Home sales pick up in NCR by 46%: reports PropEquity

PropEquity reported that the home sales in NCR have jumped by 46%. The property research firm has tracked home sales over 40 cities.
Home sales pick up in NCR.

Home sales pick up in NCR.

Tracking over 45,000 housing projects of 8200 builders, Property research firm PropEquity has reported that home sales in the National Capital Region (NCR) has picked up.

Now NCR sees a revival of home sales. In January, it added, nearly 9000 housing units were sold in the region.

As against the 6032 home sales in January 2012, 8,812 housing units were sold in January this year. With this improved home sales, NCR sees a revival in the region.

Housing demand picked up along with the clarity in land acquisition issues in Greater Noida. Home sales have picked up highly in Faridabad, Greater Noida and Noida Extension. Besides these areas Yamuna Expressway was another area which saw an increased demand for housing units. Continue reading

Residential Market Demands will Remain Stagnant

A recent report by Global Property Consultants CBRE South Asia, India Residential Market View – 2011 states that while the residential markets across NCR and Mumbai witnessed steady escalation in prices during the revival period from 2009 to first half of 2011 (as high as 40-50% in certain micro-markets), the latter half of the year brought in stagnation in overall prices.

Numerous repo-rate revisions by RBI, which led to upward revision of mortgage rates, tighter control on teaser rates earlier being offered by financial institutions to reduce EMI burden in the initial years of loan tenure, and inflationary pressures impacted end user as well as investor sentiment by the end of 2011. This coupled with supply pile-up lead to downward pressures on capital values across various micro-markets in these leading hubs. While the year 2012 started on a positive note with the central bank reducing repo rates by 50 basis points for the first time in several months (after increasing it 13 times in the last 2 years), the impact on demand rejuvenation might be limited.

“During 2011, we witnessed initial buoyancy in the real estate market as investor and developer sentiment improved, riding on the high residential demand wave. However with repeated interest rate hikes, rising prices and prevailing economic conditions, the market saw a dip in sales towards the middle of the year,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & Managing Director, CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd. This led to a supply pile-up in the key markets of NCR (National Capital Region), Mumbai and Bangalore, leading to capital values remaining flat across various micro-markets in these three leading hubs.

“While the recent rate cut by the RBI has helped generate positive sentiments in the market, stagnancy in demand will continue in the short to medium term unless there is an overall improvement in the economic scenario,” Mr Magazine added The NCR market witnessed considerable appreciation in capital values in the first half of the year, with premium markets witnessing steady demand from expatriates, high net worth individuals (HNIs) and executives from multinationals and Indian companies.

Anand Rathi and Knight Frank Eye the Second Realty Fund

Anand Rathi Financial Services and property consultancy Knight Frank India are planning to launch their second real estate fund by end of this months and looking to raise around Rs 500 crore (~$100 million), sources close to the development told VCCircle. Unlike its peers who are hitting foreign shores to raise new funds, the joint fund rental yield and appreciation portfolio (RYAP) fund will be raised from the domestic market.  Like its predecessor, it will invest in commercial assets in tier I cities which include Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, National Capital Region (NCR) and Chennai.

The fund would be targeting returns of 10-12 per cent from its investments and expects to stay invested in an asset for four-five years. A senior executive of the joint venture fund house who did not wish to be identified, said, “We are waiting for final Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) guidelines as right now there is no clarity on registration of funds and other norms. Once we have clarity on the same which we are expecting by mid-May we will register and start our fund raising process.”

In April 2, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had unveiled its final norms to regulate AIF’s in the country. Fund managers expect the detailed guidelines to be issued in the next two weeks.

Knight Frank India and Anand Rathi Financial Services had joined hands two years ago to raise Rs 225 crore rental yield fund. It has invested Rs 135 crore from the existing fund in two projects including Hub town Ltd’s commercial project in Mumbai and Cerebrum IT park development by Pune-based Kumar Urban Development Ltd.

Sahara, ICICI, Bhushan Steel in race to buy Parsvnath’s Connaught Place land.

