Category: Property Events

ET REALTY EXPO 2010- Mumbai

The infrastructure and real estate sectors have grown phenomenally over a period of time, making India one of the most preferred destinations for investment in the Asia-Pacific region. The real estate boom in India is supported by its own flourishing economy on a sustainable basis. Selling and buying Indian property is now considered to be the most profitable and attractive business opportunity in the present real estate scenario in India. New demands have added to the strength of real estate markets across the commercial, residential and retail sectors in India.
To witness all this visit The ET REALTY EXPO 2010 in association with Times Property, to be held in Mumbai on 17, 18, 19 December 2010 at The JW Marriott Hotel. Conceptualized and managed by Asian Business Exhibition & Conferences Ltd, the country’s leading exhibition experts, The ET REALTY EXPO is in its 9th year.
Foreign investors are building hopes on Indian real estate and they are really bullish on the Indian real estate scenario. Also keeping in mind the latest trends and the local demand for real estate, The ET REALTY EXPO is a platform that features the best brands in the real estate business that have a variety of real estate properties on show.

This unique property exhibition shall feature high-end luxury apartments, villas, value added residential projects, second homes, offices, it parks and commercial properties. Reputed real estate developers such as Hiranandani Group, Godrej Properties Ltd., Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd., Kalpataru Ltd., Hicons Developers Pvt. Ltd., The Wadhwa Group, Sunteck Realty Ltd., RNA Corp., Kumar Properties Group, Nahar Group, Royal Palms India Pvt. Ltd., Parinee Pvt. Ltd., etc, shall exhibit a wide range of residential and commercial projects that investors and occupiers could choose from.
Properties from Tier I and II cities will be on display. The basic objective of this platform is to bring builders and service providers face to face with actual buyers including global clients and NRIs who are scouting for properties in various metros, and upcoming cities in India. Major financial and banking institutions such as HSBC and SBI will also make their presence felt with the real estate financing options they may have to offer. The ET REALTY EXPO 2010 promises to be a complete real estate investment exhibition.

Earlier this month  The Times group also organized much acclaimed bi-annual India realty exhibition in Dubai from 9th to 11th of December 2010, at Renaissance Dubai Hotel, deira.

Real Estate Awards 2010 by Franchise India Holdings Ltd.

India’s most prestigious awards dedicated to the estate industry,to celebrate excellence and brilliance with key industry representatives at “Real Estate Awards” presented by Franchise India Holdings Limited is scheduled to be held  on December 2, 2010 at Hotel Ashok, New Delhi. The Real Estate Awards 2010 are given to practices which have consistently achieved high standards and made an outstanding contribution in the Indian real estate sector, the only awards that recognize and felicitate the best in the real estate industry.

These awards would serve as the national recognition as the “The best real estate business” in the country and is the best chance to promote your real estate business and a platform for networking and validation for your business. An opportunity to benchmark your business against competitors, ongoing publicity and business lifetime of high-achiever credibility, extensive media coverage and PR with the partners are other added advantages.

The  nominations are open only to real estate companies, brokers, builders, developers registered and based in India. Ernst & Young will be the official tabulator for the awards.

The event is designed for all professionals with an interest in Indian and international real estate and can be interesting for : real estate service providers , contractors, developers, investors, fund/ asset managers, brokers /traders, builders, consultants, trade associates, lawyers, accountants.

A Discussion on Trends In Real Estate.

An interactive discussion on Real Estate titled ‘Real Estate: Trends, Issues & Consequences’ was organized by Money life Foundation on May 5. The session was jointly conducted by industry experts like Pranay Vakil, Chairman of Knight Frank (India) Pvt Ltd and Pankaj Kapoor, MD, Liases Foras.

Mr. Pranay Vakil said on the occasion, “One of the major reasons why the prices are high today is infrastructure. Nobody wants to travel long distances for work. Title insurance is another major issue in this industry.”

Congats on the great Northfield Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos Northfield) celebration!
Photo by Northfield.org
He added on being quizzed about the short recession, “Liquidity is vital. Developers realized this when sales volumes declined drastically due to the liquidity crunch. The slowdown gave customers ample choice as affordable housing came into the industry in a big way. Investors are ‘fair-weather friends’, Sell ‘ready’ products during a slowdown; contracts can be broken; healthy growth can be sustained by a gradual increase in prices; high-value transactions hyped by the media are not the ‘real’ market and the need is to innovate sales strategy.”

