September 24, 2009 – 11:14 am
Century Real Estate is the latest to join the affordable housing bandwagon. It has come up with ‘Century Indus’ project that offers apartments in the Rs 20-30 lakh category.
Mr P. Ravindra Pai, MD, Century Group said, Acquiring land at historical rates has helped the company make the project affordable.
The company has a land bank of over 3,000 acres, most of them acquired in historical rates, worth about 2 billion dollar. There are plans to make use of some of the land parcels to develop few more affordable projects in the city.
“We propose to develop 6,500 apartments targeted at the affordable segment, approximately seven million sq ft development, with a budgeted outlay of Rs 1,050 crore in the next three years,” said Dr P. Dayanand Pai, Founder and Chairman, Century Group. The projects would be located in North and West Bangalore.
Mr Pai said that the group has now formed ‘Century Real Estate Holdings.’ About 300 acres, valued at Rs 1,200 crore, from the land-bank have been transferred to this company, and about 12 projects would be developed on this land.
The company is looking at raising funds at entity and project levels. At the entity level, it plans to raise Rs 200 crore as bank debt for pre-development of these 12 projects. “We have almost tied up the debt,” said Mr Pai.
September 23, 2009 – 4:15 pm
In yet another big ticket realty deal in Chennai, India Cements has acquired the ICICI Bank owned large commercial space in the upmarket Santhome High Road in the city reflecting the uptick in the property market. Sources close to the transaction said that ICL has struck the deal for Rs 63 crore.
ICICI Bank had put up for sale 9-ground (21,665 square feet) prime property with a built up space of 83, 772 square feet on the busy Santhome High Road. Recently, the bank moved the operations in the building to Ambattur in North Chennai.
September 22, 2009 – 4:59 pm
People who borrow money from banks to buy homes at floating rates of interest are set to benefit as banks are expected to change the way they price such loans.
The Reserve Bank of India is preparing to ban lending below the prime lending rate, the benchmark rate for all floating rate bank loans.
Sub-PLR lending came into existence a decade ago after banks obtained permission from the central bank to lend below the benchmark rate.
September 22, 2009 – 3:59 pm
Rentals of retail spaces in NCR and Mumbai have decreased by up to 15% in the first half of this year over the past six months on account of low demand and high base effect of last year.
According to global real estate consultant CBRE, rentals in the NCR have corrected by about 10% in the first six months over the second half of last year.
It said that the decline was similar to an overall drop of 20% to 40% from the levels witnessed in the beginning of last year.
According to CBRE report, Prime high-streets and mall spaces continue to be the focus for expansion for retailers as the rentals in these spaces have corrected due to the reduced demand and high rental values.
The consultant further said that in Mumbai, rentals are showing correction by 10% to 15% amid limited supply of “quality” space on some prime high-streets through the first half of current year.
September 22, 2009 – 3:58 pm
The increased supply of ‘affordable’ housing and the demand for it has improved volumes for developers, but this has also meant that the rise in values has been significantly less.
Balakrishna Hegde, former president of CREDAI, Bangalore, points out that while volume demand is up by 50% to 60%, the rise in value has only been about 25%.
Affordable housing does not yield the 50%- 100% margins that developers were used to before the economy slowed down. And even in higher priced projects, developers have been forced to cut their margins to draw in buyers.
There are isolated instances of developers, riding the marginal recovery in the economy, reverting to high-margin premium housing, but the big immediate hope is still affordable housing, flats up to about Rs 25 lakh.
September 21, 2009 – 11:58 am
Raising home prices may anticipating festive season demand.
Mr. Niranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranandani Group, said “It is not very wise to increase prices drastically now”. Further he said, “The market has just recovered and buyers are returning back”.
The shortening of supply due to a 45% decline in new projects in tier-I cities has also enhanced the prospects of higher prices.
Mr. Abhisheck Lodha, director of Lodha Developers, said, “We have sold around 2.5 million square feet in the last quarter and are expecting to sell over 1.5 million square feet during the last quarter of this year”. Further he added, “Normally, the festive season is when there are a lot of bookings in the real estate sector”.
