Asia To Witness Surge In REITs

Asian Continent Location Map
The number of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Asia is expected to swell over the coming 3 to 4 years according to HSBC because of increasing demand for investments in more risk disinclined properties.

REITs invest in commercial properties mainly and pay rent collected from their properties to shareholders as dividend. This is why some investors see them as safer investments than property stocks.
Another advantage is that they usually offer returns that are higher than yields of government bonds.

The increased activity in the REIT IPO market this year especially in the Asian continent is due to successful listing of Cache Logistics Trust in Singapore. Also Sunway City plans to list its REIT in Malaysia come July.

At the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit which was held today, Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Advisory for Asia Pacific at HSBC, Mr. Jason Kern had to say,
“I see proliferation of REITs, absolutely. I think we’ll have twice as many REITs in Asia as we do today in the next three or four years.”
He anticipates Singapore to witness most of the activity with more than 20 to be listed there in the coming years from companies all across Asia. It already has more than 20 listed REITs such as Fortune, Saizen from Hong Kong and Ascends from India. Australia and Malaysia are also showing growth patterns.

Kern further added, “What I find in my space is that investors are more risk-averse for sure. They are more defensive. We actually still find very strong demand at the most defensive end of the spectrum, which are the REITS.”

This Trend is only to bring fortune to our Country as well.

Formula One racing event to be held in Sports City, Greater Noida

India now plans for its first Formula One Grand Prix motor race. Mr. Jaiprakash Gaur, an Indian construction billionaire and sports enthusiast is the one driving force due to whom this has become possible.

Mr. Gaur is the founder and executive chairman of the Jaypee Group. Jaypee is an industrial and construction conglomerate. Presently, Jaypee is developing a “sports city” at Noida. This city will be a satellite town located at the eastern outskirts of New Delhi.

Since he is a sports person too, he has provided a Greg Norman golf course and a 100,000-seat cricket stadium, along with the luxurious apartments in his Jaypee Greens Sports City. Also, this motor racing will be conducted in this stadium.

BOP studios to be set up soon

New projection screen
Photo by laRuth
There are 30 real estate boutiques lined up for establishment across various cities in India as per Better Option Propmart’s plan.

These boutiques will be titled as ‘BOP studio’ wherein consultants will sit and provide free guidance and counseling to every walk in customer. This studio will provide a proper look and feel of how a real estate boutique look like including the ambience of a high-end store, centrally air-conditioned and live presentations of various upcoming as well as existing projects will be illustrated by the trained professionals according to the need of the people.

There will be a customer friendly atmosphere where people can easily discuss all their questions with experts and that too while enjoying a cup of coffee, lounge space, and viewing the different projects on large screen projectors.

Ashiana Housing Ltd listed in Asia’s Best Under A Billion’

Forbes magazine for 2010 made a list on ‘Asia’s Best Under A Billion’ in which the only real estate company from India to get through is Delhi-based Ashiana Housing Ltd.
From India, 39 companies were listed out of which Ashiana Housing Ltd which is the only Indian company representing realty sector. Across all over the Asia, only 5 real estate companies represented the real estate sector and Ashiana Housing Ltd is one of them.
In all, 200 companies were listed by the magazine out of which 39 were Indian companies while 71 were China and Hong Kong based. However, the number of Indian companies has increased from 20 in last year’s list. This list has been prepared after considering around 13,000 publicly listed Asia-Pacific companies. These are the companies that have revenues under $1 billion.
The selection criteria for these 200 companies was

  •  sales growth
  • earnings growth
  •  shareholders’ return on equity
  • 2/5 is Navin Fluorine International’s rating

    Navin Fluorine International has been awarded two stars out of five by CRISIL Equities, the Credit rating agency.
    The rating implies that the company`s fundamentals are moderate relative to other listed equity securities in India.
    This rating has been given to Navin due to its long-standing presence as one of the four main fluorine players in India. Our grade is moderated by the stagnation in Navin`s main lines of business refrigerants and bulk fluorides. The production of Navin`s flagship refrigerant HCFC 22 is being phased out under the Montreal Protocol due to its ozone-depleting nature. Also, at the same point of time, sales of low-margin products, i.e. bulk fluorides, are facing tough competition from China.
     CRISIL’s criteria for rating Navin 2/5 are the following:
    1. Significant non-operating assets in the form of cash.

    2. Balances with group companies.

    3. Real estate
     4. Investments in group companies through equity, and preference shares.

    CEOs plan for modest hikes this year

    Sobha Ivory, next phase of Sobha Carnation, Kondhwa, Pune 411 048: Elevation
    In India, it seems like real estate companies are following a different trend for compensating their top management. During 2009, many company CEOs took massive pay hikes, but now they have chosen to either forego their hikes, or at least take modest ones this year, when the sector is doing much better.