Sahara Group, ICICI Bank, Bhushan Steel, Bharti Realty, Red Fort Capital and Shri Lal Mahal are understood to be in the race among others to acquire Parsvnath Developers’ 1.18 acre of prime commercial land near Connaught Place in the National Capital.

In January, Parsvnath had announced plans to monetise the KG Marg land, which it had bought for Rs 200 crore in 2008. Parsvnath, which is eyeing about Rs 700 crore from sale of this land, got the building plan approved from local authority last week and potential buyer can start construction on the land immediately after the deal, sources said.

“The first round of bidding and due diligence have been already completed. The process will be expedited now as the company was waiting for the building plans approvals before it starts negotiation with potential buyer,” a source, who is involved in the process, said. Sahara Group, ICICI Bank, Bhushan Steel, Bharti Realty, private equity firm Red Fort Capital, rice company Shri Lal Mahal and one leading realty firm from NCR have shown interest in buying this land, sources said, adding that Parsvnath had got bids up to about Rs 700 crore in the first round of bidding.

When contacted, Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain said: “The process for sale of this land is on. We cannot comment any further.” Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle India is helping Parsvnath in this deal. The built-up area allowed on this prime land is about 1.5 lakh sq ft with 300 car parking. Realty consultant said that prime office buildings near CP are currently commanding a monthly rental of 350-400 per sq ft.

Although Jain did not give any timeline for completion of this transaction, sources said that the deal could be closed in this quarter. Parsvnath has a net debt of about Rs 1,200 crore and plans to reduce it to about Rs 500 crore by utilising the proceeds from sale of this prime property. The company has two housing projects and several shopping malls at metro stations in the National Capital. It is setting up an office building near Gole Market here with an investment of Rs 300 crore.

That apart, Parsvnath had bought in 2010 a 38 acre of land near Sarai Rohilla from the Railways for Rs 1,651 crore, making it the second biggest land deal in Delhi. The company, in partnership with Red Fort Capital, plans to provide luxury housing and commercial space in this project. Parsvnath, which has a land bank of about 200 million sq ft across the country, had received private equity funding from Sun Apollo and JP Morgan in some other projects in NCR.

 

 

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.

Real Estate Sector Brokers bail out Developers with Buyback Deals.

The prices are not moving up in metros for more than a year now and the buyers including investors are staying away from making a purchase decision, so brokers are in a fix currently.

An Industry watcher said that the Real Estate Developers are facing a cash crunch in the NCR and Mumbai Metropolitan Region and are approaching brokers to underwrite their properties to save the day and maintain prices of properties in a bid.

“So as the new real estate projects that are launched, brokers underwrite a bulk of apartments and the developer can show it as sales,” said Sachin Sandhir, managing director, Royal Institutions of Chartered Surveyors.

Kaustuv Roy, executive director, Cushman & Wakefield, said “For the whole system to work two things are very important, first there should be buyers in the market and second the prices should continue to increase at a faster rate.”

 

Increasing demand of commercial real estate projects

As the phase of recession is towards its end, an increase in demand of commercial real estate projects, including both office and retail space has been witnessed by firms and retailers.

The executive director for development services at consultants Cushman and Wakefield India, Ravi Ahuja said that in many cities including Mumbai and Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), the commercial space leased out or sold by the firms is about 9.2 million sq. ft within just a time span of three months, while the space leased and sold during April-June 2009 was just 5.8 million sq. ft.

Last year, the retail space available was 6.3 million sq. ft. However, this year,  some 16.4 million sq. ft of retail space is expected to be available. Consultant Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has predicted 8.9 million sq. ft will be absorbed this year, compared with 4 million sq. ft in 2009.

Developer such as Assotech Ltd, Wave Inc. Anant Raj Industries Ltd and BPTP India Ltd and have also reported improving property demand.

Gurgaon; the most developing location of NCR

A high-end flat was leased for a rental value of Rs 1.2 lakh per month. This apartment is built in the peripheral location of Gurgaon on an area of 4,200 sq ft.  The apartment has been taken on lease by a big corporate for their senior executive.  The average rental value for these flats has been consistent throughout the last quarter and falls in the range of Rs 1 to 1.75 lakh.

