Tag Archives: Mumbai

Godrej Properties Stands Tall, But Weak Demand is a Concern.

Posted on by

Worried about economic and political factors influencing the real estate sector, investors have dumped real estate stocks in the past few months. The 15-member BSE realty index is down by 40 percent in past one year. The members of the index have had varying degrees of fall in their stock prices ranging between 8.5 percent and 81 percent during the same period. However, through all this, the Godrej Properties scrip has not only held its ground, but also registered 19 percent appreciation in price in the last one year.

One of the few business houses to be in real estate, Godrej Properties is a national real estate developer with presence across 11 cities in mid-income housing development. One of the biggest advantage enjoyed by the company is the equity of its brand “Godrej”. At a time when the sector is losing investor confidence due to some of its players’ supposed involvement in corruption, having a strong and reliable brand in the realty space could not have been more cherished by Godrej Properties.

Given the command of high interest rates, high influence is yet another issue for real estate companies. The low capital-intensive model is a good change over other capital-intensive companies. The fourth quarter ended March 2011 has been the best one for the company driven by sales from its projects in Ahmedabad and Gurgaon. The company is expected to launch 4.5-5.5 million square feet area in fiscal 2012.

Though, one of the concerns is its geographic concentration of the company’s landbank around half of which is located in Ahmedabad and another concern is the weak demand in Mumbai market where the company’s ambitious project ‘The Trees’ is being constructed at Vikhroli. The demand should recover by the next 02 years.

Home Loan Rates Increases Tends to Increase Home Prices

Posted on by

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: A 25 basis point rise in key interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday is likely to further lower home sales across the country, some builders and bankers said in the midst of increase in bank rates. Customers will now have to reconsider the size and locations of houses they wish to purchase and many buyers are expected to put off their purchases altogether till home prices come down and rates stabilise. This is certainly bad news for existing home loan consumers as banks will certainly increase home loan rates.

Purchasing capacity had already gone down visibly during the last tranche of interest rate hikes, and we will see a further reduction in buyer interest. Owing to the last 10 rate hikes by RBI, EMIs for housing loans have risen 25 percent to INR980 per INR 1 lakh of borrowing, and consequently loan eligibility for homebuyers has declined by 20percent. Anil Kothuri, head of retail lending business at Edelweiss Group says, “Housing finance companies have no wriggle room available.” For new home loan seekers, this will be big warning, not just because of the rate hike but also because of the frequency of the rate hike by RBI. “The person who is looking to purchase a home has the option, of buying or not buying. Existing home loan customers are stuck. However, of the opinion of Renu Sud Karnad, Managing Director of HDFC, is that this quarter percentage hike will not impact housing demand and loan off-take.

Brokers Hunt for Jobs as Slump Hits Realty Sales

Posted on by

NEW DELHI | BANGALORE: Broker in Bangalore bylane has just opened a stationery shop. He has named it ‘Smart Shop’, borrowing the name from the realty brokerage firm that he ran from the same premises until about two months ago. He switched to retail after his property business hit a rough patch following a slump in home sales. About 03-quarters of his revenues came from sale of apartments, the remaining from renting.

“With home sales dropping, it doesn’t make business sense anymore,” he says. It’s the same story in other big cities. In Mumbai, a mid-size broker has set up a small fast food joint to make ends meet. In Nagpur, a real estater has quit the real estate business and set up an ice-cream parlour. Their worries are not unfounded. While the large and established players in the property business have managed to stay, even during the slump, thousands of smaller players like brokers and agents are being forced to look for other jobs.

It also hit lakhs of people employed with such small outfits – each of which hires 5-15 people.With many brokers closing shops or reducing size, these people are out in the market, looking for jobs in sectors such as retail, banking, insurance and call centres. The real estate industry employs about 10 lakh people across the country, the majority in the unorganised sector.

In the first quarter of 2011, home sales dropped 17 per cent in Mumbai, 14 percent in Bangalore and 15 percent in Hyderabad. According to consultant Jones Lang La-Salle, unsold residential units in projects that are complete or are nearing completion in 6-12 months in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR are as high as 25 percent and 16 percent, respectively. In other big cities, including Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, the numbers range between 12 percent and 19 percent. Sales in tier-II and tier-III cities are steady, though there is some panic due to the increase in interest rates, which have climbed to about 11 percent from 8.25 percent a year ago.