September 19, 2009 – 12:05 pm
In a move that could have implications for the process of land acquisition for industry, the Dharwad district administration has introduced a system to prevent delay in processing applications linked to land conversion.
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Darpan Jain said that though according to Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, permission for conversion of land use had to be granted within 45 days, the current method was causing unnecessary delay and there was no means for the applicant to know the status of his application.
Mr. jain further said, “We have decided to re-engineer the process of land use conversion so that the process is simple and on the spot”.
Under the new system, applications for land conversion from applicants in Hubli and Dharwad would be collected at a counter established on the premises of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. In the remaining three taluks of the district, applications would be accepted at the counters established in the offices of tahsildars, he added.
He said that a single counter for Hubli and Dharwad would save the time lost in forwarding applications from the tahsildar’s office to the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
Under the system, details of applications would be entered into a computer system and application would be verified taking into account the enclosed documents, the number of which had already been reduced.
September 18, 2009 – 11:51 am
To bring in more transparency to its accounting procedure, Bangalore-based real estate developer Lalith Gangadhar Constructions will maintain an exclusive construction escrow account with Kotak Bank for the LGCL-Ashlar project it is developing in Garden City.
The Rs 150-crore project comprises 63 villas on 7.75 acres, each carrying a minimum price tag of Rs 2 crore.
The developer plans to launch two more luxury format projects. The company will keep the budgeted construction cost for the project in a separate construction escrow account from payments received from the home-buyers. The funds here will be used solely for project construction.
September 17, 2009 – 12:40 pm
Bajaj Auto vice chairman Madhur Bajaj, who in his personal capacity owns over 350 acres of land under Emerald Acres, plans to liquidate a large portion of his land-holdings to unlock value as the real estate sector looks up after the downturn.
He said that he has no plans to venture into real estate development in next ten years and would prefer sell outright large parcels of land to developers or sell through plotted schemes.
Further he added “We don’t have any expertise in construction and so we don’t want to get into development at this stage. We are in the process of valuing the land price and would put it for sell soon.”
He further stated that Emerald Acres has nothing to do with the Bajaj group, as he had purchased land in the past four years through his personal money.
Emerald Acres owns land in the stretch between Mumbai and Pune highway and the largest piece of 124 acres is located at Lonavala, a hill station near Mumbai. The rest are in eight other locations including Murbad near Thane and Khandala, another hill station.
Mr. Bajaj further said, “A township can come up at the Lonavala land and all other plots are uniquely located. We are planning to sell these so that we can buy more land maximise the value.
September 17, 2009 – 11:41 am
The tax on income from house property has all along been on one’s potential income and not on one’s actual income unless the latter happens to be greater than the former. The Direct Taxes Code strays away from its basic objective by factoring the cost of construction or purchase where rateable value has not been fixed by the municipal authorities.
Briefly, what is proposed by the DTC is income from house property would be deemed to be the actual rent receivable or the presumptive rent, whichever is greater. And the presumptive rent is deemed to be 6% of the rateable value fixed by municipal authorities or if it is not so fixed, then 6% of the cost of acquiring the house.
Under the extant regime, market rent is a significant factor in determining the potential rent. The Government perhaps feels that figuring the market rent is difficult given the various subterfuges adopted, such as camouflaging a part of the rent as interest-free or concessional deposits, etc.
Therefore, it seems to have plumped for the rateable value which to be sure is also premised on the market rent without being property-specific. But then the danger of this approach is the municipal authorities do not bestir to revise the rateable value every year. In the event, what is considered for income-tax purposes may be outdated and inappropriate even though it may be appropriate for levying municipal tax.
September 16, 2009 – 12:31 pm
City Corporation has started apartment exchange scheme. This exchange scheme meant for its future customers who would exchange their present house with an apartment in the firm’s Amanora Park Town project in Pune. City Corporation would buy old apartments from customers, renovate them and sell-off through an established network of real estate agents.
City Corporation is developing a 400-acre township named Amanora Park Town in Pune, which would have 12,000 apartments in different categories. As per this scheme, a flat owner, who wishes to buy an apartment at Amanora Park Town, would hand-over power of attorney to City Corporation at a mutually agreed price. This amount would then be considered as down payment for the new apartment booked in Amanora Park Town and the flat owner would continue to stay in the old flat till the new flat gets ready.