    Last year, CEOs of few companies like HDIL’s Sarang Wadhawan and Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra came under scathing criticisms from the media. It is hard to believe that in the recession time period of 2008-2009, Chandra got a raise of about 60% whereas Wadhawan got an increment of a whopping 200%.

    However, this year the story is quite different. Wadhwan and Chandra both are somewhere at the same salary levels as previous year, thus Unitech’s MD annually earns Rs 1.71 cr. and Rs 6 crore for HDIL’s Wadhawan.

    Other than these CEOs, JC Sharma of Sobha Developers took a 25% increase this year, quite modest one. Also, the MD of Puravankara Projects and Godrej Properties, Mr. Ashish Puravankara, scaled up by about 43% annually.

    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.

    2 acre plot for sale in Navi Mumbai

    India Steel Works plan to sell its 2 acre plot in Navi Mumbai. Firm has thought of this step in order to unlock value from its real estate. Also, in order to use the proceeds to reduce its debt by half.
    The Executive Chairman of India Steel Works’, Mr. Ashwin Gupta informed media that they plan to reduce a debt of Rs 70 cr. through the sale of this land. They are eyeing over Rs 35 cr. from the sale.
    He added that once the firm achieves its agenda of becoming a debt-free, the motive behind selling off the Navi Mumbai land, they will raise working capital and drive up turnover. The firm expects to make profit in the financial year 2012.
    The firm wants to complete this sale deal as soon as possible.

    RBI might unveil its mid-quarter policy review on September 16

    Since the home buying continues at its full pace even after an impending rate hike by Reserve Bank of India due to which there have been a continuous rise in property prices, the realty industry now is completely free from tensions, i.e,  has shrugged off all its worries. Due to the still high food prices, many economists expect a fifth round of policy rate hikes towards the end of this month. Most probably, RBI will unveil its first-ever mid-quarter policy review on September 16.
    However, the developers are still cool and confident for the residential sales even after a possibility of rate hikes by RBI are almost next week. The chairman of CREDAI, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India, Mr. Kumar Gera say that since the buyers fear of price rise in future, therefore they will not stop investing right now. These days an investor does not see the price if he can afford it, he added. Therefore, this price hike won’t make much difference to the market.

    CREDAI organized workshop in Mangalore

    A workshop by arranged by CREDAI, The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India on September 7 at Ocean Pearl, Mangalore.

    The district in-charge minister Krishna J Palemar inaugurated the workshop and said that people have already disobeyed law in the past and have undertaken illegal construction due to which city lacks in proper parking areas. Also, this has made the possibility of widening roads impossible.

    He added that no new Transferable Development Right (TDR) will be accepted now. The situation is that even if the officials shatter some walls, sufficient parking space would not be available. Thus, separate land should be allotted for parking with addition 30 feet for road widening. The left out land can then be provided to building owners as per the new Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP).

    V Ponnuraj, the deputy commissioner gave a presentation on Introduction and analysis of various options of TDR and DR. Dharmaraj, an architect and MCC consultant then came up with the process and Terms and conditions.

    New DTC will be implemented from 2011

    On June 15, the revised Direct Tax Code (DTC) was released which has got approval now. This new DTC will be implemented from 2011. The aim of this revision is to simplify the existing income tax laws. There are some changes proposed in the code for the real estate sector too which go as follows:
    Taxation policy for Rental Income Originally, according to DTC, the gross rent was to be calculated at a presumptive rate of 6% of either the market value, or acquisition or the cost of construction, whichever is higher. But the revised DTC has proposed that actual rent received or receivable for the financial year should be the basis of calculation.
    Home Loan Interest Policy:Originally, it had been proposed to do away with the tax deduction on the interest paid on home loans. But, as per the revised DTC, tax deduction on the interest paid on home loans up to Rs 1.5 lakhs for purchase or construction will continue.  This revision is quite encouraging for the buyers to buy residential properties.
    Also, the property which has not yet been let out will be kept out of tax calculations. Thus, there will be no deduction against tax or interest.

    Rent-generating assets are a good investment option

    In present scenario, scope of small real estate investors in India is low as compared to the institutional investors. Although they can own many property, but bank would not fund more than two loans.
    However, this restriction doesn’t imply that they cannot invest beyond that from their personal accruements. They always have the option to go for investing in rent-generating assets, which can bring decent returns, if not good, if they have been bought wisely.
    Even after all these limitations for small investors, property investment is an all time investment since it belongs to some of the belongings which always tend to retain their intrinsic value.

    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.

    Amrapali Group is the Developer of the Year – NCR /Noida

    Rajiv Gandhi Realty Excellence Awards 2010 were organized by Pehchan- nurturing the girl child. Pehchan is an NGO working towards the education of girl child since 2002. This award was introduced to honor the construction companies and builders who provide affordable houses to people.