Mr. Kapoor said, “Are we heading towards another asset bubble? Are the prices affordable? What is wrong with the valuation and where is affordable housing? The government is responsible for hiking prices. We need a regulator for this industry to grow and curb wrong practices.”

The workshop witnessed enthusiastic participation from several investors, research analysts and industry experts in form of healthy exchange of ideas between them.

Ms Kavita Hurry, CEO, ING Vysya Mutual Fund asked the speakers to highlight three major issues in the sector.

On which Mr. Vakil said “Three most important things we need in real-estate as a priority are—rental housing, all over the world there is organized rental housing. Here you are left at the mercy of the broker who does not know anything. Secondly, infrastructure— the government cannot be a provider, it can be a facilitator. Thirdly, all these need funds, so get foreign parties excited about India.”

Mr. Kapoor said, “We need to address the congestion issue in the island city. If we move five buildings from the island city to Bandra, there will be a whole shift in the crowd. If we can shift Mantralaya, BSE or the Income-Tax office, there will be a difference. There are three-four magnets which draw the crowd there. Everyone knows about it but there is no intension to do that because they are sitting in luxurious places. We need to add more connectivity. We need a complete master plan for Mumbai to reduce the congestion. We need a regulator, and urban planning.”

Other industry experts also voiced their opinion.

The audience reached to a consensus which was that there is an immediate need for a citizen action forum to make higher authorities listen.

Future Real Estate Agents Have a Reason To Smile

RE/MAX a forerunner in realty sector providing management solutions for their Indian operations announced on Monday, May 3 that they are going to open an advanced Real Estate Management platform in the country. For this they have entered in partnership with Gryphtech a major provider of enterprise software applications, solutions and services.

The launch of this technology will change the working style of the real estate agents by making them more aware of the real estate network across a major part of world. Samir Chopra, Executive Director, RE/MAX India said that the real estate agents of future will be tech savvy, highly professional and growth oriented.

The Big Open House
Photo by cletch
The technology is developed keeping in mind the regional realty franchise networks and comprises of a series of sales and marketing, operational and recruitment, administrative tools to get best productivity, maximize growth of organisation and manage performance of the people working.

RE/MAX will further deploy the multi-lingual, multi site solution across its entire network in the coming 2 months.This platform will be kept open for every agent in the RE/MAX network covering 120 regions and 80 countries; they can help their clients in buying, selling or leasing properties.

Once  RE/MAX India solution is fully expanded, it can boast of:

  • A centralized regional website that will cover new real estate listings, an organizational profile and a section describing the benefits of joining RE/MAX India as a Franchisee or a Real Estate Agent.
  • iConnect – a secure platform module providing Agents and Offices with access to a complete set of tools for managing their day to day business.
  • iBroker – a feature rich office and agent management system allowing managers to establish unit goals, monitor performance, manage recruitment activities and report on their success.
  • iList – a comprehensive Listing Management, Buyer and Property match, Marketing, Referral and Contact Management tool.
  • iRegion – a mobile Business Intelligence application providing key metrics and dashboards for all the platform components.
  • Slingshot – a flexible Content Management solution providing intranet and website administrators with the ability to quickly update content.

Surely the realty sector professionals have reasons to cheer in the year ahead.

Gujarat Builders To Tour Argentina And Brazil

As the realty sector in the country is picking up again the builders and developers of Gujarat want to leave no stone unturned to lure the buyers and provide them with unique world class features. Over 100 builders from across the state are planning to visit Argentina and Brazil as part of a technical tour to study their local Realty Markets. The trip will be 10 day long and will give the builders an idea about the way their Real Estate Markets work in their economies.

Brazil and Argentina were chosen mainly because their economies are quite similar to the one in India. The trip will give the builders knowledge to compare and comprehend the real estate activities happening in the Latin American countries.