September 16, 2009 – 10:55 am
The revival of riches in the real estate sector has encouraged textile companies with huge land banks to enter into property development.
Among such companies are textiles major Bombay Dyeing and Century Textiles.
Golden Tobacco, manufacturer of the Panama and Chancellor cigarette brands, is also considering to have its real estate arm to utilize its land assets across the country.
Earlier, groups like Tata, Mahindra and Godrej also entered the realty space. The Tata group has Tata Housing and Tata Realty while Mahindra’s venture is called Mahindra Lifespace Developers. Godrej’s venture goes by the name of Godrej Properties.
September 15, 2009 – 4:54 pm
Photo by truedudiMafatlal Industries has put an eighty five thousand sq ft property in central Mumbai on the block hoping to generate between Rs 100 cr and Rs 150 cr. The proceeds will be used to revive the operations of the loss-making company.
A senior company official confirmed the decision to sell the property and said the bidding process could start within a couple of days.
Located at Lower Parel, the building called Mafatlal Chambers B, is one of the many properties in the city owned by the group.
Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), the international property consultant, is advising Mafatlal Industries on the deal. Industry trackers said the prevailing rate for commercial property in central Mumbai is in the range of Rs 15,000-20,000 per square feet. The minimum bid price for this property has been set at Rs 11,000 per square feet.
September 14, 2009 – 1:55 pm
The increase in the floor space index could just be the shot in the arm for Mumbai’s redevelopment story. A recent amendment to Section 33(7) of the Development Control Regulations, 1991, has raised FSI, the ratio between the allowed built-up area and plot area available, for redevelopment of cessed buildings from 2.5 to 3. An FSI of 1, for instance, on a plot of hundred square meters implies that one can have a built-up area of hundred square meters.
This comes at a time when redevelopment could revive the sector. Quality land has come at a premium in the commercial capital of India that has resulted in prices often getting to unaffordable levels.
September 12, 2009 – 3:45 pm
With a recovery in the residential portion of the real estate sector gaining ground, developers in Mumbai are banking heavily on the premium category. While relatively older apartments in South and central Mumbai continue to command a premium, new properties in these locations have not been left behind.
Developers said that the big-ticket deals in the sector are in the range of Rs 5 crore to about Rs 35 crore. The price starts from twenty-five thousand to one lakh rupees per square feet. Among the properties that are bringing in high levels of interest are Mantri Ruby in Walkeshwar, Orbit Arya in Nepean Sea Road and Mittal Grandeur in Cuffe Parade. Adjoining areas like Worli Seaface and Mahalaxmi are also viewing concern from buyers.
A deal for the sale of a new apartment in Cuffe Parade was hit at Rs 33 crore, with the transaction expected to be completed in about a month. One more property in Cuffe Parade, Mittal Grandeur, has an asking price of fifty crore rupees per apartment. This is for eight thousand square feet property having six bedrooms.
September 11, 2009 – 1:20 pm
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority will implement a land pooling scheme for three major projects.
Farmers whose land will be acquired for the road linking S.A.S. Nagar international airport with Zirakpur and Patiala, Kharar-Desumajra airport road stretch and Mullanpur Urban Estate will be able to avail benefits like owning a plot. Under the scheme, a farmer will be made owner of 50% of land after GMADA develops it into a residential, commercial or an institutional plot. For 1 acre of land, a farmer will be given a residential plot of 980 square yard and commercial plot of 121 square yard in the developed area. The GMADA will also pay rent to farmers till they are allotted plots. The collector will fix the rent.
GMADA wants to popularise the land pooling scheme and have launched an awareness programme. However, it won’t be binding on the farmers to toe the GMADA line. In case any farmer does not want to opt for the scheme, GMADA will pay him cash fixed by the Land Price Fixation Committee.
The GMADA had decided to acquire 771 acres of land to build 200-metre wide road from the international airport to a site near Chhat village on the National Highway 64. On both sides of the road, some area will be allowed for mixed land use, implying that people can run commercial activities.
The GMADA will acquire 260 acres for KhararDesumajra-airport road stretch and 444 acres for Mullanpur Urban Estate.