    SVP Builder (I) Ltd., a real estate developer in Delhi-NCR secured the position of Best Regional Developer. Sunil Jindal, CEO, SVP Group was handed the award by Mr. Praveen Singh Aron, the Chief Guest of the ceremony. He is an MP from Bareilly and Member, Standing Committee on Urban Development in Parliament.

    Delhi Apartments Pvt. Ltd won award for Developer of the year. Supertech India Limited secured the place of Environment Friendly Project of the Year. Jaypee Greens has been awarded the Best Upcoming Integrated Township of the Year. Amrapali Group is the Developer of the Year – NCR /Noida. And finally, Raheja Developers Limited was privileged with the Life Time Achievement Award.

    India secures good position in GCPS

    A survey was conducted by RICS Global Commercial Property called GCPS, according to which performance of real estate in emerging markets like South America and Asia is much higher than that in more developed countries.
    As per the survey, in quarter II, occupiers markets picked up, with increased lease demand as compared to first quarter as indicated by countries. However, the rents continue falling in thirty countries out of 46 countries covered under the survey. On the other hand, in 8 out of 10 countries, there is a continuous increase in available spaces.
    Also, the expectations from the third quarter 2010 are much higher. India ranked 6th highest amongst 46 countries on the basis of commercial rents while in case of lettings, it ranked at 13th position. India was able to secure 10th position in field of capital values but still as compared to other countries, investment activity in India was relatively lower. This indicates that investment returns are better in other countries.

    Pharmaceutical Company Alchemy now entering Realty Market

    On Friday, Alembic, India’s oldest pharmaceutical company announced its entry in real estate sector as it has launched a company called Alchemy Real Estate. The CEO of this company will be Mr. Udit Amin, son of chairman and managing director of Alembic Limited Chirayu Amin. The city-based pharmaceutical major Alembic had announced its planning in June this year about entering the realty sector with residential and commercial properties. Also, one of the official told that Shangri-La, company’s first residential project is located on Alembic road overlooking Alembic cricket ground and near Bhailal Amin hospital. During these announcements, officials informed that the company holds more than 100 acres of land in the city out of which around 50 acres is might be used for real estate purpose. The recently launched residential project will consist of 11 towers of nine floors. There will be in all 396 flats of two, three and four BHK. The project is spread over six acres of land.

    Raheja Universal Ltd got an Average Rating

    hotel aitana
    Raheja Universal Ltd’s is rated a three star on the scale of CRISIL. This implies that the proposed issue of Rs. 864 cr. is an average proposal as compared to other listed ones.

    Mumbai will soon be gifted around 70 million sq ft of developed area by Raheja Universal out of which 26 million sq ft will be the commercial segment and 44 million sq ft will be residential segment.

    The three stars received by the company from CRISIL reflect its strong position in the realty business in Mumbai. Due to its good execution track record and high quality construction, it has been able to maintain its image as a good brand. This brand name has been the major reason for the company being able to command premium prices over its competitors.

    Also, other than this, the company owns an area of 1,202 acres across eight Indian cities.

    Homeowners pessimistic about the short-term future of home values

    Homeowners doubt these days of the future home values due to which they plan to put their home up for sale if they see the same conditions prevailing in next six months too.
    According to a survey, 33% people believed that home values in their housing market are still above the bottom line while 38% believe that they have already reached a bottom.
    28% homeowners expect a decrease in home values in the next six months. However, 30% of them are expecting an increase in their local market.

    In totality, 27% of homeowners hope for an increase in their home values in the next 1 year, 12% expect a decrease in value, 35% say the value ill be same and 26% don’t have any opinion yet.

    3% rise in Indiabulls Real Estate shares

    me, chairman of Bombay Stock Exchange
    After winning the bid of NTC’s defunct Bharat Textile Mills in Worli, Mumbai, for Rs. 1505 cr, Indiabulls Real Estate shares have raised by over 3 %. Last Friday, the bid for Bharat Textile Mills closed and the winner was Indiabulls Infraestate which won by just Rs. 2 cr.  

    On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the shares settle at Rs 175.70 which is 3.51 % higher than the share price before this bid. Also, on the National Stock Exchange, the share price closed at Rs. 176.45; 4% higher.

    Sensex, the broader market also closed higher by 143.51 points at 18,287.50.  

    Indiabulls had also one the auction before this one which was for NTC’s 2.3-acre Poddar Mill held last week. Indiabulls paid almost double the reserve price for the mill, i.e. it paid Rs.474 cr for the mill where the bid started from Rs.250 cr.