Árvore de Natal da Lagoa
Photo by Vitor Guerson
Brazil is part of the BRIC nations; Argentina’s GDP has an economy which, akin to India, has been growing at 8-9 per cent per annum. The developers will be visiting Argentina’s capital — Buenos Aires — often referred to as ‘The Paris of South America’. They will also be visiting the largest cities in Brazil — Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo — considered as the safest opportunities for real estate investment. Rio de Janeiro, regarded as the ‘Carnival Capital’ of the world, is probably Brazil’s most famous city and the second largest in Brazil with a population of over 15 million people. Sao Paolo is the centre of government and finance in the country, and is therefore likely to be popular with those looking for commercial and office properties.

Both the countries are among the hottest destinations in the world today for commercial real estate investment. The developers will not only hold meetings with local counterparts, they will also be looking for opportunities for possible joint ventures.

Well, this is not the first time the builders of Gujarat will be taking an excursion like this. In January, a similar group of realtors from Gujarat had gone to study the real estate cycle of the debt-hit Dubai.Some of them were also trying to acquire properties in the emirate. But the builders were apprehensive about putting their money in the place as the real estate market in Gujarat gave them far better returns. Similarly, last year, about 120 realtors from Gujarat had undertaken a technical tour of Japan and South Korea.

Surely these foreign tours have benefitted the city. The quality of design of real estate structure in terms of interiors, landscaping or aesthetics have improved by and large giving the state a new look and feel.

BuildMat likely to become an annual event

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.

Property expo in Mumbai from Oct 1


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.

Lodha Developers among top 10 Builders


Lodha Developers Ltd. has been selected as one of the India’s top ten builders on the basis of a survey conducted by Construction World, India’s premier magazine for the construction sector.
The survey was conducted over a period of 4 months among a spectrum of handpicked audience comprising industry professionals from across India.
Mr. Abhisheck Lodha, Director, Lodha Developers Ltd. said, “Our selection as one of the top ten builders in India by the Construction World is recognition to our standards of excellence in every aspect of our services and our presence in varied segments like high-rises to mid-income luxury, in the real estate sector”.
Instituted by ASAPP Media, the award is recognition of exceptional work done by architects and builders in various aspects of infrastructure and real estate industry over the years.

Sub-prime crisis to lower investment in Asia’s property sector

The global sub-prime crisis will this year have the greatest impact on “mature” property markets in the Asia-Pacific region, leading to an overall decline in investments, international property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle predicted Tuesday. Direct commercial real estate investment in Asia Pacific reached a new high of 121 billion dollars in 2007, up 27 per cent on 2006, but prospects for 2008 are less rosy, said Jones Lang LaSalle.
Fallout from the sub-prime crisis, which started in the US, has been most evident during the first quarter of 2008 in more mature markets in the Asia-Pacific, such as Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne, where office capital values appear to have peaked, while a slowing in price growth is also likely for Hong Kong.
“As these markets account for the lion’s share of investment activity, we expect a decline in overall transaction volumes in Asia Pacific this year following the record result in 2007,” said Jane Murray, Head of Research – Asia Pacific at Jones Lang LaSalle.
But the sub-prime crisis will have a varied impact on the region’s property sector this year, said the real estate consultant.
In the office sector, a sharp slowing in rental growth is under way in Tokyo, while Singapore is seeing the beginnings of a softening in pre-let rates, and Shanghai has begun to brace itself for slowing demand in Pudong amongst its vital financial services tenants, said Jones Lang LaSalle.
But on the other end of the spectrum, the Manila office market has seen strong growth in business process outsourcing due to the increased emphasis by multinational corporations (MNCs) on lowering operational costs, it noted.
Another trend noted was that of MNCs moving their offices from central business locations to “cheaper peripheral sites.”
Singapore, for example, is seeing strong enquiry levels for built-to-suit options in business park locations, driving up rental levels in these districts.