Notifications for two projects have been issued while that for Urban Estate will be done soon.
September 10, 2009 – 7:04 pm
Zuri Group Global is planning to invest about twelve hundred crore rupees for setting up five-star business hotels and luxury residential properties over the coming three years.
The investments would have a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. The company was open to raising funds through the private equity and IPO routes.
The Bangalore-headquartered company plans to open three to four hotels of 150-175 rooms each in Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Nagpur, Delhi (NCR) and Mysore entailing investment of Rs 800 crore over next three years.
Zuri was also planning to start constructing this year its luxury villas and apartments in Goa, which would entail an investment of Rs 400 crore including land cost. Zuri had acquired 300 acres for the project. The approvals for the project are in place and the villas are expected to be ready in 18 months from zero date.
September 10, 2009 – 7:03 pm
The Reserve Bank of India has issued revised guidelines on banks’ exposure to commercial real estate. The strategies say about the property where repayment of loans solely depends on the property itself and not on its expected profits.
Where repayment mainly depends on other factors such as operating profit from business operations, quality of goods and services, tourist arrivals etc, the exposure would not be counted as Commercial Real Estate.
Banks may extend funds to public agencies for acquirement and development of land, provided it is a part of the complete project. Where land is obtained and developed by state housing boards and other public agencies, banks may extend credit to private builders on commercial terms by the way of loans linked to each specific project. Banks have no right to extend facilities to private builders for purchase of land even as part of a housing project.
Bank finance can also be approved to individuals for purchase of plot, in such case a declaration is needed from the borrower that he intends to construct a house on the said plot.
September 10, 2009 – 11:37 am
Residential real estate prices are growing in Mumbai very fast. The highest price stands at Rs 97,842 per square feet for a flat at NCPA Apartments. The transaction took place about fifteen days ago in the Maker Tower B building located close to the World Trade Centre at Cuffe Parade.
In November 2007, the largest-ever residential transaction on record was completed when a four-bedroom flat at NCPA Apartments at the Nariman Point end of Marine Drive fetched a price of Rs 34 crore.
September 8, 2009 – 11:53 am
New Delhi has been considered the business of real estate in India. With the growing number of students, tourists and bureaucrats, the real state of Delhi has become an area offered in India. Apartments, houses, land, agricultural and industrial lands, industrial and residential plots, are the main segments in which the real estate industry in New Delhi is thriving. Real estate prices in the city depend on a number of factors, including the location, accessibility, etc. Tourists look out for accommodation that is close to historic monuments and, secondly, the employers look out for residential properties that are easily accessible from the airport, train station, etc. Real estate demand in Delhi has increased more than ever. It has become the preferred place for foreign direct investment and many multinationals have established their headquarters at the site and adjacent areas. The search for a real estate agent recognized as offering real estate in New Delhi, according to your budget and needs. Beyond this, there are some other important factors such as strong economic growth, the recovery of financial markets and investor friendly policies of the government will also increase the demand for real estate in the city.
September 8, 2009 – 11:04 am
The real estate recovery story is being driven by the residential segment, but contrary to the claims made by a number of developers that end-users are their main buyers, the current trend is being driven by investors.
Investors are back in good numbers and before the curve goes up, they want to buy. Some who have bought are already hoping to book profits during this Diwali. This could be a precursor to further improvement in investor sentiments, since investors would take this as a sign to look towards a sustainable run in the future.
Investors moved away from the residential real estate market when the market crashed last year and many have not been came back. The last few months though have seen a number of affordable launches at price points, which have stimulated the market. Most developers have launched mid-income housing in the Rs 20-40 lakh range, which has created a movement.
September 7, 2009 – 1:52 pm
Though realty prices across India are still smooth, Mumbai’s realty market has surely started heading north. Realtors in Mumbai have hiked prices for their developments by 5-15%, depending upon the location. Modern India Ltd, a Mumbai-based realty company, has finalized the sale of 4 residential flats, sized 2,100 square feet each at its high-end Belvedere Court, Mahalaxmi, at a price of twenty-five thousand rupees per square feet. Recent research reports (Market Beat) show that comparable flats (Vivarea, Planet Godrej) in the vicinity fetched between Rs 19,400 and Rs 20,000 per square feet, which clearly indicates a price rise of 25% in that area. Though prices had declined only by 30-35% in Mumbai and its suburbs, they are again moving up and still demand is pouring in, which is beneficial for developers.
