Retailers belonging to jewellery, attires and home improvement sectors have shown considerable interest in established malls in the city, of mall occupancy in India, has revealed.

According to a survey, even as Bangalore is expected to add 4 lakh sq. ft. of mall space over the next six months, the vacancy levels in city malls have come down.

Bangalore was among the cities in the country where lower mall vacancy was reported in the slowdown.

Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata were the other cities that had lower mall vacancy since no new mall space came up. The vacancy level in Bangalore dropped from 16 per cent in the quarter ending September 2012 to 12 per cent in the corresponding period in 2013.

Increased rental activities and lack of infusion of new mall space led to this dip in vacancy in Bangalore, the report said.

Though the rentals maintained status quo owing stable demand-supply dynamics in the quarter ending September, the rentals in the malls in main streets of Bangalore are expected to increase, the survey said.

The report said that Bangalore also witnessed deferment of two malls totaling 7.6 lakh sq. ft. While one mall got deferred due to construction delays the other went on hold due to liquidity issues, it said.

 GMR Infrastructure, the listed developer based in the National Capital, has declared a 2.4 times increase in the net loss to Rs 398 cr for the second quarter, as compared to the last year, when the loss was Rs 181 crore.

The real estate major constructs a host of power, highway and airport projects in the country. It has suffered a net loss due to idle power generating assets, which lacks fuel these days.

The firm also manages the Delhi and Hyderabad international airports, and declared the revenue dropped by close to five pc, to Rs 1,984 cr. The operating profit, had gone up by 13.2 pc to Rs 582 cr, only due to foreign gains.

GM Rao, chairman, GMR Group, put the blame on the lack of gas supply for its power project, which has capacity close to 600 mw. The lack of gas is affecting them a lot. Recently, the firm has established the second unit of 300mw at EMCO, the 360 mw at Kamalanga.

The negative effect from the power project totally dulled the performance of its airport arm, which contributed half of the earnings and gives boost to the balance sheet with Rs 57 cr net profit. The airport operations in both the cities are stable and experiencing a healthy growth. The new Istanbul airport is giving positive notes in the current quarter.

The firm has a little debt of Rs 38,000 cr, with 3.7 gearing rate. The economic condition is showing positive signs. Sustaining this period, the firm is focus on reforms and infra development.

It is important to clear the blockages in other sectors to grow. The current scenario needs a infra policy change in its sector.

Tata’s African subsidiary, Tata Africa Holding (TAH) has entered into a deed with Asian building equipment makers to dispense their machinery and equipment through out Africa.

The firm will be distributing construction and engineering gear across the continent, hoping to take benefit of the development and mining boom sweeping across most of the continent.

TAH has inked a pact with Hitachi developers of Japan, India’s Aquarius Engineering and Traxbuild of Singapore to start selling their products in the Dark Continent which includes after-sales services also.

The firm is also trying to boost its business by roping VT LeeBoy, a USA firm who is specialized in producing building tools.

Besides selling products, it will also offer after-sales service and support and sell parts using several workshops across Africa.

The Indian firm, whose headquarters are in South Africa, will dispense earth movers, road graders, batching plants concrete pumps and much more. The firm is planning to become of the biggest shop for the construction and building needs in the Africa.

The Tata subsidiary has 14 affiliates, who will use its vehicles, mining, engineering and business network to make available products in Africa, which is assuming a high growth in infra projects in the past three years.

The Indian company has various operations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique in the South African region, while in eastern region the company has operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The firm is looking to extend its business to other parts of the continent.

Parsvnath Developers are planning to invest Rs 1,100 crore in next four years to develop a dedicated and huge township on Gurgaon-Sohna road. The Delhi-based reality firm will launch the 110-acre township next year and is eyeing revenue of Rs 2,700 crore over the four years. The firm is expected to get permissions soon for the project.

As per the new master plan of Sohna road, the land has been notified as residential zone and the firm is gearing up to develop a township on it.The investment will be around Rs 1, 120 crore excluding the land cost. The firm will construct 2 million sq ft each of group housing and independent floors.

The firm is banking on this proposed township along with two commercial properties in the National Capital to become debt free by the end of 2014-15. It had debt of around Rs 1500 crore.

Parsvnath has completed the construction of commercial tower, having 3.1 lakh sq ft area, in Gole Market and the renting process would start soon. It has also commenced another commercial building, with 1.8 lakh sq ft at KG Marg.

Recently, the real estate major had declared plans to monetize non-core land parcel in South-West India either through JV with local builders or outright sale of plots.