“For smaller brokers, the impact of the current market factors is a lot more compared to the larger brokers,” says the president of the National Association of Realtors India . “Even for our members – who are fairly well-off – business is down 40 percent compared to 2009-10. But the smaller guys are in trouble and are setting up businesses that move on a daily basis. Many I know have asked their employees to look out” Ravindra Bramhe, chairman of the Maharashtra Property Brokers’ Association, says.

For whatever business is left in the market, there are hundreds of agents in queue. For instance, there are pockets on the Noida Expressway, near large projects, where real estate brokers can be seen sitting inside small tents, under the sweltering sun, waiting for business. Those who can’t afford to set up these tents can be seen on the roadside, running after every car that passes by, with brochures and flyers of projects in hand. Industry refers to them as the broker mandi. “All my friends and colleagues are now looking outside real estate before things get worse,” says Chaudhary. Many have returned to the insurance industry and others have found jobs with small call centres. A few have found employment with retail stores.

Realty Prices Peaking, Time to Sell Your House and a Correction in the Rancid

Posted on by

As property prices exceeds the 2008 peak levels, realty experts believe that a correction is possible in the next couple of quarters, especially in cities like Delhi and Mumbai where prices have grown up fast. This offers an opportunity to real estate investors to gain profits.

A Navi Mumbai-based marketing executive, Parvinder Singh Sidhu, agrees. Five years ago, he had bought a second home of 750-sq-ft flat at Belapur in Navi Mumbai for about Inr13 lakh. At present, the price of the flat is Inr35-40 lakh. However, with the talk of correction in the Mumbai property market, Sidhu is planning to sell this house and earn profits now. “I have a house to stay, so I can think of selling this one. If property rates come down in the future, I could buy a similar property at a lower price,” he says.

Is it really a good time to cash in on your real estate investment? Yashwant Dalal , president of the (EAAI) Estate Agents Association of India, says that property prices in many markets have begun to show signs of correction. ” Where the rates have peaked, we expect the prices to go down by 25-40% in metro cities. If you had bought a house previously just as an investment, I would suggest that you sell as soon as you can and buy a similar property at cheaper price later,” says Dalal. According to him, property bought even 03 years ago may have appreciated nearly 100-150 percent in some areas, so it may be a good time to book profits.

BAI Advices Maharashtra Government to Take Over SRA Redevelopment

Posted on by

MUMBAI: In view of the tremendous response received by state-run housing corporation MHADA for its offer of 4,034 houses under different categories, Builders Association of India has adviced the Maharashtra government to take control of the redevelopment of SRA schemes and nominate MHADA, MMRDA and CIDCO as the official agencies for redevelopment of slum. BAI Treasurer, Anand Gupta said, “MHADA, MMRDA and CIDCO like agencies could offer free rehabilitation houses to eligible slum residents by constructing multi – storied buildings as provided in the SRA Scheme. They can sell the balance area to all those applicants of MHADA flats who did not get allotment”. BAI has sent a written proposal to state government in this regard.

“Over 2 lakh people had applied for the 4,034 MHADA flats in May this year, and nearly 7 lakh home-seekers are expecting that they will get flats at very reasonable rates. Funding such projects will not be an issue since customers are ready to buy the houses at rates and terms of payment as announced by MHADA”. MHADA has a unique advantage, it has over a period of time collected a huge data base of home-seekers in Mumbai, which promises ready customers for affordable and mass housing segments.

All these Government bodies have made the mandatory consent by 70 percent slum residents will not be required. As per SRA record, 1,046 plots are available with state Government for redevelopment. That can house 3,70,000 flats of 430 square feet as per carpet area, and provide housing to six lac slum residents.

Decline in Office and Commercial Space Demand in Mumbai

Posted on by

India’s business capital, Mumbai, is witnessing a decline in demand for office and commercial space with dealings down by more than half since last year. Classy office space in the center of Mumbai, but it looks there are few buyers. According to a report, need for commercial real estate is lingering. Dealings of 0.88 million square feet were recorded in the fourth quarter i.e. January to March of Fiscal 11, against the 2.81 million square feet transacted in quarter 4th of Fiscal 10, that’s a 68 percent decrease in demand.