DLF Assets files for IPO approval in Singapore

DLF Assets, the property fund of DLF Ltd, plans to launch an initial public offer of its office trust in Singapore by June to raise over Rs 8,000 crore. DLF is India’s leading real estate company in terms of market evaluation. Read More »

LnT To Develop Bombay Dyeing Complexes

Larsen & Toubro is planning develop nine million square feet at Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company’s Textile Mills and Spring Mills complexes at Worli and Wadala at a cost of Rs two thousand crore.
Mr K.V. Rangaswami, Director and President (Construction), L&T, said that it would be an all-commercial project, comprising retail, IT and hospitality space, with no residential component in it. Read More »

Damac Properties signs 60 realty agents in India

NEW DELHI: Real Estate Developer Damac Properties announced on Monday that it has tied up with 60 agents in the country across metros and Tier I cities to market and sell their regional properties to the Indian investors.
“We are proud to have signed on 60 agents in India. As demand is high, we wanted to touch each corner of India through an experienced network of agents,” said the Damac Holding Founder and Chairman Mr Hussain Sajwani in a statement.
The company would provide training to the agents through its institute – Damac Agents Academy. “The main purpose of the training that we provide our agents is to equip the agents with product knowledge of Damac brand and its value, the sales process, luxury property selling skills; raising the bar and setting a service benchmark in the real estate market,” the Damac Properties CEO Mr Peter Riddoch said.
The company would market its Dubai-based Ocean Heights, Lotus Heights, Park Towers and the recently launched high-end residential properties through the agents, the statement said.
Damac Properties is a part of Damac Holdings, which is engaged in developing residential and commercial properties in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and the Far East.

Buying Property In Goa Might Be Difficult For Foreigners.

Chief Minister of Goa, Mr. Digamber Kamat said that his government is seriously considering regulating the sale of property to foreign nationals in the state. The Goa government is working out on a bill to tense up the control on sale of land to foreigners. On this issue, Mr. Kamat said, “It’s not yet a cabinet decision but we are all concerned about how the image of Goa is being ruined in the wake of certain incidents involving foreign nationals”.

While Law Minister Dayanand Narvekar has announced that the government has decided to ban foreigners from buying properties in Goa, the ground reality may be different.

Mr. Narvekar told in a press conference,“The government has decided to bring in the Legislative Assembly an amendment to Section 22 of the Registration Act, which will empower the State government to ban the sale as part of its public policy”. But he elaborated by saying that registration of sale of land to any foreigner henceforth will require clearance from the Reserve Bank of India. However, Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) does not mention that an NOC is necessary for buying property.
Read More »

Vishal Retail to enter Real Estate

Vishal Retail is planning to enter real estate sector. Confirming this development Manmohan Aggarwal, CEO, Corporate Affairs, Vishal Retail told Business Standard that the new venture would be launched either in the second half of the current year or early next year.
He revealed that company is also planning to acquire 1 crore sq ft area in next three years which would partly be used for expanding the retail businesses and rest for real estate purposes.
The project is in formulation stage and would take time before it is launched. Meanwhile, Vishal Retail today also announced opening of its 92nd retail store at Pinjore today.
The company aims to open 100 stores in the FY07-08 with new stores in Chandigarh, Mohali and Manimajra.
Having achieved a growth of 100 per cent in the current financial year, Bajaj said that Vishal Retail was looking forward to acquire 25 lakh sq ft area by December 2008 to expand its retail chains. The Vishal Retail at present has 20 lakh sq ft areas in which it operates its different retail operations. The retail operations are spread in 62 cities across India. At present it has 90 hypermarkets and 3 Fashion Marts.

ASSOCHAM for at least 3 SEZs in Goa

Margao, March 7 The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India requested the State government to reconsider its decision on Special Economic Zones and advocated creation of at least of three SEZs, in Goa.

Three SEZs in bio and nano-technology, food processing and solar energy will help Goa attract investments up to Rs 50,000 crore and generate jobs for at least 20,000 youth, in next three years, ASSOCHAM said.

Addressing a press conference, on Friday, ASSOCHAM president, Mr Venugopal Dhoot said that SEZs in bio and nano-technology, food processing and solar energy would not require much land. Secondly it would help the state to prosper economically by attracting huge investments besides providing employment to the youth.

Mr Dhoot said that the controversy on SEZs on IT seems to be justified, as large amount of land was sought to be acquired in the name of IT. But if SEZs in bio, nano and food processing was created it would benefit the state, he added.

The ASSOCHAM president, who is also the chairman of Videocon Industries Ltd, further disclosed that Videocon has purchased around 35 acre of land in the state, near Karmali railway station, at Old Goa.

He said his company was planning to set up a knowledge based industry and a manufacturing unit, in the state.