The group has 91 acres in Kochi, of which 52 pc has already been notified as Special Economic Zone and process for the next half is in progress.

The firm reported 30 pc fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 12.51 crore for the second quarter of this fiscal due to higher outgo on tax. It had posted a net profit of Rs 17.93 crore in the year-ago period.

Country’s one of the leading real estate group Piramal Group has raised Rs 800 crore capital through its private equity firm Indiareit Fund Advisors.

The firm declared that Domestic Scheme V has galloped the basic fund size of Rs 760 crore last week. The scheme currently stands at Rs 800 cr and is on track to reach the target fund size by year-end.

The group will investment in development of residential projects in various parts of the country. The money was raised solely from domestic investors, including Piramal Enterprises that invested about Rs 60 crore.

With this raised fund, Indiareit Fund will be one of the few managers who have raised a considerable amount of capital this year and will be able to commit to bigger deals in near future.

The fund has exercised to increase the option of Rs 205 crore in the wake of huge demand and now targeting to raise Rs 1,000 crore for the project.

In the financial services space, the group has a real estate focused PE fund – Indiareit and a NBFC that is focused on lending to real estate and education sector as well.

Piramal Enterprises is one of the largest diversified firm with arms in pharmaceutical, financial services and information management sectors to deal with. The giant group has combined revenues of over $680 million in FY 2013.

Mumbai:  has put its 100 flats in the upmarket NRI Seawoods Complex in Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

The conglomerate has chosen realty consultant JLL to conduct the sale of the apartments that were being used by top executives of the company, who have been given the first right to but the flats. The market giant has sold 35 flats and is looking to sell the rest in some day’s time.

The price of the 2bhk and 3bhk apartments ranges between Rs 1.26 crore and Rs 2.60 cr. This means the reliance group could get around Rs 125-270 cr if it sells off all its upmarket flats.

The sale of luxurious apartments is the latest steps taken by the Reliance Group recently to monetize these assets.

Earlier this year, Reliance Communication Ltd, turned its real estate arm into a new identity called Reliance Properties ltd. The new firm will be listed and the R-Com’s share holders would get shares in it very soon.

The firm estimated the value of its new arm at Rs 12,000 cr, including 140 acres of land at the Knowledge city in Navi Mumbai.

Last year, the giant group has inked a JV with China’s Wanda Group to develop farmer’s land across the country.

Since real estate rates have remained constant in big cities over the last few months, a warm lease market and increasing ownership cost have forced several firms, to put their residential properties on the block, including the MNCs and banks.

With the concept of a city centre becoming a contradiction as cities grow in different directions, many of these company houses are no longer suitably located close to the workplace.

According to a survey in the top cities of India, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune and Hyderabad, it was found that the realty industry is in a bad shape, with several million of square feet lying unsold. The total unsold stock across the cities is 728.36 mn sq ft, the maximum in Delhi-NCR region followed by Mumbai and Bangalore.

With the sales declining sharply, developers have been forced to lower the rates of newly launched projects. Few developers have cut down the rates of existing projects, and new ones are priced lower than the existing ones across the country.

The average price of launch across all top cities is lower than the existing price levels. It points out that new launches are at least 16-17 per cent cheaper than existing projects offering similar amenities and located in the same area.

The growing inventory and sluggish sales is that developers have had to reconsider their pricing for newer projects.

Mumbai’s unsold stock amounts to 162.43 million sq feet. In the second quarter of 2013-14, only 8.23 million sq feet of space was sold – for Rs 8,123 crore – while 11.28 million sq feet was launched. In the same quarter last year, real estate worth Rs 9,463 crore was sold.

With sales dipping sharply and supply remaining constant, the amount of unsold space in Mumbai is rising quickly, and stands at 58 months this quarter.

The study states that most unsold space in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which stretches to Vasai in the western suburbs and Badlapur on the central side, is in deals worth Rs 2.8 crore and above. This category has around 48 million sq feet of unsold space, and is followed by 42 million sq feet unsold in the Rs 1.3 crore to Rs 2.5 crore range.  The lowest stock is in deals below Rs 28 lakh, and stands at 12.1 million sq feet.

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has overruled Building Penalization Scheme (BPS) papers of 65 professional educational institutions located in the city for not obeying the rules and necessities for regularization. Though the civic body can demolish the illegal constructions at nay time, but the officials are going slow on the organizations.

When the BPS plan was declared in 2008, only a few colleges loomed for regularizations as they were under gram panchayats. In 2008, the HMDA was formed by merging nearly 750 village and 30 municipalities. Since any did not apply BPS, the body had issued notices on the educational institution to get their illegal building regularized.