Though sale connections showed marginal progress from 13 to 23, the number of properties leased dropped from 54 to just 28 at the same time. A Consulting agency Cushman and Wakefield points to the high level of vacancy rate of 20 percent. Usually it is the BFSI and the IT and ITeS sectors that habitually drive demand in the commercial real estate space. Also since starting of this year the market has been polluted by several scams and that has unfavorably obstructed plans of several corporates.

Still, industry experts says in 2011 demand for commercial real estate across the country is expected to be around 42 million square feet. So, 2011 will be a pretty interesting year in terms of demand. The challenge on pricing will continue to stay. As the demand & supply disparity continues, most developers have so far desisted from hikking rental values. But still, market sentiment continues to be gentle with players expecting large developers to minimise prices further.

New Parking Lot Policy

Posted on by

MUMBAI: An amended BMC parking lots policy submitted for state government approval, could earn it several hundred crores a year from builders. The developers , who build parking lots free in return for incentive construction rights, will now have to share 40% of their profits with the BMC. “Each new parking lot could get us Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore. Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar overtake the original policy a few weeks ago because it was delayed in accusation of favoritism and corruption.

In March, CM ordered the BMC to review it after criticism that the scheme only helped builders enjoy unusually high profits under the appearence of executing a public scheme. Developers used this scheme which is very well known Parking FSI to build 50-60 storey-high luxury skyscrapers, mainly in central Mumbai.

Critics said developers spend hardly Rs 1,500 a sq ft to build parking lots, but the incentive as additional FSI from the government was worth Rs 20,000 –  Rs 25,000 per sq ft.

The amended policy will constrain the height of the parking lots to ground plus 04 storeys and two basements. The original scheme sanctioned parking towers of 10-15 storeys high. The BMC committee wants the traffic police department to evaluate peak level actual parking on all roads over 60 feet wide and 250 m in length as well as on station and public assembly areas.

The BMC issued starting certificates to 11 public parking towers, eight in the Parel-Dadar belt and three in Goregaon for 15,845 vehicles. Only these projects are given go ahead.

TATA Housing Project

Posted on by

Company declared in the coming three years will build a luxury housing project in Gurgaon and also declared its plans to venture into the international market this financial year. The sale price of a house starts from Rupees 1.5 crore. As the company’s expansion plan company is coming up with apprx 10 new projects this year. Also, they are looking at two new lines of business related to land development. It will be smaller in size than the realty business.” The company is planning to expand operations into international markets.

The plan to get into the international market is in advance stages, while the proposal for expanding into two new lines of business is still at an intial stage. He did not reveal further details on these new initiatives.  This is the company’s second project in the city and the company is in advanced stages of launching two more projects in the Delhi-NCR this financial year.

Lodha Group to pay Tax Rupees 60 crore

Posted on by

Income Tax department officials seized crores in unaccounted cash from lockers of the employees of real estate genius Lodha Group, five months after it has asked the company to pay Rs 60 crore in taxes. In January, the I-T department had raided about 20 premises of Lodha Group on alleged misquoted of income. The surprise visit by IT official was based on a tip off suggesting overestimated expenditure using faux receipts and cash payments from clients. The invade had shielded Mangal Prabhat Lodha the Chairman and his two sons the directors of the company.

While investigating the documents found at the premises, I-T officials came across details of bank lockers in the name of the company’s employees. When these lockers, in all 26, were invaded, unaccounted cash running into crores of rupees were found. In the first raid itself, the department had found unaccounted Rs 6.5 crores in an employee’s Kalbadevi locker. Addition to that Rs 1.5 crore were found in the offices and residential premises of the company’s owners. The I-T officials had also held over 10 note counting machines from the group’s offices. IT officials said the entire exercise was undertaken by the company to escape tax. Now, the I-T department has freezed the company’s annual income at Rs 200 crore and asked the Lodha Group to pay Rs 60 crore.

