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.

Comparatively, large number of residential projects was launched in the affordable housing segment. This is against the normal tendency of developing top-end luxury projects. In most of the metros, majority of the launches takes place in the top-end luxury segment. However this is not the same with residential market of Hyderabad.

The growth of the city starts with the IT and ITeS boom. With the boom more people were attracted to the city and since then there has been a steady increase in the demand for housing units. Global real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank reported that the city is the most affordable residential market among all the metros of India.

The affordability got better with builders remain competent to each other in developing affordable housing units. Government also paved way for more affordability in the city. GO 245, a government order that liberates the developers from EWS/LIG housing norms, remains as an example for this. The proposed metro rail plan also boosted the demand for housing units in the city.

Since 2008, the sales of affordable housing-units witnessed an upward growth. It was after the Telangana issue and the turmoil that followed after. According to the global property consultants Hyderabad has become a perfect and more suitable destination for both end-users as well as the property investors.

Many projects were launched in areas like Gachibowli, Kondapur, Kukatpally, Madhapur and Raidurgam. However the report showed that nearly 88% of the total housing units were launched in the affordable housing segment. This alone proves that the city has become a favorite destination. There is no doubt Hyderabad has become one of the most affordable residential market among the metros of India.

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.

Gaining the permission, builder soon started foundation works at the site. Later it came to the light of the Wakf Board that some graves were damaged during the foundation works. The board reported this to the chief minister.

This prompted the board to carry out an inspection in which the board came to know that 621 sq. m. of their property has been infringed by the real estate developer. Some graves and land area, belonged to a mosque, were included in the infringed property.

GHMC, once the matter was brought to their front in September, inspected the site and started enquiring against the builder. The officials asked the builders to clarify the matter. As he failed to clarify the matter the Corporation cancelled the permission of the building.

Later the Municipal commissioner revealed that the developer gained permissions through fraud ways. The official blamed the developer for submitting different plans in front of the officials for obtaining the approval.

One of the builder’s master- plans included the graveyard, while the other missed it. The memorial site was included in the first plan while the latter plan did not contain it.

Officials of Wakf Board stated that many of their land parcels are encroached. Yet they said that they were really surprised to see encroachment right in front of them. The board officials lamented that in many of the cases the encroachment comes to their notice only once the construction gets over.

However they feel happy at least here the encroachment came to their notice before the completion of the building. The board officials said that they will ask for compensation from the builder.

The market for commercial space is estimated at 50 mil sq. ft. across the country. The average yearly absorption rates in Bangalore and NCR are about nine mil sq. ft. While six mil sq. ft. is absorbed in Mumbai, the rates are 4 to 5 mil sq. ft. each in Chennai and Hyderabad.

However, last year, Bangalore topped the list with the highest absorption of more than 13 mil sq. ft. of non-captive office space, about 2 mil sq. ft. more than the levels seen in 2010. About 80% of this came from the IT & ITES sector.

“Consolidation of real estate portfolios by Indian and MNC IT companies has boosted the real estate market in Bangalore,” said Karun Varma, MD (Bangalore and Kochi), and Jones Lang LaSalle India. “Demand for back offices and contact centres has resulted in continued strong growth in suburban real estate development, with IT companies lining up their investments for setting up new facilities in the city,” he added.

Experts predict demand for 16 mil sq. ft. of office space in 2012 in India’s Silicon Valley, which will be the highest ever in the country. This will be mostly due to the new SEZ norms and direct tax code (DTC) that will come into play.

About 75% of the 16 mil sq. ft. office space will be in upcoming SEZ regions. Recently, global investment banking firm Goldman Sachs took up 1 mil sq. ft. of office space developed by Kalyani Developers on the outer ring road. “Companies see an opportunity from a tax break perspective; so, many are planning to migrate their future work to SEZ parks,” said Shrinivas Rao, CEO (Asia Pacific), Vestian Global Workplace Services.

In the next three years, an additional 28.8 mil sq. ft. of office space will be available in the region, for which projects are already under way. “We are expecting to see about 6 to 7 mil sq. ft. of this to come up in 2012,” said Rao.

The panel said the charges for additional FSI and land-use conversions should be at least 50% of the circle rate in the area and should be determined professionally. It added that additional FSI should be permitted selectively.

The commission’s steering group on urbanization said the revenue from grant of additional FSI should be “suitably ring-fenced for funding infrastructure projects to sustain higher FSI”. “The proposals, if accepted, would substantially increase availability of housing stock and moderate realty prices,” said an urban development ministry official.

