIP is a tool to raise capital whereby a listed company issues equity shares, fully or partly convertible debentures or securities, instead of warrants, to institutional buyers.

After losing almost 75% of its stock valuation last year, India’s realty sector has raised about $15 billion (Rs.750 billion/Rs.75,000 crore) through routes like QIP in the past six months.

Among the developers who have started mopping up funds over the past few months are the largest player in the industry, DLF Ltd, with $780 million, Unitech with $325 million and Indiabulls Real Estate with $550 million.

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BuildMat likely to become an annual event

October 3, 2009 – 5:35 pm

The biennial exhibition BuildMat, sponsored by three major associations connected with the construction sector in Coimbatore, is likely to become an annual event after 2015.
To provide exposure to the latest products, the organizers have decided to invite manufacturers to directly participate in the 2011 BuildMat show.
Speaking to newspersons, Mr Praveen Chandra Prasad, Chairman, BuildMat 2011 Construction Fair, Coimbatore, said the sponsors of the exhibition, the Coimbatore Centres of Builders’ Association of India, the Indian Institute of Architects and Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (India) have started taking in bookings for stalls nearly 18 months in advance with a view to making it “as close to international standards as possible”.
Apart from domestic companies, participants from China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Far East are also expected to showcase their products at the fair that will run from February 3-6, 2011.
The sponsors are hopeful of making the fair an annual show after 2015.

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Duet India Hotels eyes expansion

October 3, 2009 – 5:31 pm

UK-based investment group Duet’s Indian hospitality arm Duet India Hotels is looking for more land to expand its portfolio and add more than thirteen hundred rooms by the end of this financial year.

The group plans to develop 20- 30 mid- scale and upper middle segment hotels with around five thousand rooms in the next 2-3 years. The company has recently signed a franchise agreement with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide to open the Four Points hotels by Sheraton.

The company, which opened its first property on 1st October in Jaipur, a 115- room four- star hotel, is developing four such properties in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore and Pune.

Dilip Puri, CEO, Duet India Hotels, said, “The five properties including Jaipur is worth around Rs 500 crore. In these, we would have around 882 rooms. We plan to reach to fifteen hundred rooms by the end of this fiscal.” “For this kind of expansion, we are looking for more land. As soon as we acquire land, we can start building. We have already acquired land in Hyderabad for developing a property similar to our Jaipur property. We are also looking at other Tier- II cities such as Lucknow, Nasik, Bangalore and Nagpur.

Bangalore would be more of a brownfield development. Among the metros, Chennai is also our target.”

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Landscape expo in Hyderabad

October 3, 2009 – 5:29 pm


Mr K Rosaiah, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, inaugurated the fourth International Landscape and Gardening Expo 2009. About hundred exhibitors from fifteen countries, including the US and Australia, are taking part in the event. A conference, `Plants, Places and People’, would be held at `Visvesvaraya Bhavan’ on 3rd October. It would focus on improving quality of life of the people by preserving the environment. Ms Savita Punde, President of Indian Society of Landscape Architects, would take part in the conference.

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Property gifts taxable from today

October 1, 2009 – 12:15 pm

Property received as gifts from non-relatives on or after October 1 will attract income-tax in the hands of the donee. This new regime for taxation of gifts of property (immovable property or any other property) will come into force from Thursday. Any person who receives a property as gift on or after October 1 must pay the income-tax due on the value of the gift and disclose the taxable value of such property in the return of income for assessment year 2010-11 and subsequent years, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement here today. The tax incidence will arise only when the value of the property exceeded Rs 50,000. However, gifts received from a person who is a relative, on the occasion of marriage of the individual, under a will or by way of inheritance, in contemplation of death of the donor or from any trust or institution registered with the income tax authority will not be subject to income-tax, the release added.

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Unity Infra gets 55 crores’ order

September 30, 2009 – 8:00 pm

Bombay Stock Exchange
Construction company, Unity Infra projects said that it has received a contract worth Rs 54.56 crore from Amanora Park Town for construction-related works. The scope of work includes construction of six towers among others, Unity Infra projects said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The project is scheduled to be completed in 29 months. Shares of the company closed at Rs 408.55, up 0.91% on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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Parsvnath overdue payments at Rs 143 crore

September 29, 2009 – 5:38 pm


Parsvnath Developers has said its ‘overdue payments’ stood at Rs 63 crore and Rs 143 crore as on July 1 and August 31, respectively, under loan agreements and other outstanding indebtedness. The company said this in its Preliminary Placement Document filing on the NSE.
The company’s Chairman, Mr Pradeep Jain, was not available for comments, despite repeated attempts.
Meanwhile listing out the risk factors, the document by Parsvnath said, “We had overdue payments of Rs 631.13 million and Rs 1,433.57 million, as of July 1, 2009, and August 31, 2009, respectively, under our loan agreements and other outstanding indebtedness with an aggregate outstanding balance of Rs 16,370.77 million and Rs 17,849.51 million as of June 30, 2009, and August 31, 2009, respectively.”
The amount of overdue indebtedness has not increased since September 1, it said.
Parsvnath said it has not yet received any notice of default from financial institutions and banks.
“Some of the unpaid amounts have been overdue for more than 60 days, and continued delays in payment will trigger additional cross-defaults under other agreements,” it said.
The company pointed out that its promoters have disclosed that as on September 21, 62.4% of the total outstanding shareholding of the company has been pledged by them to banks, financial institutions and other lenders. “Given that substantial portion of the shareholding of the promoters has been pledged to banks and financial institutions, as a result of any default under the financing documents, the banks and financial institutions may sell the equity shares pledged to them in the open market, thereby, diluting the shareholding of the promoters,” it said.
Speaking to Business Line last week, Mr Jain had said the company would raise between two hundred fifty crore to five hundred crore rupees through QIPs issue, and that 60% of the QIP proceeds will go towards reducing the company’s debt.