 

An Apartment in Mumbai goes for Rs 20 crore and Rs 61.5 crore in Delhi

Posted on by

MUMBAI

An apartment, measuring approx. 3000 sqft, recently was dealt for about Rupees 20 crore on Carmichael Road. This large apartment has a huge entrance lobby, living room with an adjoining dining area and a separate study room. The master bedroom has an en suit bathroom with a walk-in closet and beautiful sea views. The apartment has separate servant’s quarters and a covered and an open car parking. The building is equipped with amenities like a garden, pool table and a gym . Carmichael Road is one of the most posh localities of Mumbai with several oldstyle bungalows and apartment buildings.

PUNE

Lately, a 3-BHK apartment was sold at a price of Rupees 44,33,000 in Rich Woods, a new project by Rama Developers in Chikhli in the city. The price included of the car parking charges . Rich Woods is a project of 180 large 2 & 3 BHK apartments in 07 imposing towers with high-tech amenities and facilities. Chikhli is directly accessible from the Nashik highway and has great connectivity to the Pimpri Chinchwad area. This Group has made its mark in the city with two well executed projects to its credit. The base rates are being quoted at  3,100 per sqft, while the general residential rates in the area range between Rs 2,600 per sqft and Rs 3,100 per sqft. Chikhli area has grown as a feasible residential locality. It has become a perfect option for investors as well as ultimate users.

DELHI

In a latest deal in Delhi , a 600 square yard plot was dealt at a range of Rupees 61.5 crore. This old Ground+01 property is located in Shanti Niketan which is  a rich residential micromarket in South Delhi. The property has been purchased by a well-known builder in NCR for redevelopment. The builder plans to build a Ground+3 storied structure and construction activity will start soon. The builder has already started marketing the project . The first floor is been quoted for Rs 20 crore, the second floor for Rupees 20.5 crore, and the third floor for Rs 21 crore. The project commands a premium in terms of price, due to its South Delhi location which is well connected to all the major business complexes in the NCR and most of the foreign embassies are in the neighbourhood in the location.

NRI TCG and US Based VRT Invests Rupees 270 crore in Mumbai, National Capital Region Residential Projects

Posted on by

NRI investor Purnendu Chatterjee’s TCG Real Estate and US-based Vornado Realty Trust, is in the final stages of investing Rupees 270 crore in two residential developments in NCR and Mumbai. The fund will invest Rupees 150 crore and Rupees 120 crore in housing projects in Mumbai and Noida, respectively, and pick up 40-45 %  in each of the projects, said a person known with the fund’s plans.

“The 400 million  Dollars Fund works with land-owners, state governments and developers; particularly medium size developers who lack both money and management talent, to produce international quality real estates, which supply to the high demand sector of the industry. The Fund takes both controlling and minority positions. The Fund also looks at investing in related sectors such as construction, mortgage, lending and infrastructure. The Fund invests between  5 million Dollars to 50 million Dollars in each investment. TCG is the property development and investment arm of The Chatterjee Group.

 

Income Tax Department Procured Real Estate worth Rs 2,500 crore in a Fiscal

Posted on by

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department became one of the largest purchasers of real estate properties last year as it embarked on a mega expansion fling to spread its establishment for enhancing taxpayer services in the country.

The department, which has recently started a special drive to check frequency of black money in the country’s real estate sector, has acquired high-worth properties worth about 2,500 crore in more than 20 cities in the last year alone.

The largest possession by the department has been at the cost of more than 2,000 crore for the purchase of office space in the civic centre near the national capital’s marketing hub, Connaught Place. The civic centre is the tallest building in Delhi. The department has likewise purchased 56 staff quarters worth more than 89 crore at the pricey Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai.

“All the purchases have been done in order to inflate taxpayer facilities and to provide better living and working facilities for the department staff. No doubt the department’s purchasing power has been the largest in the last financial year.”  The department, with these possessions in the real estate sector has probably become the largest government department to acquire and create real estate in the country, the Income Tax commissioner said.

The shopping bucket of the department, has other high-profile acquires and possessions like creation of a training centre and hostel facilities for new comers of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) at their alma mater – National Academy of Direct
Taxes (NADT) in Nagpur at the cost of Rupees100 crore.

