Monthly Archives: January 2013

Infrastructure Status Demanded For Housing Segment

The National Real Estate Development Council demanded that housing segment should be given Infrastructure Status. The national council NAREDCO was demanding it as it will enable the developers to meet the surging housing needs.

It is true that the demand for housing unit is increasing day by day. Yet, is this, the giving Infrastructure Status to the housing segment, the sole way to meet the surging demand? Many say this is not. On the other hand by gaining the infrastructure status, the developers can gain large number of tax-benefits and other similar benefits. Read More »

Realty Firms Can Run Bank; Finance Ministry Opines

Backing realty firms up, Finance Ministry said that RBI could permit realty firms to run banks in the private sector. Finance Ministry made the comment while talking about RBI’s new licensing policy.

While speaking about the new licensing policy of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Finance Ministry said that the realty firms also should be given permission to run private sector banks. The RBI- Draft Norms came into existence in 2011 prohibits realty firms and broking firms from running banks. Read More »

Hyderabad Realty Market Named The ‘Most Affordable’

Increase in the number of affordable projects affirms that Hyderabad is the most affordable realty market among all the metros of India. Due to this affordability the city has become one of the most sought after residential markets too.

The number of housing launches increased in Hyderabad. The builders saw the increased demand for housing units. Yes, Hyderabad has become capable of providing better job opportunities to the people of all professions, and so the demand has been growing. To meet the increased demand from the people, developers have come up with large number of projects. Read More »

Spice Global To Enter Realty After Footing In Hospital Biz

Spice Global has started constructing Saket City Hospital, a multi-specialty hospital in Saket. This is their first in hospital sector. However, Spice Global has acquired land parcels in Mumbai and Punjab for developing hospitals.

Saket City Hospital is the first venture of Spice Global in the hospitality sector. Mr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi, the Chairman and Managing Director of Spice Global, said that they have plans to enter into the real estate industry as well. Read More »

Weak IT- Demand Lowers Office Space Absorption In Bangalore

Bangalore, most important IT- Hub in India, sees lower office space absorption due to the decreased demand from the IT and ITeS sectors.

Office space absorption in Bangalore is directly related to the performance of IT and ITeS sectors. When these sectors’ demand is better the office space absorption in the city is also better. In the same way when IT and ITeS sectors do not raise much demand then the office space absorption also falls down.

Recent reports from the real estate experts show that the city witnesses a 24% fall in office space absorption. The experts well relate this lower absorption to the weak demand raised by IT and ITeS sectors. Read More »

Many Developers Are Default Payers: Say Noida Authority

A recent inquiry by the Noida Authority revealed that many of the developers in the city do not pay the amount to the Authority. According to the Authority nearly 50 developers are default payers.

Estimating the amount Noida Authority loses due to the default payment of the builders, the Authority officials might have become giddy. Recent excavation by the Noida Authority into the payment of the developers revealed that the Authority has lost Rs.3000 Cr in forms of default payments.

It was BSP government who introduced the system of providing lands to the builders after they have paid 10% of the total amount. Though the system was meant to help the small – scale developers, the builders have stopped the repayment meanwhile. Read More »

Office Space Absorption Lowered: Bangalore Market Affected

Compared to the previous year, in 2012, office space absorption fell sharply in Bangalore. The decreased demand from the IT and ITeS sector is pointed as the main reason for this lowered office space absorption.

Office space absorption in Bangalore is always dependent on the IT and ITeS sectors. Whenever there is a higher demand from these two sectors then the city experiences better office space absorption and it is reverse when their demand is lower.

The same has occurred in the city now. Real estate experts opined that the city has witnessed lower office space absorption due to the fall of IT and ITeS demand. According to the real estate experts, office space absorption dropped in Bangalore by 24% in 2012. Read More »

PMO Finally Speeds Up Real Estate Regulatory Bill

Finally PMO decided to step in to speed up the Real Estate Regulatory Bill.  PMO ordered both the warring ministries to solve the issues and implement the bill soon.

PMO asked both; – the Ministry for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) And the Ministry for Urban Development; to pace up the implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Bill. PMO gave more hopes that the bill will be implemented in the upcoming parliament session. Read More »

Noida Sees Halted Construction, After NGT Bans Builders

Prohibiting the use of groundwater for the purpose of construction, National Green Tribunal recently issued an Order. After the ban builders have halted construction in Noida and Greater Noida.