Since Gurgaon has now become one of the key commercial office hubs in the NCR, it has acquired a remarkable demand for rental residences. With the growth of Gurgaon, metro connectivity which is soon going to hit Gurgaon seems like cherry on the cake. This is likely the reason behind people getting attracted from other areas of NCR to own their homes in Gurgaon.

Pre-Slowdown Observed in Realty Prices

Residential Property Goa | Royal Heritage - Axiom Estates
HDFC, one of the leading home-loans lenders has observed that the prices of residential realty which were hitting the peak levels are now undergoing pre-slowdown.

Deepak Parekh, the Chairman of HDFC said that there is an improvement in the economic condition and therefore, developers have started charging premiums. Due to the land prices touching sky, the realty prices also shot up.

As per the report, there was a downfall of 25% in residential real estate prices in October 2009, but now it’s steeping upwards again.

Parekh observe this change in the most active markets of India, for instance, suburbs of Mumbai, NOIDA in the NCR, a Bangalore suburb etc which all are experiencing price hike.

Also, he plans for having a real estate regulator in place.

Residential Project in Gurgaon by GPL



Lloyds Building - RRP
Godrej Properties are entering NCR with their first residential project in Gurgaon.  The project will be developed in partnership with Frontier Home Developers on an area of 1.05 million sq. ft. on nine acres of land.

Pirojsha Godrej, the Director of Godrej Properties Ltd. said on Wednesday that GPL is now operating in 11 cities including NCR.  The project is a residential one which includes flats and penthouses. The best features of this project are its flexibility with respect to various configurations, extensive green and open areas and cherry on the cake is that it faces a 36-meter wide green belt.

The project is located in NCR’s growth corridor and near NH-8. Some of the landmarks are the industrial township of Manesar, 20km from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, near Metro station.

Best Features of Noida Extension

CORNER LOT FOR SALE:  SAGAMI-OTSUKA
After the locations called Raj Nagar Extension, Mayur Vihar Extension, now its Noida’s turn to stretch itself and the name given to this stretch is Noida Extension.

There are large numbers of upcoming projects here located adjacent to Noida’s Sector 121. These face the Noida-Greater Noida Link Road. It is expected that within next three months, this stretch will become operational.

Some of the major features of Noida Extension are:

Prime Location: Noida Extension actually belongs to Greater Noida sector 1. It is a part of NCR and is close to Noida sec. 121 and sec. 119.

Connectivity: One of the best features of Noida Extension is its connectivity across the complete NCR. And the upcoming metro line is acting as cherry on the cake.

Infrastructure: The Noida-Greater Noida Link Road which is 130m wide passes through the area. Also, NH 24 is just 60m away.

Long Term Investment: The area will pick its pace in around a year or two. But once it is full fledged, it won’t lack returns. Thus, it’s a long term investment opportunity.

Options for all: The developers are coming up with all kind of residential projects, office spaces and commercial projects. Thus, Noida Extension will have goodies for everyone.

Affordable Housing: The projects brought up by the developers provide a large range of residential opportunities whose prices will fall in the range of Rs. 9 lakh to Rs. 40 lakhs.

Amrapali Leisure Valley launched in Noida Extension

Summer Storm over Kuala Lumpur
Amrapali group, one of the very recognized real estate developers in India have come up with yet another new project named as the Amrapali leisure valley which essentially is an integrated township of international standards. This township is spread over an area of approximately 100 acres. It is brought up to meet the growing housing demand in NCR. The township is very close to the bus terminal in the vicinity and also metro line is soon going to hit the area.

Amrapali Leisure Valley provides you with all the amenities which makes your home the most comfortable and attractive one to live in. It seems that this township will be a masterpiece since it offers a complete package of lifestyle to the consumers, and that too much closer to the city than expected.

Amrapali Leisure Valley is located in the latest prime location of Noida, i.e. the Noida Extension. The site is very well connected to the major locations of NCR. There are many reputed schools, professional institutes, IT companies and hospitals in vicinity.  The exact location is Sector 4, Noida.