In Chandigarh, the I-T department has purchased 5,000 acres of land for office space at the cost of more than Rupees 33 crore, a centralized air conditioned I-T office at Udaipur at the cost of more than Rupees 16 crore, acquisition of land for creation of office building for the department in Mumbai at about Rupees 23 crore and land measuring more than 9,500 sq m at Jamnagar, Gujarat for office building at  Rupees 8 crore.

Another set includes office building at Siliguri for 5.5 crore and a separate creation of 49 residential sectors and guest houses at Siliguri in excess of 10 crore. One more big acquirement by the department has been made at Muzzafarpur in Bihar for building staff quarters at the cost of more than 21 crore.

The department has also been sustained by the success of direct taxes (income tax) collection which was about 4.50 lakh crore in the financial year 2010-11. Despite the department paying 72,000 crore in refunds, the stout direct tax collection is the highest in any financial year.

11% Hike Observed in Mumbai Rentals

Posted on by

Rising real estate rates may have resulted in a spiky decline in property sales, but it has lead to a good growth in rental value in Mumbai and other metropolitan cities in the country. Mumbai and the outskirts of the city have seen an 11% growth in rental value in the past year. The figure for Bangalore, Pune and Delhi has shot up by 13%, 11% and 9% respectively.

Unexpectedly, rental value in South Mumbai, one of the most preferred locations to stay in the city, has seen a drop. The Worli residential market saw a 21.31% drop last year, while the figure for Prabhadevi, Parel and Bandra (West) fell by 18%, 12% and 11.57%. “The rent in South Mumbai had gone up to the roof. It is still unaffordable. So, people are shifting towards the suburbs and outskirt of the city,” a real estate expert said. However, the rental value in the suburbs too has shot up radically. Borivli (West) witnessed a record of 42.25% growth, while the rates have shot up by 35.04% in Powai, 28.32% in Malad and 20.40% in Kandivli (East). The Mumbai metropolitan region too has seen a rise in rental value. The figure for Mira Road and Seawoods shot up by 39.28% and 36.36% respectively in the past year.

A real estate expert featured the rise in rental value to exorbitant property rates in Mumbai. “People prefer to stay in rented homes instead of buying a house. Also, there is a huge arrival of people in the city. As a result, there is a huge demand for rented homes,” a study says. Government data compiled by the stamp duty department also shows that there is a 35% of rise in the number of lease agreements being signed in the city.

DLF Deals with Mango: Ramps its Presence in Fashion Retail

Posted on by

DLF Brand, a subordinate of DLF Ltd, has come up with its presence in fashion retail trade by collaborating with the Spanish Brand Mango. This happened since the brand announced its two other new retail trends, including a multi-brand showroom chain, of its own. The DLF group company had also launched, for the first time, its own brand, Pure Home and Living, a premier home decor and furnishing brand of retail showrooms. The first of the showroom opened in Delhi  two months back competing with Future Group’s Home Town and Landmark Group’s Home Centre.

Mango, the Spanish Fashion Brand, with over 1,700 showrooms worldwide, decided to sign up DLF as partner to fast track its expansion after nearly a decade of operations in India. The Spanish Brand of clothing has been majorly in partnership with Major Brands through which it released almost 15 stores. DLF will be leading the new showrooms openings. DLF, which has already opened Mango’s travel retail showroom at the new terminal (T3) of New Delhi airport and plans to add another six more stores in the current year, said DLF Brands CFO Dipak Agarwal.

“The major collaborations are now looking to grow assertively here in India having been around for so long. The company wants to concentrate on brand-building and designate the expansion to its franchisee,” Agarwal added. DLF also operates other universal fashion names such as Armani, DKNY, Ferragamo and Mothercare.

DLF is set to launch a multi-brand retail store chain of international fashion brands, the company official said. These showrooms will also store brands that are not part of DLF Brands and will be competing with the high-end retail formats like The Collective, a unit of Aditya Birla Nuvo.

“The multi-brand showrooms will be like a premium discount showrooms keeping high-end fashion labels but at lower price, as there is an opportunity in the market for such showrooms which are highly internationally popular. These stores will be done up gracefully and won’t look like the second stores or factory outlets which are available at present,” Agarwal said. The first of the multi-brand showroom is spread across 10,000 sq. ft which will open in Gurgaon.