September 3, 2009 – 5:30 pm
The common and simple terminologies used (in fact misused) and often discussed in real estate industry generally end up into lots of confusion.Our aim is to provide an information for a common man having some kind of interest in sale /purchase or renting of properties.Surely you will find it useful:
A. Built-up area: It refers to the entire floor area including carpet area, walls, lobbies and corridors, atrium areas and basement.
B. CAM: CAM stands for Common Area Maintenance. It includes maintenance of hallways, pathways and utilities.
C. Cap rate: This is also known as Capitalization Rte. It is the return on investment (ROI) on the property. It is measured by the formula: Purchase Price / Net Operating Income from the Property.
D. Carpet area: It is the actual usable area within the walls of the floor.
E. Cash on cash: It is the annual percentage return of your down payment not including appreciation.
F. CPI: The Consumer Price Index is used to calculate the annual rental increase so as to compensate for inflation.
G. Efficiency ratio: Efficiency ratio is generally expressed as a percentage of carpet to super areas of the property.
H. FSI: FSI stands for Floor space index is the quotient of the ratio of the combined gross floor area of all floors excepting areas specifically exempted under these regulations to the total area of the plot.
I. Full service lease: This is a lease where the tenant pays rent to cover everything including utilities.
J. GLA: GLA stands for Gross Leasable Area. This is the total rentable area.
K. Gross lease: This is a lease where the renter pays only rent and the landlord pays the taxes, insurance and maintenance.
L. LOI: LOI stands for Letter of Intent. It is a non-binding offer letter to buy a commercial property.
M. Maintenance charges: These are charges taken by the maintenance society towards the maintenance of the property.
N. Market value: Market value of the property is the price that the property commands in the open market. It is calculated by the valuation process which works on “demand and supply” principle.
O. Mixed use: These are commercial properties with retail on the first floor and apartments on upper floors.
P. Registration charges: These are the fees associated with getting the legal title registered in your name. This legal activity is conducted in the sub-registrar office.
Q. Stamp duty: Real Estate Stamp duty is a tax collected by the Government of India. Stamp duty is based on the market value or the agreement value whichever is greater.
R. Sale deed: Sale deed is the process by which the seller transfers all the rights on property to the buyer.
S. Super area: Super area is the entire area of the building including carpet area, walls, lobbies and corridors, lifts, staircases basements, and other atrium and utility areas.
September 3, 2009 – 5:10 pm
Real estateAs we all know that property buyers are coming back to market, this time can be marked as market revival time. Once again the buyer has lots of choices and the seller has more profit from dealing. After observing the increase in demands in real estate industry, developers are all set to increase the prices of realty projects. If we talk about real estate companies, almost every company including DLF, are working on the same strategy.
With the wish to see real estate at its best in near future, I hope that the buyers will have more and more choices available to fulfill their needs.
August 21, 2009 – 6:25 pm
The global economic slowdown has provided end users a unique opportunity to buy their sweet homes as prices in many areas in National Capital Region have fallen steeply. Apartments are now available in some markets at almost 50 percent of the prevailing price a couple of years ago. The average price in Gurgaon has fallen by almost thirty percent and in Noida by more than fifteen percent in last two year.
According to PropEquity, Noida and Faridabad demonstrated high absorption primarily due to launch of affordable housing projects. The projects of Jaypee in Noida and BPTP in Faridabad were primarily driving the high absorption values in these cities with these developers commanding more than seventy percent of the market share for the period of Jan-Jun ‘09. Noida maintained its top position in NCR with the launch of 7,032 units, and beats Gurgaon by a large margin of over 2,300 units.
However, the slowdown had its effect on the timely delivery of apartments. Unavailability of finances and lack of demand have forced developers to go slow in implementing projects, which were launched earlier. According to the report, amongst the cities witnessing the maximum number of delays in project completion, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon had 71 percent of the projects under implementation falling behind schedule.
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