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VATIKA GROUP OPENING A NEW WESTIN

September 28, 2009 – 3:25 pm


Vatika Group announced that it will open the Westin Hotel in Gurgaon by March next year, seven months before the commencement of the Commonwealth Games in October next year. The opening of the Westin Hotel will help to meet the hotel room needs for the mega event next year as the city is already facing an acute shortage of over ten thousand rooms.
The new Westin Hotel is strategically located at the emerging central business district of Gurgaon and will provide travelers easy access to key convention and commercial offices which have started to shift towards Gurgaon area due to lack of sufficient land for development of sizeable projects in New Delhi. The hotel will feature 311 rooms, five dining outlets, 17500 square feet of meeting and function space, an approximately 16000 square feet health and spa center, as well as retail outlets.
Mr. Gaurav Bhalla, Deputy MD–Vatika Hospitality, said “We have kept our commitment of completing the Westin Hotel in Gurgaon before the commencement of the Commonwealth Games by announcing its opening in next year March. Vatika has been diligent and focused to achieve and respond to the city’s increased need for lodging due to the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the City.”
The decision to venture into the hospitality business was merely an extension of group’s aim to transform all aspects of human Endeavour. Therefore we launched various brands of specialty restaurants namely the Fox, Coriander Leaf, 56 and Jing apart from the Westin tie up.
The Vatika Group has a portfolio of projects that span office spaces, retail, residential, hotels, resorts, specialty restaurants, and business centers. The group has three major township projects spread over total of approximately 1800 acres namely Vatika Infotech City in Jaipur, Vatika India Next in Gurgaon and Vatika City Central in Ambala.
The Group has also completed 90% of its first residential project called Vatika City in Gurgaon and houses 500 families. The group’s commercial projects are spread across Gurgaon and Jaipur. Gurgaon has 5 operational projects with clients like SAP, Starwood, HDFC, Xerox, Etisalat, Lenovo, Glaxo Smithkline, MSD pharma etc.

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Residential property prices rise

September 28, 2009 – 2:03 pm


The upward movement has begun. Not only have the sales picked up, but the prices of residential property too have increased 5-15 % in the last couple of months. With a long festive season ahead, realty experts believe property markets could see heightened activity, provided developers desist from increasing prices of residential space any further.

Aditi Vijayakar, the executive director (Residential Services, India) of Cushman and Wakefield, said, “The festive season (September-December) has historically been a buying period, with a large chunk of overall sales being converted during this auspicious time. Some developers see as much as 30-40 % of the yearly sales taking place during the festive season”. Further she pointed out, “Residential prices have increased by 5-15 % from the bottom it made in the first half of the year. If the developers continue to raise the prices then the renewed demand and interest that is being witnessed will start to abate”.

She added, “The previous year has been a taxing one for the real estate industry and the initial signs of recovery are evident in the market, and as most of the sales happen during the festive periods, developers have to be cautious not to hike prices in projects and new launches as this will drive out the end users and prolong the revival in the residential space”.

According to the expert, almost all cities are registering a rise in sale as transactions had frozen up during the start of the year. But now as the economy has stabilized and is back on the growth trajectory, there is a revived interest in buying homes by end users and this increase in confidence, better economy, favorable borrowing conditions and rationalized capital values amongst others which is promoting rising sales across India.

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Property expo in Mumbai from Oct 1

September 26, 2009 – 4:43 pm


The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) will organize an exhibition `Property 2009′ at MMRDA Grounds, Bandra Kurla Complex, from October 1st to 4th. Over 75 real estate developers will showcase their projects in Mumbai and suburban areas such as Thane and Navi Mumbai, besides Pune. State Bank of India is the co-organizer of the event. The other partners in the four-day programme include ICICI Home Finance, Axis Bank, LIC Housing Finance, IDBI Bank, and HDFC. Citibank NA, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation, GIC Housing Finance, IDBI Home Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank will also participate.

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‘Real Investment’-The Book For Real Estate

September 26, 2009 – 12:00 pm


Knight Frank has introduced a real estate guidebook for India. The book provides information needed to invest in real estate market. Mr Pranay Vakil, Chairman-Knight Frank India, said, “We felt the need for a single credible source of information for which we brought together the best minds of the industry in business. This book makes real estate market simpler by offering tips”.

By rajani | Posted in Property News | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Residential property prices may go down

September 25, 2009 – 1:01 pm

Knight Frank India said that prices in the residential property segment are likely to decline in a short time. Knight Frank India Chairman Pranay Vakil said, “We feel prices of residential segment may go down over a period of time”. Further he added that the residential segment may see a robust demand in certain markets and it was also a good time for property developers to invest in land.

Real estate demand at this stage is the result of investor-led demand and end-user demand. While investor demand is due to shift in money from equity markets, on the other hand the end-user demand is due to increased consumer confidence and pent-up unmet demand from the recession period. This leads to a rapid increase in demand for real estate and also in property price.

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