DLF group spreads across 16,000 to 18,000 sq. ft is looking to open more 4-5 stores in Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune by end of this year.

TATA Housing Development enters into Redevelopment of Old Buildings, Mumbai

Posted on by

TATA Housing Development, a subsidiary of Tata Group is entering into its home market in Mumbai by taking up project of redeveloping of old building complexes. The developer has started operations pan India which has been restricted to building townships and residential complexes adjoining the Greater Mumbai.

Brotin Banerjee, Managing Director & CEO, TATA Housing Development said, “we expect to start doing the premium housing project of redevelopment of the societies in the western suburbs of Mumbai such as Andheri and Bandra. However, in such redevelopment projects societies normally they call for bids, which make it quite competitive. This was told to Financial Chronicle.

The company hopes that its reputation for ethical behavior would get preference even if its bid is lower than others as these societies have had bad experience when dealt with lesser known realtors.” Unlike certain other developers we cannot cut corners or engage in illegal activities as these would violate the TATA code of conduct”, so it would be safer for the societies to go with developers who don’t bend rules and give a better quality housing product said Banerjee.

“These projects would help us ensure that premium development brings in around 60 per cent of our revenues this year even though they will constitute only around 40 per cent of the number of units being constructed,” said Banerjee. The company currently has 45-50 million square feet of area under development. This is split across value and premium housing respectively and includes around four to five million square feet of commercial and office development.

The company expects the first such development projects to be signed up over the next 6-9 months. “Under the Smart Value Homes and New Haven brands itself we have 15,000 homes under construction,” he added.

By the end of this fiscal year the company hopes to have operations in Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Khandala, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh and the National Capital region.

Shapoorji Pallonji Group Lays Focus On Infrastructure

Posted on by

3D Realty Handshake
tThe multi million Shapoorji Pallonji Group, India’s one of the oldest and biggest industrial house, is putting major focus on “owned” infrastructure as far as the roads, ports and power are concerned. This has been done as the company approaches 150th year of operations.

Mr. Shapoor Mistry, Group MD said during a function in Mumbai, “We have done a lot of projects under our company Afcons as contractors; now we will give a greater push for ownership-based infrastructure projects. We have already done some work in these areas, but owing projects would be our key focus.”

The group’s interests lie majorly in Real Estate, Construction, Textiles, Apparels, Shipping and Water Purification Appliances.

Shapoor’s father, Mr. Pallonji Mistry, Chairman, Shapoorji Pallonji Group is reportedly one of the largest shareholders in Tata Sons with 18.5% stake in the salt-software corp. house.

Gitanjali Gems Ltd developing Residential Project

Posted on by

Residential tower above Harvey Nichols, Bristol
Borivli, in Mumbai’s western suburb is to be gifted with a residential project brought by Gitanjali Gems Ltd who is the leading diamond jewelery manufacturer and retailer.

The project is spread over an area of 400,000 sq ft. the project consists of two similar wings residential towers having 28 stories each with ultra modern amenities and two podiums. It is oriented in the direction facing Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Gitanjali Infratech Ltd which is a 100% subsidiary of the Gitanjali Group is going to develop this project.

The developers will offer possession in somewhere mid of 2013 while the bool=kings will be open from September. The expected revenue Gitanjali would be able to fetch is around 400 cr.

Along with this project, two more projects are on the list of Gitanjali Infratech.

Yatra Capital to Increase Investment In India

Posted on by

Panama Property = Money
Photo by thinkpanamaEuronext-listed company, Yatra Capital managed by Saffron Capital Advisors, an Indian Real Estate Private Equity fund has announced to invest around 20 million Euros in India in FY10. The company plans to invest the Rs 115 cr in two deals in the domestic sector of real estate. The company has as of now invested about Rs 916 cr in 13 projects which include 2 entity-level details.

The weighted average Yatra Equity Fund covers 27 million square feet spread over nine cities. They have sold or pre let over 3 million square feet across various projects.

