Top real estate developers give political parties over Rs 630 crore in electoral bonds

The largest recipient of donations was the Bharatiya Janata Party, which received over Rs 314 crore; the India National Congress received about Rs 98 crore. More than Rs 90 crore went to BRS, while TMC took home Rs 41 crore. 

According to data released by the Election Commission and compiled by the State Bank of India, the top 25 real estate developers have donated more than Rs 630 crore to political parties in the form of electoral bonds, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) receiving the largest share of Rs 314 crore. 

The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) received Rs 41 crore, the Congress received approximately Rs 98 crore, the Shiv Sena received approximately Rs 87 crore, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) received over Rs 90 crore. 

With donations from subsidiaries like DLF Commercial Developers Ltd, DLF Luxury Homes Ltd, and DLF Garden City Indore Pvt Ltd, DLF became the largest real estate developer donor to the BJP, giving a total of Rs 180 crore between 2019 and 2023. 

In October 2019 and April-July 2023, respectively, Prestige Group and its subsidiaries gave more than Rs 45 crore to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, the Indian National Congress, and the Bhartiya Janata Party. 

Other noteworthy donors include K Raheja Corp Private Ltd, based in Mumbai, which gave the BJP, Shiv Sena, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi a total of Rs 21 crore in April 2019 and October 2021. 

In October 2021 and January 2022, Anbee Constructions LLP, connected to Mindspace Business Parks Real Estate Investment Trust, gave over Rs 10 crore to the All India Congress Committee and Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

January-July 2022 and January-November 2023 saw gifts of over Rs 22 crore from commercial real estate developers such as LuLu India and Inorbit Malls to political parties like the BJP, Indian National Congress, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi. 

According to data provided by the State Bank of India (SBI) to the Election Commission of India on March 14, the Bharatiya Janata Party was by far the largest beneficiary of the electoral bonds scheme, receiving Rs 6,061 crore in political donations over the last five years. 

It represents 48% of all electoral bonds that political parties have cashed since the beginning of 2019-20 before its being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court earlier this year. 

With Rs 1,610 crore, the Trinamool Congress comes in second, and the Indian National Congress comes in third with Rs 1,422 crore.

Affordable Housing, a priority for real estate

With an aim to achieve housing for all by 2020 and thus planning new flats in Delhi/NCR till 2022, finance minister on January 1 had stated that the affordable housing schemes will be given infrastructural status which will be a great deal for builders like Ashiana, Housing, Puravankara. This move will dip the costs for the builders and developers and attract most and more investors.

It would also mean a great hike in demand for loans which would be a step in the forward direction for housing finance companies like Gruh Finance, as well as Repco Home Finance.

“Infrastructure status to the affordable housing segment especially to Noida real estate will mean lower loan costs for the sector and thus aims at the margin issues that private players in this segment face,” said Nidhi Seksaria, Advisory Partner & Leader – Real Estate, BDO India LLP.

“The combined with interest subventions, this could be a big step in making apartments for sale in Noida more affordable,” he said.

Ashiana Housing was already trading 15 percent higher at Rs 163. On the other hand, Puravankara was up by 3 percent. The housing finance companies, Gruh Finance was already up by 1.4 percent while Repco Home Finance was up nearly 2 percent.
To achieve the targets set by the government in the affordable housing sector, the builder tends to increase their number of apartments with a certain decrease in amenities which consequence into lower costs. The competition has increased in the past quarter and thousand of new flats for sale in Noida are being constructed and ready for you to live in.

Approval of Bangalore properties to go online

To manage Bangalore’s reputation of the country’s famous IT Hub, the BBMP has come out with a new rule which will be in favor of the technology. To ease the builders who own and want to convert them into a building for residential or office use, the procedure for getting the plan approvals will be done online. This was cut straight to chase the builders won’t have to run to post to seek clarifications. For this work, new executive engineers will be assigned the work of approvals. They will collectively work with zonal town planning officers.
This will be done in lieu of the latest E-Khata system announced in the BBMP budget on Saturday which said to enable the citizens to upload all the required documents and to avail their khatas online itself. Apart from this, the property tax collection which needs to be done will be carried forward by the geographic information system (GIS) in a collection with the Indian Space Research Organisation, according to the chairman of BBMP standing committee, MK Gunashekar (finance and taxation).

A digital survey of the whole Bangalore real estate will be carried out which will include tech parks, malls, and other commercial establishments, as well as the residential market of Bangalore, imageswill be minutely undertaken to ensure accurate evaluation of property tax.