National Green Tribunal (NGT)’s order has prohibited the use of groundwater for construction purpose. As an impact of this order, builders have halted their construction in Noida.

Builders have revealed that they will have talks with the Authorities. The NGT order was issued on last Friday. Many of the real estate builders who have many projects in Noida and G. Noida, stopped their construction and said that they would continue the work only once the authority clear out the issue. Read More »

Raised Luxury Housing Demand Mends Sluggish RE Market

Real estate market is set to regain smooth sales as there is an improved sale in the luxury housing segment.

India real estate market currently goes through a sluggish momentum. The real estate builders expect that they can overcome this in the year 2013. Sluggishness has troubled the entire real estate developers of the country. Yet they hope to get out of it with improved demand for luxury housing.

There has been a steady development in the sales of luxury housing in Pune. Real estate experts opined that this phenomenon is common across the country yet they said the rate of development is higher in Pune. Read More »

Home Launches Drop By 16%: Reports Cushman & Wakefield

New home launches in major cities of India have dropped by 16%. Tracking the top eight cities of India, global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield reports.

In 2012 nearly 1,62,000 housing units were launched in top 8 cities of India including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, and Ahmedabad. 2012’s new home launches are down by 16% compared to the numbers of previous year.

The lower number of home launches shows that the residential market across India is down. Besides the downfall of new home launches, mid- income housing segment has revived as around 83 % of the total home launches are in this segment.

New launches dropped highly in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad. These cities witnessed a steep fall of new home launches. On the other hand the remaining cities like Pune, Kolkata and Mumbai had improved new home launches.

With 54,500 new launches, National Capital Region (NCR) stood the top of the list. Pune stood second with 24,000 new launches. Mumbai and Chennai, with 22,500 and 20,800 new home launches, stood third and fourth places respectively.

Cushman & Wakefield’s South Asia Executive Managing Director, Mr. Sanjay Dutt said that the realty builders too remained highly cautious about the lull residential market. They withdrew them from bigger residential development due to the lull nature of residential market. However Mr. Dutt said that the year 2012 witnessed some innovative marketing- methods.

According to Mr. Dutt, the lull residential market was the result of slow economic growth and inflation. Due to the increased interest rate, the buyers have become more price- sensitive and this made a worse situation.

To avoid further risks, the crises- stricken builders kept them aloof from developing any residential projects. However there was an increase in the number of property investors who found the money crises of the builders as the best time to enter into the market.

CCI Frames New Agreement Between Developers & Buyers

CCI will frame a new agreement to smoothen the relationship between the Developers and the buyers. CCI hopes that the new agreement will serve as a benchmark for all commercial dealings.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) will come up with a revised agreement between the property taker and the developer. CCI frames the new agreement on the context of DLF Case in which the builder was alleged to abuse its dominant market position.

Considering the complaint raised by the house owners’ association of two DLF projects in Gurgaon, CCI had inquired the case and penalized the real estate firm for Rs.630 Cr. CCI had found out that the real estate major has abused its dominant market position. Read More »

Property Prices: Job-Generation Capacity Determines

The cities which generate higher number of jobs are always sought after hotly. Such areas normally have higher prices and this proves that property prices are determined by the job-generation capacity of the city.

Property price of a city is highly influenced by the city’s job-generation capacity. The city which offers higher number of jobs is hotter and property prices are higher in such cities. However the other factors seem weaker in influencing the property prices of the area.

Property prices change according to the changing trends in construction costs and inflation. Yet there is no drastic change in prices as long as the property is located in a highly job-generating area.

Real estate sector grows where there are better job opportunities. With better and higher job opportunities cities like Bangalore and Chennai, both are South Indian IT hubs, other cities such as Pune and Hyderabad achieves greater pace of development. Read More »

Wakf Board,in Hyderabad, Sues Developer For Property Damage

Real Estate developer, in a rare case, is sued by Wakf Board for damaging Wakf Board’s property.

Realizing that a real estate firm has encroached upon their property, Wakf Board has decided to file a case against the developer. Wakf properties in Lakdi-ka-pul has been encroached by a developer. The issue started with the builder acquiring Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for developing his commercial project.