The chairman and Co-Founder, Yatra Capital, Mr. Christopher Wright said, “In India, one needs to be very careful on Real Estate investments as the market is volatile. After a drop in 2008-09, the realty sector is now moving up. The Indian economy is growing well making people more confident on future investments. We have invested 44% in residential projects, which would be our focus area in future. We always look at investing in affordable residential projects in tier I and II cities.”

Yatra has invested in 90 cr Residential Project and 97 cr Market City Retail Project at Pune, 115 cr in Riverbank Holdings, 91 cr in forum IT parks and 23 cr in Taj gateway at Kolkata, 160 cr in market city at Bangalore and 57 cr at Nashik.

It has entered partnership with Phoenix Mills for 5 various projects across Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai.

A presentation by Yatra to investors in March this year said, “Most markets have seen positive traction due to price cuts. However, developers have now started raising prices especially in Mumbai and the National Capital Region which has led to a slowdown in sales. Projects where pricing is realistic continue to enjoy healthy absorptions. The monetary environment tightening may impact the fund raising environment for many real estate companies still out to raise money. Investor enthusiasm for participation in realty IPOs remains muted.”

Sheth Developers concentrating again on Vivacity Mall

Posted on by

250 Bishopsgate, London, E1
Since the demand of commercial real estate is increasing due to the increase in retail activity, Sheth Developers, a property firm tied up approximately half the space at its upcoming 1 million sq ft mall in India’s financial capital.

Sheth developers are Mumbai based developers. They have lined up retailers Hypercity and Shopper’s Stop. Also Cinepolis, which is a Mexico-based multiplex chain, is lined up as tenants for the ‘Vivacity’ mall at Thane which is currently under-construction. All this information was gathered by some reporters on Monday from the vice-president for marketing & leasing of Sheth developers.

He also admitted that although the firm had slowed down construction work due to the market slump, they are now back into operation since their leasing team is getting tremendous response now.

This mall has a total of 670,000 sq ft area as the saleable area and it scheduled to start operations by August 2011.

India’s Silicon Valley- Bangalore

Posted on by


Photo by dno1967Bangaluru has over the years gained immense popularity as the hub for IT industries in India. With great opportunities like world class education, working environment, living standards it is not wrong to mention it as the “The Silicon Valley of India”.

Many non-Bangaloreans now call the city their home. It is interesting to note that over 10,000 dollar millionaires and about 60,000 super rich people are currently living in the city with huge investments to make. All these have made Bangalore a hot spot for Real Estate Market, both Residential and Commercial.

Residential market has seen some significant action with many developers like Prestige and Sunil Mantri, Sobha, rolling out new projects in micro market segment. Some of the key areas in Bangalore, where the residential demand has picked up, are Sarjapur Road and Whitefield, Doddakanenahalli and, Jayanagar.

The supply is growing in line with the revived commercial real estate demand. Latest report from Cushman & Wakefield implores that the total projected supply for the current year is 12.42 million square feet of office space, more than twice the supply delivered in the year 2009.

Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) conducted a survey among 5 cities, amongst individuals aged between 25-39 yrs, stated that Mumbai and Bangalore are the most preferred places to live as the cities provide the best quality of life as well as the most courteous people. Bangalore is also identified as a city which is in the process of development on multiple counters – numerous projects have been initiated in areas of Infrastructure, Power, Water, and Sanitation.

All this indicates that this will be a good investment destination, hence attracting FDIs and NRIs fund flows as time goes.

The RBI’s Realty Indices For Ahmedabad

Posted on by

Ahmedabad happens to be one of the 11 countries for which the reserve bank of India would prepare one index for commercial and one for residential properties. This is done to curtail speculations and expected realty bubble burst in the coming years. The RBI report on asset price monitoring system (ASMS) advised to formulate these indices two months back.

Reserve Bank of India, Kolkata
Photo by seaview99

Many different countries such as Canada, France, us refer to these indices for realty prices.

The report says, RBI should start compiling a realty index and update it every quarter. To begin with, the report has proposed Mumbai and Delhi where property prices have skyrocketed to record levels. After these cities RBI would add 10 other cities which include Greater Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bangalore and Bhopal.