Calling the present density regulations in Indian cities “archaic”, the report noted that Indian cities had the lowest FSI in the world. “This (densification) should be part of a balanced strategy for expanding the effective supply of prime land and, in the process, raising funds to finance urban infrastructure improvements,” the committee noted.

The Centre should introduce incentives that encourage states and cities to pursue densification strategies for future urban development, it said. Many cities were already levying such charges for additional FSI in some form or the other, it noted. Hyderabad, for instance, has a ‘city level impact fee for high rise buildings’ and Ahmedabad has systematically been selling a limited amount of additional FSI.

The committee said higher FSI should go hand in hand with provisions such as amalgamation of plots to make housing more affordable. Rather than the current practice of having a blanket FSI across a city, the panel wanted mixed land use promoted through the concept of granular FSI. “Densification with mixed land use as a planning strategy needs to be followed by the authorities to accommodate future urbanization needs,” said a ministry official.

This is the fourth award in the last two years conferred upon DLF India:

* Marketer of the Year For Hyde Park Estate at DLF New Chandigarh – Estate World Awards in Association with KPMG & Bloomberg-2011

* Developer of the year – North India – Estate World Awards in association with KPMG & Bloomberg-2011

* Integrated Township of the Year For DLF Valley, Panchkula – Realty Plus Excellence Awards-2010,

Receiving the award, Ananta Singh Raghuvanshi, director sales and marketing at DLF India Ltd said, “It is extremely encouraging to enter new markets and recreate the success and magic of the past. As a group we are extremely excited and committed to our developments in Lucknow, New Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, etc. For each market, we are trying our best to think globally and act locally.”

Garden city is DLF’s first residential project, in the city of Nawabs- Lucknow. With almost 40 per cent of the area as open spaces and plot sizes starting from 250 sq. yards and above, the township conforms to very high standards of low density population norms. The facilities at Garden city match the international living standards and give the people of Lucknow their first real taste of an exquisite lifestyle. It boasts of meticulous town planning, eco-friendly infrastructure, wide open roads, its own smart sewage disposal plant, underground cabling and massive green belts running across the township.

The city is ranked second in India, among 15 considered, for declining real estate prices in the year 2011, with the Economic Survey 2011-12 report tabling a decline by 14% in residential property cost in the twin cities, while a separate survey by the National Housing Bank has put the reduction rate at 8% for the quarter Oct-Dec 2011, as compared to 2010.

“Yes, there has definitely been a drop in prices by 5-8% in Hyderabad.

But if one asks for the drop in real estate prices in Hyderabad for the year 2011, one has to look at it more as a necessity of investors to postpone their purchases due to the unstable political situation prevalent last year and absence of any major infrastructural developments, rather than just lack of demand.

Such factors did lead to a 20 per cent decline in volume of sales, which ultimately affected the pricing,” said P Prem Kumar, managing director of Doyen Constructions and president of the Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Developer Association (APREDA), who added that even projects for commercial purposes have found less takers, with only half of the available 5 million sq ft of space in 2011, being actually sold off.

“Prices in main areas like Banjara Hills, Kondapur and Jubilee Hills etc. haven’t risen majorly over the past 10 years.

Instead, if one notices, it is outer areas like Shamshabad, Patencheruvu etc. where prices were inflated earlier, have suffered now due to lowered demand.” Statistics provided by the National Housing Bank report supports this claim, with prices declining by at least 10% in the North Zone region (Serilingampally, Patanncheruvu, Ramachandrapuram, Kukatpally) in Oct-Dec 2011, as compared with July- September 2011.

Prices in other zones, including the Old City, have come down only by 3-5%, as compared to the previous 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.”

Propertywala

The land parcel is located on the Mysore road around half-an-hour away from the heart of Bangalore. This is said to be an outright purchase with Provident Housing, scheduled to make the payment in two tranches. In the first stage, the buyer has paid a nominal token amount at the time of signing the agreement and the balance would be paid when the project is completed.

Recently, many real estate developers have been exploring opportunities in the affordable housing sector. The Puravankara Group will have these projects in Chennai and Bangalore and is negotiating deals in Hyderabad and Coimbatore. It is learnt that deals in Hyderabad and Coimbatore will be finalized in a month.

Real estate monitor

The department of industrial policy & promotion, which handles the FDI policy, in a note drafted for the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, has said that FDI should be allowed to flow into realty projects even if the area covered is only 10 acres.

