Foreign retailers likely to postpone India Entry, JLL

Asia Pacific Property Digest, the quarterly report of JLL India, states that the foreign retailers may postpone their India Entry by one or two years.

With the foreign direct investment policy of the central government, the realty developers were expecting foreign retailers to set up their outlets and stores in India. Developers thought they could find some takers for their vacant spaces in their shopping mall projects. Continue reading

Housing Projects for Seniors, Bangalore Tops The List

There are seven housing projects for seniors in Bangalore. The city is far ahead to the others like Chennai and Pune which has three each such projects.

Bangalore is one of the prime IT hubs in India. It is known for its IT development. Temperate climate, end-user oriented residential sector, stable property prices, etc. were some of the most used adjectives for Bangalore city. Adding to all these is the top position for developing most number of housing projects for the ‘seniors.’ Continue reading

Oracle India to lease office space in BKC

Oracle India Pvt Ltd will lease large office space in the Bandra Kurla Complex. The IT majorhas already signed the agreement.
Oracle India will lease office space in BKC.

Oracle India will lease office space in BKC.

MUMBAI: Oracle has signed a lease agreement for its Indian arm Oracle India Pvt Ltd. The IT major has leased large sized office space in the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. The group will lease 50,000 sq. ft. of office space.

Oracle India will have to pay Rs.340 per sq. ft. for gaining office in the BKC which is one of the most costly office spaces across India and Asia Pacific Region. The lease agreement will be for a term of nine years.

One floor will be fully leased by Oracle India. The transaction worth Rs.183.6 Cr is the largest lease transaction in FIFC. First International Financial Centre (FIFC) is a Grade-A commercial development in BKC.

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JLL to Raise Rs.1200 Cr Commercial Realty Fund

Jones Lang LaSalle is planning to raise a new realty fund. The main focus of JLL’s Rs.1200 Cr realty fund will be commercial sector.
JLL plans to raise Rs.1200 Cr to invest in the commercial realty.

JLL plans to raise Rs.1200 Cr to invest in the commercial realty.

BANGALORE: Late last year Jones Lang LaSalle launched a private equity fund. The PE fund collected Rs.300 Cr. Now JLL is looking forward to raise another realty fund for investing in the commercial realty.

If JLL collected Rs.300 Cr for investing in the residential sector, the new fund, which is four times bigger than the first, will be invested in the commercial realty.

Rs.1200 Cr realty fund is expected to be launched by the 2013-end. Their first fund was invested in Bangalore. JLL invested the amount in two residential projects.

Though the new fund is expected to be invested in the commercial sector, details are not available. Sources with direct knowledge say that the decision is not yet taken as to whether the investment should be domestic or offshore.

While senior executives of JLL could not be contacted for comments, a person with direct knowledge commented that the investment will be in the commercial sector. He added that the real estate consultants are looking for higher returns from their investment and for this commercial realty is better now. Continue reading

ORR Bangalore Offers Better Odds To Comm. Real Estate

Outer Ring Road (ORR Bangalore) offers better odds for Bangalore real estate market. Lang LaSalle India reported that Outer ring road is the best performing commercial area in Bangalore.
ORR Bangalore is one of the best commercial real estate area.

ORR Bangalore (Outer ring road)turns up as one of the best commercial real estate area.

The latest report of Jones Lang LaSalle India (JLL) revealed that ORR Bangalore is the best performing commercial area. The JLL report specially highlighted the growing importance of K. R. Puram – Marathahalli – Sarjapur Road stretch.

According to the recent studies by JLL the ORR Bangalore has an increased growth. This area has become one of the most performing commercial areas in Bangalore. Whitefield also is said to be included in the best performing commercial areas in Bangalore metropolitan. Continue reading

Surat: Real Estate experiences 100% growth in 2 yrs.

Realty glitters in the diamond city. Real estate sector has witnessed a 100 per cent growth in the past two years, aided by a number of factors like vertical development, business opportunities and influx of people from other places.

Om Ahuja, CEO-residential services, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) India, said, “In cities like Surat, the growth is directly related to increased income of people. High income has also spawned more nuclear families.”

Chairman CREDAI, Surat, Tarun Rawal said, “On-going development of mass transport infrastructure and planned town planning schemes in the city has given confidence to people to go to faraway places to live. Hence, small sector projects – 1,500 sq ft houses – have gained a foothold in the city.”

Surat was the only city where people used to buy and sell properties without documents, but now awareness is growing. “Now small units have started to come up in huge numbers,” said Harshil Daliwala of SNS Builders.

The city is estimated to be spread over in an area of 326 sq km. It could further expand by another 200 sq km. “There is a plan to convert Surat-Navsari into twin cities which will together have a population of 1.15 crore people,” Surat Municipal Corporation’s director of planning Jivan Patel said.

JLL: Residential Realty Market is set to appreciate in 6 months.

Jones Lang LaSalle India, a global research firm in the real estate sector, says that prices of residential units in India in the next six months should witness marginal appreciation. JLL says: “Over 60% of residential launches in the Top 7 cities (mostly in cities other than the NCR and Mumbai) are priced in the range of Rs 2,000-4, 000 per sq. ft., which meets the demand of middle-income buyers.”

At the same time, the RBI has given sufficient indications of probable cuts in key rates during second half of 2012, which will improve affordability for homebuyers and provide lower interest costs for developers. This will help in increasing the demand for residential units in the country. JLL also argues that even in the present bad condition, prevailing absorption rates are at nearly 10-12 %, which translate into an average absorption period of 8-10 quarters for a residential project. “This implies that at average prices, any average residential project should be sold out before construction is completed in around three years from the launch.”

JLL says that new project launches, which were slow in Mumbai and the NCR in the first half of 2011 due to approval and land acquisition issues, have now started to pick up. This should improve cash flows for developers having large land banks during 2012. A number of builders have acquired huge land banks on borrowed fund. As the builders pay huge interest rates, nearly 15-18 % on the borrowed fund, the servicing of debts has put huge strain on their finances. Any improvement in off-take is likely to release them from the financing pressure.

In the present slowdown condition, despite bad financial conditions, builders are not cutting the prices as in most parts of the country; they have priced their projects at nearly cost prices. “With rising input costs, developers do not want to sell below a threshold, which does not justify their minimum replacement returns,” JLL says. “This leaves home buyers with a small window of opportunity – the next six months – when home prices should witness marginal appreciation. After six months, a second wave of high appreciation is predicted.

However, in some of the micro markets in Mumbai and the NCR, the appreciation in prices was even sharper. In the last two years, in some of the markets like Gurgaon’s Dwarka Expressway, prices have almost doubled.

Overall, the Indian real estate market went through a slowdown in the last one year. But, all the predictions of a hard landing for the residential property market in 2011 and 2012 have failed to come true, so far.