The base of the case begins with GHMC sanctioning a real estate firm to construct a His commercial structure was to be developed next to Mumtaz Mansion in Lakdi-ka-pul. The builder was granted permission by the GHMC for constructing a G+4 commercial building of 2125 sq. m. Read More »

Real Estate Shares Fall Due to Sluggish Realty Market

Real estate shares face heavy pressure of selling due to the sluggish real estate market. The pressure was all the more accelerated when the BSE real estate index closed at 1,822.14 in last week.

Real estate shares fall by 3% and this sector faced the biggest fall in the share- market. Due to profit booking the real estate shares are sold under heavy pressure. The sentiment of the real estate investors was adversely affected when September experienced the ten month’s highest inflation of 7.8 %.

Among all the other sectors real estate was the worst hit as the sector faced a 3% decline. There was a steep decline of the shares of all real estate majors as well. DLF shares were sold at Rs.208 after facing a 4.8% decline. Read More »

Real Estate Sector Will Boom In 2013: Predict RE Experts

Real estate experts predict that the year 2013 will be a boom year for real estate sector. In their opinion real estate sector will thrive in 2013.

Real estate sector had passed through a tougher time in 2012. Slow paced and declined market affected real estate sector in India. Low sales and increased construction costs adversely affected the real estate players and especially developers. In short 2012 was a very hard year for them.

Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India’s (CREDAI) national chief Lalit Kumar Jain opined that the year 2013 will be a boom year for them. He seemed optimistic regarding the sector’s revival.

For them the year 2012 was a year of loss. He said that this was mainly because nobody initiated any corrective steps. He called 2012 a “lost opportunity” as this could be made a progressive one for them.

Chairman and Country Head of Jones Lang LaSalle India, a Real estate consultancy firm, Anuj Puri was even more confident. He seemed sure of real estate renovation. He stated that real estate boom will be more effective in 2013 second-half.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted commercial borrowings up to $1 billion. Reputable real estate developers as well as finance companies can raise equivalent funds through their external borrowings.

In areas like Noida and Navi Mumbai apartments priced between Rs.4,000-5,500 per sq. ft. were demanded mainly and largely sold. Bangalore too demanded for housing units priced similar. Meanwhile Mumbai faced better demand for homes priced Rs.16,000-19,000 per sq. ft.

Chairman of Knight Frank India Mr. Pranab Dutta said that the new foreign direct investment in retail policy (FDI) would play a significant role in the real estate boom in the coming year. It is expected to improve the commercial space demand to greater extents. Real estate sector may also be able to reap the benefits of new Regulation Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill in the coming year.

Real Estate Investors To Benefit As AMP Launch India Office

With the plan to expand worldwide and provide better services to the real estate investors, AMP Technologies opens offices in India.

AMP Technologies, led by Sabeer Bhatia, is a software and Services Company by nature. The firm has announced launch of its India office. The firm plans to employ around 1,000 employees by 2015. The firm strives to aid and serve all real estate investors which are formed across the world.

AMP Chennai office will avail various sorts of information to the real estate investors. The investors can access to this real estate information with any form of computer. The information is available even on mobile devices as well.

Real estate investors need not install any software for accessing any information. AMP Technologies functions without these. The services of AMP enable the real estate investors to maintain and remain up to date with the latest information.

AMP will offer better service worldwide to all real estate managers. Hotmail co-founder revealed that AMP aims to be the top service provider of the entire world. For this and with this aim AMP will provide best possible solutions and services to all the real estate managers.

Sabeer Bhatia and Neel Naicker founded AMP Technologies in the year 2010. From the very moment of its inception to the present moment a lot of R&D had gone into developing its products. AMP Co-Founder and CEO Mr. Naicker revealed this.

AMP Technologies had the plan to offer offshore services to the commercial real estate investors in the beginning half of 2012. The offshore service would cover all real estate investors, operators and owners.

The services will cover the areas of cost-effective measures, lease administration, etc. Besides it will also deal with financial and accounting matters. AMP Technologies plan to expand their services will generate nearly 1000 employment opportunities. At present AMP’s Chennai office has only 250-seat capacity.