5 reason you should buy a property in Noida

After the utterly clumsy place of the capital region of India, Delhi and the densely overcrowded place for offices, Gurugram people are quite as well left with a choice of Noida. This is the reason that the residential sector of Noida Real estate is highly increasing since the past two decades. Noida is considered as a cheap and easy city to live in provided its easy connectivity to Delhi, Faridabad, Agra, and Haryana.
Noida has been considered as the most affordable place to live in given the high number of affordable flats here. There are many reasons that add to the fact but if we want to name a few we can easily do so by guiding the basic points.
The first one can be the extremely well maintained and thoughtfully built infrastructure. The infrastructure that has built the city is the basic reason for more and more citizens coming here. The excellent infrastructure makes it capable of being the next best thing in the world. The availability of lands for residential, commercial as well as infrastructural facilities is something that makes it top the list leaving Delhi and Mumbai behind.
Second reason is the reputed faces of developers who are eyeing in this place to make their new launches. Builders like Supertech, Unitech, Ansal, Emaar, MGF and now Godrej has made their new launches in Noida and Greater Noida. These flats suffice all the segments of the society and promise to be affordable with the availability of luxury.
Third and the most important reason that helps people to relax and invest in these lands is new rules against Forgery. New and quick rules have now been applied to the forgery cases of land. Earlier, the land disrupts were handled by the court’s jurisdiction which always tends to stretch such cases to a number of years, but now a sigh of relief has approached when all these cases are being handed over to the stamps jurisdiction.
The fourth best reason would be the easy connectivity of Noida to other regions like Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Agra. The major plus point Noida has is the rapid availability of Metro from Delhi to Noida. Also, the ongoing construction of Metro from Delhi till Greater Noida via Noida will add a golden point to all these and make it more convenient for those who travel till Greater Noida and will also decrease the traffic on roads.
The fifth point is for those who have a property in Noida or are living on rent flats in Noida. The major availability of marketplaces throughout Noida makes it very easy and accessible to live here.

Increasing residential demand in the Silicon Valley of India, Whitefield

As it is known that there is a large workforce employed in the area of Whitefield, and preferring to live in the vicinity, is increasing up the demands for residential options here for the comfort of the employees.
Once known as a secluded area of Bangalore to the Silicon Valley of India, Whitefield’s story was shaped primarily by the IT Hub revolution that changed the sleepy landscape with Asia’s first tech park which rose up in 1994.
The excellent development that took place in Whitefield and the EPIP zone have seen over the years seems like a page of a fictional book with a perfect ending. Mammoth towers in glass and chrome stand tall amidst natural greenery which has been long preserved by the developers of these MNC acquiring most of the Bangalore properties especially in Whitefield. Many hitherto heavy manufacturing factories have given a big hand to making this a wonderful place with a lot of infrastructural possibilities and residential flats in Bangalore.
It is no wonder that after all these factors these localities in the vicinity of these ultra facilitated tech parks have largely begun to mushroom into elite gated communities of residential buildings. Villas the high priority choice by the people who want to live here and work in these high-end vicinity of business parks.
While the ITPB has singularly driven the demand for residential property options in its vicinity, the other tech parks and business parks in the EPIP zone too have drawn a high demand for housing options ranging from mid-segment apartments and high-end homes enclosed within well-appointed gated enclaves, to villas and plots.
A member of the committee, Jain has stated that Whitefield, Electronics City, and the EPIP zone was a major initiative taken by the government to create the place into something better which eventually turned out to be called as the Silicon Valley of India with a number of reputed Multi Nationals setting up their base here. This is also increased the demand for high-end flats and villas by the people who come here every year from all over the country to earn their lavish living.

Kolkata real estate take a hike after Price protect scheme

With Kolkata residential market still trying to rise from the after effects of demonetisation, developers have started applying their tricks to attract more and more customers by offering them innovative schemes.
The price protect schemes that were launched recently with the budget, in which the interested consumers would enjoy the benefit in case there will be any decrease in property rates, have helped in increasing the demands by 15% after the two months that followed the demonetisation.
Jitendra Khaitan, CMD of pioneer Property Management Ltd. Have stated that the Market is facing a positive growth and that approximately 50% hike in queries is expected along with a hike of 10-15% in actual sales. However, the price protect scheme is temporary, it will still effect the market majorly and increase the real estate market to a great extent in profit.
Khaitan also put out the word that these schemes are highly helping the market recover from the downfall after demonetisation. After the demonetization struck the nation there was almost up to 40% drop in queries and sales of homes in and around Kolkata as buyers waited for a fall in real estate prices.