Nearly 185 educational institutions, mostly engineering colleges, had applied for regularization of their illegal buildings after the civic body served notices on them. While some institutions had taken ground +2 floor approvals from the regulatory and raised additional floors illegally, other had constructed without asking permissions from the regulatory.

The application of CMR Educational Society at Gundlapochamapally was overruled as the land use was not legitimate as per the master plan. Similarly, applications of Nova Educational Society (Bata Singaram), Gayatri Education Society (Korremula) and Vignan Vidyalaya (Nizampet) were also rejected.

Out of 185 applications, many were rejected due to non-submission of land use certificate, not having a road and not conforming to master plan. Some institutes did not provide papers, while some had not paid the penal amount.

Residents of the controversial Campa Cola housing unit refused to move out of their compound, locking the gates after the civic and police officials arrived for demolition of the society as the deadline by the Supreme Court to evacuate their flats came to an end.

The residents parked their vehicles in front of the main gate blocking access, not allowing the civic officials to enter the compound.

The civic body has brought demolition vehicles, and was ready to cut off the power and water supply from the unit. A Mahanagar Gas ltd van was also seen to disconnect the CNG supply.

The Supreme Court of India set November 11 as the deadline to evacuate the flats. Families residing in the premises had pinned their hopes on the state Government, that it would step in and save their home passing an order that would legalize their flats.

The state govt has shown no sign of conceding and accepting the demands of the residents. It does not want to stand against the advocate general.

The civic body had slapped exile notices to the residents of the illegal floors under section 488 last week warning them not to obstruct the municipal body at the time of demolition.

The residents of the Campa Cola have had a long legal tussle with the civic body  since 2005 when they first went to court for water connection and other basic amenities. The lower court ordered the then municipal commissioner to take time-bound action in the case against the builder.

The top civic official, instead of taking an action against the developer, slapped demolition notices to about 100 flats above the fifth floor. The builders had approval to construct the towers not more than five floors, but they disobeyed the guidelines.

The Government of India declared it is constantly making efforts to increase the pubic-private partnership in the highway and infra sectors in the country.

In India where the private sector financing is taking place on a big way in the shape of public-private partnership projects, the Centre is constantly making efforts to create a favorable environment to channelize the private sector financing.

The Centre has made considerable efforts to fulfill the shortage in the highway and infra sector which is a thrust area of the Government.

In this year budget the Government has already declared setting up a regulatory device on which work has been started. The issues of debt management, institutional strengthening, restructuring of projects, and revision of MCA are being scrutinized and studied and revised time to time.

The Centre is dedicated to development of road network and the country is soon going to have world’s most wide national highway networks through various phases of the development project. The Government is planning to construct green field expressway in near future.

The Government is also planning for suitable maintenance plans keeping in view the budget and the demand. This policy will be effect in the big long term projects of PPP segments.

After a miserable show, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry had clambered down its projects award target by nearly half to 5,500 km in this financial year compared to a target of 9,500 km in 2012-13.

At the same time the Government is planning to add more lanes to existing highways and upgrading existing roads to reduce greenhouse effect.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) declared it has inked an initial deed with the World Economic Forum to work together for partnerships in infrastructure and human capital in the country.

The Govt of India invited the world economic body to organize a combined South Asia Economic Summit in the National Capital, the same way as WEF organizes the India Economic Summit.

The reform activity in India is in full force and the Government of India has take numerous steps which are yielding optimistic results especially in the area of recovery of rupee, stock market and infra growth in the country.

Both the bodies signed a MoU to collaborate in conveying a strong engagement across all multi-stake holders in India.

WEF and CII will identify areas for further projects and collaboration related to the most persistent concerns that India is facing in areas such as infrastructure investments, skill gaps and human capital and inclusive growth.

The memorandum was inked by Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, WEF and Kris Gopalakrishnan, president, CII in the presence of Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.

According to industry experts, decline in supply of additional office spaces is likely to put pressure on rental values in the upcoming quarters, even as the demand is moderated.

Less than 3 million sq ft of office space was added in second quarter which is a dip nearly by 55 pc compared to the same period in 2012, and 79 pc compared to first quarter in 2013.

The demand for office space is likely to reasonable or low in certain cities, because big corporate are relocating to quality locations with lower rentals.

Owing to the slowdown in property activity, pent up supply has lined up various micro-markets over next 6-9 months, which might result in pressure on asset pricing

During the quarter, six major cities Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune recorded a swelling rental space absorption of 7.5 million sq ft, which is 25 pc less than 9 million sq ft compared to last year.