As of now, FDI is allowed in realty projects only if the minimum area covered is 25 acres. The move will help realty projects in metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad to attract FDI. Realty players feel that it is not possible to find 25 acres of land in these cities to make their projects comply with Press Note 2 of 2005, which defines guidelines for permitting FDI in this sector.

The industry is keen on business in the metros, as it attracts high-profile customers, but wants FDI to be allowed since the cost of land in these cities is high, making them expensive.

The DIPP has also proposed that the minimum capitalisation norms specified in Press Note 2 can be waived in the case of projects, which involve hospitality and tourism facilities, such as hotels, restaurants or entertainment facilities meant for tourists.

Press Note 5 specifies that minimum capitalisation should be $5 million for permitting FDI in realty projects, which involve an Indian partner. In case the project is implemented by a fully-owned subsidiary of an overseas firm, the minimum capitalisation specified is $10 million.

The waiver would be available in case 50% of the built-up area in a project is devoted to hotel and tourism business, such as food courts, resorts, restaurants etc.

If 20% of the total built-up area is used for hotel rooms, the waiver will be available. Veterans in the realty business, who do not want to be identified, said the liberalisation moves were welcome changes that they have been waiting for.

These steps, when implemented, will provide relief to high-value projects in metros and projects being developed for the tourism sector.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Banerjee said Tata Housing would be developing 200 lakh sq. ft. worth over Rs. 12,000 crore across India in the next four to five years. The projects will be developed by the company on its own as well as in partnership with land-owners and other real estate firms. “The projects are coming up in 8-9 major cities such as Delhi and its neighboring townships, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata,” he informed.

Talking about the project in Gurgaon, Mr. Banerjee said it would be spread across a sprawling 11.73 acre campus. “Raisina Residency has nine aesthetically designed towers that complement modern lifestyle. It will have two and three bedroom apartments and also duplex and penthouses. The master plan ensures that maximum flats get unhindered views of both the Aravalis and the city landscape,” he added. Raheja Builders Chairman Navin M. Raheja, said: “Raisina Residency will be the new luxury address in the Gurgaon metropolis. Air-conditioned condos, penthouses with island bathtubs and a state-of-the-art clubhouse, fluid landscape are some of the luxuries that are fit for a king which are being offered.”

The scenario presents a few interesting constituents. Vakil said, “There is no demand for an outright purchase and a lot of people are going for the lease option. In a falling market, that is a more practical solution”. IT and ITES, according to him, account for 80 % of all commercial space in India. Further he added, “Besides, 70% of that industry is dollar denominated”. That’s exactly what is affecting Bangalore, India’s IT capital and to an extent Hyderabad as well.

Retailers themselves are going easy and a lot of large players have been pretty vocal about it. With higher rentals, the pressure on margins is far greater. Retailers form a significant part of the overall commercial scene and that proportion is merely getting larger. Kishore Biyani, managing director, Future Group said, “Ultimately, it is a question of affordability in retail”.

There are not too many ways to get past the zooming commercial rates. Biyani, when questioned about this, points out that his group signed up for properties much before the boom. He added, “To that extent, we were protected. Actually, we have been quite docile over the last six months”.

A significant development was actually when five plots were offered for sale in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Western Mumbai’s business district. That was in March this year. Out of the five plots, two each were for residential and commercial while one was reserved for a clubhouse. One of the commercial plots was picked up by Jet Airways at Rs 3.44 lakh per square meter against a reserve price of Rs 3 lakh. Strangely enough, there was no other bidder in the fray.

Both the residential plots were won by Star Light, a joint venture between the Ajay Piramal Group and Suntech Realty. Here, the price paid was in excess of three times the reserve bid price. The story did not quite end there. The worrying part was that one commercial plot and one for the clubhouse remained unsold. These two plots together had an area of a little over 12,500 square metres with a reserve price of Rs 3 lakh per square meter.

A report put out by Enam Securities after the bidding process was completed makes a clear mention of what could possibly have gone wrong. “The lack of interest among developers for commercial space in BKC, while disheartening, is primarily attributable to the high reserve price.

Indiabulls was another player in the news when a significant amount of mill land in central Mumbai was put on the block. That was in 2005 when the company acquired an impressive 22 acres of land for what was then a massive Rs 720 crore.

Today, with so much of talk on a slowdown in real estate — in more pessimistic quarters, the whispers of a crash as well — it will be interesting to see how the company has viewed that investment. Mr. Gagan Banga, CEO, Indiabulls Financial Services, declared, “We have had an encouraging response. We are getting rental offers at around Rs 300 per square feet which is in line with what we had set out for ourselves”.