The real estate price index once devised would become the primary index that could be perused by investors to gauge the performance of companies that are listed in the realty sector. The index can also help the investor analyze how real estate is performed in comparison to stocks and bonds. It can also provide information on the risk involved in a particular investment and returns that can be achieved from it.

The ASMS report has defined the deficiencies this indices would help overcome.

Mumbai to have World’s Tallest Residential Tower

Posted on by

Window washing boom at The Legacy at Millennium Park
Since the home prices continue to surge in the financial capital of the country, one of the leading real estate developers of India, Lodha Developers have come up with the tallest residential tower in Mumbai. For the financial support, Lodha is negotiating with foreign as well as local financiers.

A banker informed that the Lodhas have approached the property fund of mortgage giant HDFC for over Rs 1,000 cr. and the leading Singapore funds, GIC and Temasek.

Presently, the world’s tallest residential tower is in Australia, known as Queensland Number One which has a height of 322.5 metres. While due to the market downturn, some of the major projects in the West are put on hold, there’s some movement in the Middle-East. Dubai is to come up with a tower of height 516 metres having 120 floors.

The New York architects,Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, who have designed some of the most lavishing architectural marvels across the globe, around 200, are to be hired by the Lodhas for this tower.  Some of their famous marvels are Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, Louvre Pyramid in Paris and John Hancock Tower in Boston.

Realty Now Attracting Textile Firms

Posted on by

2005-07-02 028
Since the land rate are rising and realty seems to be the most profitable market, many of the top textile firms are also attracted to this business and are thus generating additional revenue streams by developing or selling precious real estate.

Some of such firms are Provogue India, Century Textiles & Industries, Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing and Alok Industries. These all aim at boosting the cash flow and reducing debts.

In the last year, the cities like Mumbai and Delhi have gone through a big hike in property prices. Across the whole world, Mumbai is rated as the most expensive office location.

The chairman of brokerage CNI Research, Kishor P Ostwal said that a lot of companies own huge land banks but the valuations in the market are given only to those who aim to develop these land banks and not just own them.

Thus, Century and Bombay Dyeing are both rated as a ‘buy’ by Ostwal since they have premium large tracts in central Mumbai.

Major Land Deals in India

Posted on by



Residential building
Since now days, land is the most promising resource, the developers are ready to pay any price just to get into the realty business.

Here are some of the major deals in the field of land:

1. The Lodha developers had a deal of Rs 4,053cr for a plot of 25,000 sq mts. The sq per mtr cost is about  Rs 81,818.
2. Next closest deal was by Sunteck India. It was a deal of Rs 3,465 crore. Following Sunteck was Indiabulls Real Estate at Rs 3,327 cr which was backed by Gaurhari Estate at Rs 2,251 cr.
3. In 2008, BPTP, a Delhi based builder had a deal of Rs. 5000 cr for a 95 acre plot in Noida. Unfortunately the deal could not get through.

Lodha Developers plan to launch a 650 million dollar IPO in the end of this year. Also, they plan to build a residential building worth Rs. 10,500 cr in the center of Mumbai.

Survey on Realty Growth

Posted on by

contact: rajkamal.aich@gmail.com
Analysis of the growth in real estate sector in last few years was performed. It revealed some very interesting statistics of the growth. The facts go like this:

In 2007, the office sector experienced highest demand. Grade A office space of about 32 million sq ft leased out in that year. But after that, it has been a decline throughout. In 2008, it reduced to 28 million and a further decrease to 21 million in 2009. However, now a growth back to 28-29 million is seen. Although it is less than what was in 2007, but still is complementary. This demand majorly comes from infrastructure companies, from Indian corporate who wish to merge, from pharmaceutical etc and it is at pace in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai.

After the office space, we move on to the residential sector, where once again these three cities are putting their landmarks. Even on the account of increasing prices, these cities have managed to go through a rise in demand. In cities like Mumbai where the pricing went through a downfall of around 25-30%, it has once again come back with the demand as well as pricing. However, the situation is not the same in the other regions of India as far as residential sector is concerned.

Next comes the retail sector. This sector has not seen much growth. Although the demand from some new Indian corporate, the existing retailers and many foreign retailers, this sector still seems to be gloomy for now.