Amrapali Group announces “Amrapali Leisure Valley” Independent Villas in Noida Extension

Till now Noida extension was only having war between budget home providers. Adding to the current construction war in Noida Extension Amrapali group recently added new Category “Independent villas“. Today In leading newspapers through Full page ad Amarapali Group announced a Project Having Luxurious Independent Villas in Noida Extension. Name of the project is yet not announced but According to the sources it’ll be called “Amrapali Leisure Valley“.It will have around 71 Acres of open area. At its name suggests It will have many Leisure facilities like golf,cricket academy, Club, Pool facility.

For More details and Booking Visit http://amrapalileisurevalley.propertywala.com/

Buyers Now Moving Towards Delhi

According to a recently conducted survey, it has been found that over 34% of the people who are interested in purchasing property across the country wish to own a home in NCR-Delhi.

The survey revealed the fact that NCR/ Delhi has got the highest priority in 2010 for real estate investment, i.e. the most preferred realty investment destination in 2010 is NCR/Delhi. With 28% purchasers interested in Mumbai, it has become the next choice of investors. Next in the line are Hyderabad and Bangalore with 11% buyers.

Also, as per the survey, in 2010 the real estate sector is likely to be much more driven by the end user. Since last year was under the clouds of unstable property prices and recession, the investors were backing off from the realty sector, but with the slightly stable property prices and the better conditions of economy, they are back into the lead. It would also be interesting to know that most of the purchasers, who this year plan to buy a house are usually the one who want it for own use which brings a conclusion that the ones who drove the realty in 2004-07, the speculators are out of the market now. Even the people interested in buying property now are the long-term investors.

The survey also brought out the fact that 67% of the property seekers are interested in property for own use and just 23% are the ones who are long term investors.

Comeback Of Realty

Halifax's Version Of 'Repent Sinner' and 'Riot 2010'
March 26, 2010

Towards the end of 2009, remarkable appreciation in values has been observed by the residential markets across big cities of India. Report by Wakefield and Cushman informed that in the two key residential markets in India, Mumbai and NCR, this trend is most prominent. In these areas, as compared to the same period of last year, values in Oct-Dec 2009 were appreciated.

Since Mumbai and NCR are one of the high demanded markets, both from the investors and consumers, it witnessed a faster recovery than other cities. As a result of economic slowdown, these investors were backing out their requisites which had brought a kind of uncertainty in the job markets. But on the other hand, this slowdown brought affordable housing to the consumers which in turn led to sharp upward correction in the capital values and strong recovery in the economy.

Since in NCR, a large number of projects were sold out as soon as they were launched, it can be concluded that the demand for the housing which seems to be affordable, i.e., ranging from 20 to 40 lakhs was quite high. Recently, 500 flats offered by Supertech in Noida at a cost of 9.75 lakhs are sold out just after its launch. Due to the new trend, volume of transactions has been aggrandized.

However, this trend can continue only if the government takes back the extra burden of the 10.3 percent service tax which was announced in the budget 2010 on the sale of flats before there completion. This may make the projects under construction more attractive.

Emaar MGF Launches New Project in NCR


Photo by paul goyette
India`s one of the leading Real Estate Developers, Emaar MGF Land, recently announced the launch of a new mid-income family housing project `Palm Hills` in NCR.

It will be located on NH-8 at a prime location in Sector 77, Gurgaon. The total investment will be Rs 500 cr on an area spread over 29 acres with the scenic view of the Aravalli Hills.Palm Hills are located at only a 20 min drive from Delhi`s International Airport and surrounded with green landscaped areas with Spanish styling architecture.

Palm Hills offers to house about 1250 units with an expectation to rise up to Rs 3,850 cr. With a starting price of Rs 48 lacs the company has already sold 650 units in the first phase. These apartments will give a feeling of a villa with unique features that no other developer serves. These will include 3BHK and 4BHK apartments with 1450sq ft to 1950 sq ft per villa. The villas have efficient floor plans and offer the choice to make amendments to maximize living space.

“The launch of Palm Hills marks the obligation of Emaar MGF to continuously develop properties with modern design concepts and gives the experience of living in a gated master planned community a new definition.”  Said Mr. Shravan Gupta, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Emaar MGF. He further added that “The exhilarating response on the very first day of the project launch is an indication to the predominating huge demand for quality housing in the mid-market segment”.