Mega property Show At Hyderabad

Real estate in Hyderabad is witnessing a boom and the demand for residential & commercial properties has taken a quantum leap. Hyderabad is fastest growing cities in India is experiencing a rapid need for enhancement in infrastructure.

Read More »

Acacia buys $69m stake

MANAMA: Acacia Real Estate Limited has obtained 49 % of an Information Technology Park in India.
Logix TechnoPark is located in Noida – a master planned city adjacent to Delhi. Acacia is the real estate company that Bahrain-based TAIB Bank spearheaded in December 2006.
Total acquisition cost was $69 million. With a projected internal rate of return of over 24pc per annum, the deal was structured to provide investors with downside protection and an average cash coupon of 8pc per annum over a three-year holding period.
TAIB Bank is the exclusive placement agent for the project.
The property, along the Greater Noida Expressway, consists of four newly built 100pc occupied office towers with a total gross leasable area of 461,120sq/ft. It is currently leased to such strong tenants as Oracle, Mentor Graphics, Conexant Systems and SafeNet InfoTech.
“We are proud to be able to offer our clients this unique opportunity to invest in India’s real estate market,” said Acacia executive committee board member and TAIB Bank chief executive and vice-chairman Iqbal Mamdani.

GTC set for Realty Business Separately

NEW DELHI:Cigarette manufacturer GTC Industries pronounced that its board of directors has considered and decided an in-principle approval to separate the tobacco and the real estate business into two different entities.

The two entities would be listed separately on the stock exchanges in India.

ET had initially reported plans of a separation of the real estate business last November.
Commenting on the progress, GTC Industries chairman Sanjay Dalmia  told that the separation would unlock distinctive shareholder value across both verticals, tobacco as well as  the real estate. The company is in the process of probing different options for working out a suitable scheme of separation keeping the interest of shareholders in mind.”

As reported earlier, GTC Industries had been looking forward to separate its real estate assets spread across Mumbai, Baroda and Hyderabad into a separate company.

The separated entity would then become a real estate development company while GTC would remain the cigarette manufacturer with brands like Panama and Chancellor. The separated companies would form joint ventures and develop real estate assets.

Noida’s Got A New Hot Spot “Sector 119”

Sector 119 is now becoming center of attraction. Builders as well as People are also getting attracted toward this because all the major facilities are available near by sector 119. Oil Industry Development Board Office Complex is coming close by it. Various Builder groups are coming here with their projects. Read More »

Developers shrug off REIT plans, looking out of the country

MUMBAI – Property developers are expected to turn overseas to list Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) as proposed local rules favour funds and small investors rather than real estate companies, officials said.
Developers are hoping to recover costs by selling properties to REITs in which they hold a controlling stake. However, draft rules, which restrict ownership by a single entity, may prompt them to list REITs elsewhere.
“We can sell our developments to Indian REITs. But we will still be floating them in countries that favour developer REITs.” Ramesh Sanka, chief financial officer at India’s largest real estate developer DLF, said.
“The protection mechanism (in India) essentially makes it a product for funds and investors and not developers,” said Sanka.
A REIT is a property investment trust that raises money from investors by listing on exchanges and uses the funds to buy out investments from a developer. It then leases out the property, using the rental income to pay dividend.
DLF and rivals Unitech and Indiabulls Real Estate are among a clutch of developers looking to Singapore for a REIT listing. DLF wants to raise $1.5 billion, Indiabulls $1 billion and Unitech $600 million, bankers have said.
R. Nagaraju, general manager, corporate planning, Unitech, told that Valuations in the international market are better. Funds are also better developed (abroad) and yields lower.
It is told by the one of the analyst that India does not yet allow REITs, but draft norms are in place. The move will increase transparency in the fragmented sector but developers need to be made direct stakeholders.

Aditya Birla Retail to invest Rs10000 crore

February 01, 2008. ABRL i.e. Aditya Birla RetaiL would be investing about Rs 10000 crore in spreading its operations across the country over a period of half decade.

Main aim of ABRL is to emerge as one of the leading retail players in India. It has planning to have 1500 supermarket and 100 hypermarket stores in the next half decade. Group is also investing in backend infrastructure to develop a high-end supply chain.
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