The declining demand is a reflection of the prevailing low business and investor confidence. Due to the slowdown in the economy and the political uncertainty in the country, companies are deferring their decision to take up real estate.

Mumbai commercial market recorded occupancy of around 7.3 lakh sq ft of Grade A office space, only a few mid-sized transactions were settled in Delhi resulting in 2.1 lakh sq ft of Grade A office space absorption during the quarter.

Absorption in Gurgaon was around 1.8 million sq ft, while Noida witnessed 4.8 lakh sq ft, which was primarily from IT/ITeS sector followed by banking and financial services sector.

The Chennai market observed hike in demand this quarter with overall engagement of Grade A office space about 2.12 million sq ft.

Kolkata’s market remained lethargic due to the negative economic scenario and recorded absorption of nearly 1.9 lakh sq ft, while steady occupier demand from the IT/ITeS sector kept Pune’s office market steady during this third quarter as the absorption in the city stood at 9.2 lakh sq ft.

In spite of moderate demand, rental values are expected to remain steady as developers are abstained to add more dicey supply in the slow market.

According to a survey of a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) there is a dip in recovery of property sales in the country, with 21.5 pc in 2012, compared to 29 pc in 2011. There is a sharp decline in recovery in Maharashtra with 1.8 pc in 2012 compared to 13 pc in 2011.

The break-up in terms of recovery of stolen property tops with an average of 65 pc from 2010 to 2012, followed by robbery, burglary, and thefts. The least recovery in these property offences were 2 pc in 2012 and 1.3 pc in 2011.

In Mumbai the recovery of stolen property falling from 17 pc in 2010 to 11 pc in 2011 and 0.5 pc in 2012 respectively.

The report said Andhra Pradesh 52 pc was the best when it came to recovery, followed by neighboring state Karnataka 43 pc, MP and UP with 32 pc each.

Among the big cities, Mumbai managed better results in 2010 and 2011 and it declined in 2012. Cities like Jaipur, Bangalore, and Kolkata had done better in recent past. Recovery of stolen property data was most precise. It is not specific to cheating and criminal breach of trust. To identify the accused is a uphill task.

Property which are involved in such crimes are often of low value, even if its is recovered it doest not reflect I the total percentage.

It is very difficult to recover money as criminals spend it and cases like breach of trust, cheating and forgery, where recovery is low it affects the exposure rate in property related issues.  Quality detection of property offences by unknown criminals is woefully inadequate.

According to a survey, residential constructions are facing a great risk from fire in Mumbai this year. Inspections carried out by the fire department in the financial capital and its peripheries, between February to October, found that most of the buildings in the western and eastern suburbs violated the safety guidelines.

Out of the 1,492 buildings surveyed in the eastern and western suburbs, notices were issued to 1,354 constructions for breaching fire safety guidelines. But even after being warned to take curative measures, only 85 of these buildings filed the compliance report with the fire department.

Out of 3,105 residential buildings inspected in the island city, 659 were issued notices of which five buildings obeyed the guidelines given by the fire department.

The buildings inspected were high-rises residential units, high-footfall areas like malls, multiplexes, industrial estates and government buildings.

The inspection was carried out randomly under the Maharashtra Fire and Life Safety Measures Act (2006), which makes it obligatory for buildings over seven-storeys tall, to undertake fire safety report measures twice a year to the fire department building including malls, public space and multiplexes.

The safety act specifies that every building more than seven-storey tall must have an internal fire fighting systems and sprinklers, and a clearly marked refuge area which should be intruded.

In the city like Mumbai the residential societies take fire safety measures very casually and wake up only when there is a fire raging in their buildings.

The fire department is also planning to set up a special cell by mid-2014 to carry out inspections in the buildings.

Currently, firemen are burdened with the task of undertaking inspections in their areas and issuing notices, in addition to attending rescue calls. The new cell will help implement the guidelines more successfully and encourage frequent checks.

The Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji Group is planning to extend its info-tech properties by 52 pc in near future. The addition by the real estate major will be in existing properties, adding its portfolio by around more two million sq ft by next year. This development is coming when most other bigger developers in the market are going slowly on commercial properties.

The group operates IT parks under the SP Ifocity brand in IT and IT-enabled services at software technology parks and SEZs. It has IT parks and SEZs in Gurgaon, Manesar, Pune and Chennai, with 5 million sq ft of space.

The group, headed by billionaire Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, is into construction, textiles, power and much more among other segments. The realty arm of the 150-year old group will further develop commercial hubs in its existing projects in different part of the country.