The rocketing success of Emaar MGF can be guessed by taking a look at their reserves. They have a land bank of 11,340 acres including the Commonwealth Games Village. They are currently working on 29 projects.

Emaar MGF which is a joint venture between domestic firm MGF and Dubai-based Emaar Properties is planning to utilize Rs 1,972 cr for part re-payment of debt of over Rs 5,800 cr. It will also be investing Rs 276.8 cr in paying development and license renewal charges in the coming year.

Mumbai expects highest residential space demand

Mumbai is expected to see the highest demand for residential space of approximately 16.40 lakh units due to the large scale urbanization. The mid-scale and affordable housing in suburban and peripheral areas will be the focus of this demand. However, the demand for office space would be approximately 23.7 million square feet, which is lower than that in Bangalore, Chennai and NCR.

The demand for hospitality in Mumbai is expected to be strong at over 98,500 room-nights, by virtue of the fact that the city is regarded as the financial capital of India and therefore the volume of both domestic and foreign business travelers is expected to grow steadily. Demand for retail is expected to be 6.19 million square feet.
On the other hand, Pune is expected to see the highest compounded annual growth in retail demand at 51% due to the current favorable demographics. The total expected demand for retail in Pune is approximately 1.76 million square feet. Office demand in Pune is expected to be 21.7 million square feet.

Bangalore emerges as a clear preference for sectors like office and retail, while it comes a close third in the residential and hospitality segments . Bangalore is expected to see the highest demand for office space in 2009-2013 of approximately 34 million square feet.

Future Plans of Amrapali Group

Amrapali Group has announced plans to invest Rs.15,000 crore in coming 5 years to develop various projects across the country.
It is also considering coming out with IPO within this financial year if the global market scenario improves.

Amrapali group announced the launch of a 400-unit housing project in Ghaziabad with an investment of Rs.125 crore.
Besides the National Capital Region, the group has presence in 27 cities.

Small cities are getting more interest

Due to the major hike in property prices in metros most of the people are showing interest for small cities. The new name in this list is the Neharpar city in Faridabad. Buyers as well as developers are started looking at Neharpar as the emerging real estate investment destination. It is supposed to become the big realty junction of NCR in near future. The development work is going on its best in this city and the most attracting point is that prices are much affordable.

TDI invests for budget homes

TDI is planning to invest one thousand crore rupees to build low-priced homes in NCR in the next three years.
TDI managing director Kamal Taneja said, “The demand for homes is coming back slowly”. TDI recently launched 350 residential units in Kundli and asserts to have sold all these in just a month.
The company is now planning to launch another 350 homes over the weekend in Kundli, around 35 kilo meters from central Delhi. The 900 square feet independent floor homes will be priced between Rs 16.50-19.50 lakh. A total of 700 homes entailing an investment of around one thousand crore rupees would come up in Kundli over the next 3 years.

Real estate demand revitalizes

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.

Real estate rentals come down

The trend of Delhi/ NCR shows a huge fall in commercial real estate rentals. It is well known that companies are moving their offices from gurgaon to other areas of NCR because of the high rental costs there. Most of the commercial areas in delhi are offering fully furnished office spaces at much lower cost. This trend has made a tremendous change in gurgaon commercial rental market. However, a clear scenario will be visible in near future but the change is on its way.

I think companies are doing dual cost cutting by moving their offices to other areas. First cost cutting is clear to everyone that is by reduction in rental cost. Second one is bit indirect. As it is known that gurgaon is well known commercial area. Every company provides conveyance facility to their employees because most of the employees come from other areas. If company shifts, the transportation cost will definitely reduce.

Two million affordable houses required

Affordable housing is the only solution for the middle income indians. Most of the people are in search of affordable homes in metros particularly in delhi/ ncr, bangalore, chennai and pune. According to the report by Knight Frank Research Households with an annual income between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 10 lakh in Mumbai, NCR, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune will need 1.65 billion square feet of space in coming couple of year. This trend may help developers to launch affordable house projects. But to make their projects more feasible, developers should think that their projects should not be in to far fringes area. It should be properly connected to the city and easy transportation should be available to the main places of the city specially the railway stations and airport.