    Tata Group went into partnership with Mizuho Securities of Japan

    The Tata Group Company plans to raise $500 million for an India-focused private equity (PE) fund through its partnership with Mizuho Securities of Japan. Tata Capital announced last month that it will raise 1 billion Dollars from both the foreign and domestic investors by the end of next year.
    On the other hand, Mizuho Sec plans to focus on developing a growth capital private equity business in India. Also, it wants to invest in Indian companies through private transactions. According to MD & CEO, Tata Capital, Praveen Kadle, Japan’s saving base offers a stable source of capital. If all goes well, there will be high investments from Japanese and other International investors.
    Also, Kadle told that the company chose Singapore only due to its transparent regulation with economic and tax advantages.

    CREST brings a new product; Real Estate Rating

    On Thursday, Crisil, the leading credit ratings agency, introduced real estate ratings in order to help buyers in making informed purchases so that greater transperancy can be achieved. This concept of rating is launched for the first time by any Indian organization
    Roopa Kudva, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Director of Crisil, told that there will be a scale of seven stars through which rating would be given to specific projects as compared to the other alternative available projects in the city.
    Also, CREST publically declared that they are currently considering 21 projects spread across Tier-I and II cities.
    The parameters of rating will be previous record of the developer, the infrastructure of the project, cost overruns, timely completion, finishing, after-sales service, project innovations and the legal issues associated with the project.
    Also, this rating will be revised after the project completion.

    Report on Commercial Rental Market

    A report was released on Tuesday according to which Indian realty sector might face problem of plenty with office rental space. A further drop in rentals is also expected. As per the report presented by Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj(JLLM) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the vacancy level in India will increase from 17.2% in 2009 to 20% by the end of 2010.
    The report stated that during the first quarter of 2010, most Indian cities have experienced an upward movement in the volume of lease transactions. There have been recorded around a million sq. ft. of leases in each of the cities; Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
    For the future, the report predicts that within the next three quarters, most micro markets are expected to reach their rental lows. This implies that even after balance of power favors the occupiers, the opportunity for then is diminishing with every passing quarter.
    The report “The Seven Stars of India India’s best performing micro markets for occupiers” gives the prediction about real estate rental market in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad.

    Banks cut down lending to commercial sector

    In 2009-10, the lenders such as Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Union Bank of India, ICICI, Bank of India and Canara Bank reduced lending to the some sectors of real estate. As per the data provided by banks, the largest private sector bank, ICICI reduced its lending to realty by 17 % and to capital markets by almost 10 %.
    However, the public sector banks such as Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and IDBI Bank rose lending to these sectors between 34% and 46%.
    Among the private banks, rank 1 lender was YES bank, next was IndusInd Bank, and followed by Development Credit Bank and HDFC Bank.
    Other than ICICI bank which reduced its lending by 9.6 %, the total growth in the lending to realty was around 16.7 % in the fiscal 2009-10.There was a mixed response from the banks. On one hand, around 10 banks rose lending by 30% each, while on the other hand, 14 banks witnessed a decline in lending.
    After all these ups and downs, the exact scenario was that the lending to the residential sector increased from 47.5 to 53%, and commercial mortgages reduced from 27.7 to 23.3%.

    New plots available in Jaypee Greens Sports City

    Jaypee has launched new plots in Jaypee Greens Sports City. These plots are available at a discount of Rs. 1800 per square yards and now it would cost Rs. 16,200 per square yards.
    The size of these plots is 153 square yards. Thus, the whole plot would cost approximately Rs.25 lakh.  The additional charges on the plots will be the same as the old ones applied on all other plots.
    These plots are available at a further discount of 10% on BSP in case of Down Payment. In case of Partial Down Payment, there is a discount of 6.25% on BSP.
    One more update is that the project earlier known as JPSK (Jai Prakash Sports komplex) will now be known as JPSI (Jai Prakash Sports International).

    Points to Remember while Designing a Real Estate Website


    The Home Church
    Now days, internet is so much in trend that even for realty business, website seems to be must. According to a survey, every two out of three buyers surf the web to search their dream home. Therefore, if a firm wants to be recognized in the realty world, being online is the best lifeline.

    The best way to launch oneself on the web is to hire a professional real estate website designer. While hiring one, you must keep in mind to check the previous records of the designer. This is an important aspect since experience matters more than anything else.

    Some factors that make a real estate website cheap and best are:

    Interactive flash maps which display the currently selling properties across your operational area. Interactive maps can be developed for different locations as per your need.

    After the looks comes the user interface of the website. The site must have an interactive interface with an ease for the buyer to send his query.

    Next, the site content must have good content. There must be exact information displayed on the site without any redundancy.

    Finally, the site must have the capability to catch leads and track backs.

    With all these points, one major issue that must be dealt by the site is the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) integrated within the site.

    A good website serves you as a 24*7 sales person with very little investment.