The development of IT space was noteworthy in 2005-06 but due to the slowdown which affected the requirements in IT and other firms, faced a huge set back in 2008 and had to pull back its plans. The group is very cautious, before adding extra space to its ongoing projects in the country.

Experts say the old Realtor is among the few who are adding commercial properties. Most of the developers are not launching new projects, clients are moving places to cut down the costs. It is indication a clear slow in demand for the commercial properties.

The demands for SEZs are improving, as availability of such places is limited.

The company is looking out for more opportunities  in the Mumbai, Pune, the National Capital Region, Kolkata, Chennai and other cities to develop residential and commercial projects.

The stamp duty and the registration department had drafted new norms to cut down an alarming rise in fraud in property transactions.

The changes said by an official notice recently issued, deal with authentication of Individuals, and adding an obligatory declaration of birthmarks and different marks in the body.

When the registration is on the parties will be requested to provide details of identification marks on visible areas of the bodies. Though it’s an optional, it will be in their interest, when they want to verify the identity during the deed.

Strengthening real estate prices have led to an increase in fraud transactions, with rising complaints about wrong doings in documents, especially by persons posing as property owners. At some places sub-registrar had to face legal action and 15 cases were filed last year against them and identifiers.

The department has been collecting photos and thump impressions of persons registering documents to verify the legitimacy of witness and identity papers also. Mobile numbers and e-mail IDs will also be sought.

A person can now testify as a witness for only one document a day. This is done to rein in the agents, who often pose as witnesses without knowing parties involved in the deal. Limitations have been leveled in cases involving registration of multiple documents at the same time.

When the developers across the major property markets are lamenting about the inferior infrastructure, Ahmedabad is probably the only major city where the developers are not complaining. With the state government focusing on investment and boosting infrastructure, Ahmedabad and other cities in Gujarat are ready to grow in all directions.

Mega projects, including the proposed Special Investment Region (SIR) at Dholera, the metro-link express and the state’s first International Tech- city are posed to transform Gujarat’s industrial scenario in next few years. These developments will have positive note on the realty sector.

The state government has also approached the Cabinet for intervention to accelerate projects worth 1.1 lakh cr, promoted by top domestic and foreign firms. These projects are waiting the green nod from the Centre form last three years.

The expansion plan for RIL’s marine operations worth Rs 8,950 cr, the the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway worth Rs 19,850 crore and investments in the DMIC worth Rs 43,230 crore are among the projects waiting for a approval  from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The state government has completed 20 road projects worth Rs 2,088 cr and six projects amounting to Rs 2, 950 ce are under development. It has more than five projects in the pipeline and an equal number in a bidding stage.

On the urban development front, the state has completed six projects and the government is also thinking up to take 22 more projects at an investment of Rs 4,000 cr in the coming years.

The real estate growth in the city has witnessed the change. From affordable apartments and townships, the demands are sifting to villas, second homes and row houses.

The city has a very good water drainage system, ring road system, bus rapid transport system and stable power supply that provide a solid foundation for growth of the sector in the city.

According to the Government data 13 projects are waiting for clearance under the coastal regulation zone norms. The pace of development is likely to receive a major boost, once all the infra projects are given nod on a fast-track basis.

In the present scenario there must be a regulatory mechanism to make sure that a developer could not sell off a house until the legal approvals were in place and that residential units got the right to the land when there was a violation of law by the developer.

There is a urgent need for a change in the law to ensure that developments has been done according to the plan and the developer has to provide the rights to the societies in case of a breach of law on flat sales.

The Campa Cola case highlighted the lack of law to protect hapless flat buyers.

Under the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act (Mofa), a developer cannot ink a sale deal until the plans are approved and flat-buyers can assume that all the provisions are in place. The Campa cola owners thought that approvals were coming and nothing was mentioned on their deeds. But the Mofa provides compensation only in the case of breach or for refunds. It is not authorized to allow illegal constructions.

Citing the Campa Cola case, a revision to the laws is required to deal with a situation, where illegal constructions eventually razing of illegal floors ought to take away the buyer s’ right.

The city civil court has upheld the BMC’s demolition orders in an interim application in a suit filled by the residents. The case is still pending in the court.

The apex court earlier this year held the buyers saying they have consciously acquired the illegal flats and the only remedy is to file a suit against the flat owners and the developers for return of money.

Demolition of illegal structures may be the immediate consequence.

It is most vital to protect owners with a controlling mechanism for sale of flats, to be followed by a deposit on duties collected from investors, pending completion and lawful timely certificated hand-over of the new construction, coupled with liquidated penalties for delays, defaults.