He added, “Suburban Bangalore is witnessing a slowdown. Here, there has been a 5-10% drop in rentals”. In the overall scenario, there could be some serious challenges.

The non-residents of India (NRI)’s and the foreign direct investors have started taking interest in the real estate because the demand for a separate State does not seem to be on the cards.

Some believe that if the Telagana state was possible, then the prices would have gone down heavily but now the situation is different and people hope that the separation of the State is not on the cards.

“Some of the people in the coastal regions had withdrawn their investments but now they have come forward and want to invest further which will definitely give a boost to the real estate business,” said E. Peddi Reddy, TDP leader.

Since people are clear that Telangana would not be formed, a number of new ventures has risen in the city. Some builders believe that the Telangana factor was not the reason for the rise in investing. The reduction in the rate of interest by banks and the increasing value of dollar are some of the reasons for boom in the city.

“Two months after the by polls there was a little lull and it was a wait and watch situation. After by polls a lot of NRIs, foreign direct investors are showing interest. The ‘T’ factor impact should not have been there in the first place but for the past few days, we are getting a lot of calls and there is a lot of prospect to buy property,” said Y.Kiron, Suchir India Private Limited.

The online real estate portal Makaan.com is arranging it’s second Property Show in the city on 8th & 9th March 2008 at Taj Deccan, Banjara Hills. 

Twenty leading developers are expected to showcase their projects. Range of property will be from twenty lacs to two hundred lacs and the option will be Plots, Apartments, Bungalows and Villas.  

Easy home loan alternatives will be presented to the visitors. The show is being sponsored by Maytas Properties in association with Aparna and Theme Ambience. Makaan.com Property Show will give a podium for detailed interaction among property seekers and builders, so that the visitors can make a well-versed decision. Compared to the earlier show where-in ,purchase contracts worth 1900 lac were closed at, Makaan.com expects the current show to finalise properties worth 3200 lac over two days, an increase of almost 70%.

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.

Real Estate Investing is something that anyone can learn and prosper at despite of age, gender, religion, race, education or current profession. You can begin with nearly no start up costs, and work this business from your home full-time or part-time.

There are no licenses required to invest in Real Estate, in fact you may have previously done so by purchasing a home! Real estate presents a practically nonstop supply of properties. There are millions of properties in the market, and thousands more become available each day, all over the country and especially in Hyderabad.

As a Real Estate Investor at this time you have choices like never seen before. Some Real Estate Investors are talented enough to purchase properties of Hyderabad for less amount than what some current owners originally paid and many Real Estate Investors are purchasing more properties at this time. Also, Real Estate Investors are able to spend even less money on homes that need some type of reconstruction.

Uppal Group is New Delhi based Housing Company. It is owned by Manish Uppal and Bhushan K. Uppal. The company has appointed Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Pvt. Ltd as one of its merchant bankers. Company might hire more merchant bankers.

Uppal Group plans to launch a public issue. The public issue of Uppal group is expected to hit the market in the second half of the year. Company has also planned to sell shares to private equity firms before the IPO. The total dilution through private equity and IPO is expected to not to exceed 20 percent.

Uppal Group has planned to use the proceeds of the IPO to part finance its special economic zone (SEZ) projects and they need funds for that. Apart from that, they also need funds for their expansion plans. The company has decided to invest around Rs 1500 crore by March this year to expand its operations outside New Delhi. Uppal plans to expand into big cities like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and into small cities like Chandigarh. Uppal Group already has running projects in these cities.

Spread across 3,000 acres (three sectors), Mohali Hills is the flagship project of the group, being developed as an integrated township housing an international school (tie-up with Singapore-based school Raffles), hospital, multiplex, mall and commercial space besides 13-storey group housing units, plots and villas.

The concept villas, spanning across 300 to 500 square yards, have been designed as Andalusian (southern Spain), Mediterranean and Spanish and priced from Rs 99 lakh onwards. The apartments (cost Rs 47 lakh onwards) and penthouses (cost Rs 90 lakh onwards) have a Middle-East feel. Its villas are fetching a good response with about 50 villas having been sold til now in Sectors 108 and 109.

Emaar-MGF corporate communications head Anupama Chopra said that the company would have followed the same strategy as of “Street of Dreams” for its other large projects. The company currently has two large projects in Gurgaon and Hyderabad and it has plans to disclose its other projects in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar in Punjab after its initial public offer for Rs 7,000 crore comes up this quarter.