Greater Noida real estate to work more on affordable housing

The Real Estate’s new Union bill spells happiness for Greater Noida homebuyers, as the recently rectified budget will give more powers to those who want to buy plots in Greater Noida and will also keep in mind the concerns of the builders to a major extent. The Real Estate Regulatory Bill directly aims at bringing transparency in the real estate sector. However, the announcements were being planned from a long time but the finance minister made the right time to announce all of it with the Union Budget of 2017. However, after demonetisation, this area has more supply for residential units and less investors but after the affordable housing schemes it is turning out to be the opposite. Most of the housing units sold in Greater Noida now have a lot of takers but have less supply. Therefore, after taking some major steps a mega plan has finally been sorted out to cater affordable housing for all till 2022.
The budget is expected to establish state level regulatory authorities RERAs with whom developers have to register projects above a certain size. If this will not be carried out, the builders will have to pay major fines. The developers will now state all facts like possession dates, construction quality facts public on their websites so as to give clearer picture. The developers will have to focus more and more on the affordable housing. They will now be providing 3bhk flats in the price of 2bhk.
All these new rules are expected to set transparency in greater Noida properties. The Big Impact is that this will prompt homebuyers to purchase property without the fear of being cheated. This will bring in more creditability to investors and the belief to invest in the real estate sector. This will also give a clear legal recourse in case of any dispute or delay in the construction.
This has helped people who were interested in buying in Greater Noida as with this law the problems of the dust made by demonetisation will settle down and more over the development which tends to cater the needs which was stalled for a long time is finally getting its breath back. This is helping the Greater Noida real estate sector to become more transparent and the work has finally resumed and the building which were left unreconstructed the last quarter, are now coming to an end to supply its consumers their dream home.

Where to buy your house in Bangalore?

Like every other place, Bangalore also hit itself hard with demonetisation. This deeply effected the realty sector which consequenced in the announcements on Akrama Sakrama Scheme, National Green Tribunal’s drive to reduce the lake beds in the city. However, this is now beginning to change with the initial dust of demonetisation finally settling down. With the Union Budget Announcement, which extended a big hand to support the affordable housing, the demands have increased yet again.

Bangalore is reported as the third largest hub for High Net Worth Individuals which increases the demands for luxury housing in the form of apartments or plots in Bangalore. As the southern and eastern zones of Bangalore are popular for their commercial complexes and workplaces, major residential demands are fed by these areas.

With a 4% increase of ready to move in demands, a data was collected about where should buy their properties according to the budget.

For those who wish to manage a housing within 40lakhs have a number of options to choose from sppecially in the IT hubs such as electronic city. 1bhk Flats falls the most popular under this category. Amonsgt married couples who choose to live in the city regarding work, opt for a 2bhk house in Electronic City, Whitefield or Bannerghatta Road.

The residential demand in these areas are the highest and always dominate the popularity charts with a perfect capture of 40% of the total demands.

Apart from this, the Bangalore real estate is not keeping the 3BHK Flats and private villas aside and are launching new apartments under the category of 60lakh to 1 crore in areas like Hennur which have large scale infrastructure, easy connect with outer ring road and the international airport. Apart from Hennur, Kanakpura Road and Hebbal are also set with their ready to move in flats to meet the expectations of investors who desire luxury laced with tranquility.

Now for those entrepreneurs who does not wish to compromise on their lavish living and royalty, Bangalore is providing them plots and private villas in the range of Rs 1 Crore- 2 crore in areas such as Sarjarpur Road and Arekere. These have recently turned out to be a royal investing for the rich entrepreneurs which are mostly HNIs.

Hyderabad to promise a positive realty sector

The last quarter of 2016 struck all of India with major impacts on real estate sector. In terms of Hyderabad city, the real estate sector have been really promising this quarter. The initiatives taken by the government have been fairly positive towards the residential sector. After demonetisation settled down, the GHMC recieved a total of 154 crore as it begun its decision to accept the banned currency from property tax payers. This meant that the currency accepted from the defaulters could be used in a constructive manner.

Hyderabad’s realty experts have expected that Hyderabad commercial market will soon become the leading market all over India, latest by 2018. The main reason behind this is the healthy accomplishment of affordable housing which therefore boosts the residential market as well. As the newly reputed companies are starting to set their base in the city, the residential supply in Gachibowli, Hitec City and Raidurg will increase. These residential sector are expected to be consumed by the expected increase of employees from 4.3 to 4.7 lakhs within the next 12 months.

Malls in India: Shopping, entertainment every thing

 

mallsMall are being constructed and designed as modern shopping complexes keeping focus on residents in the new luxurious housing units in Metro cities and in other urban centers also in India.

The malls accommodate every thing from retail chains to eating joints to entertainment zones. A customer can expect any to get every range of products including domestic and foreign brands.

There is a lot of scope for new malls in urban India, as the mall culture has been accepted by open hands by the Indians. The retail industry is only 4 pc in the mall and is expected to raise 30 pc in few years.

Top real estate developers have already launched several projects in the NCR region, which are attracting huge footfalls. According to a survey the ideal per capita mall space in India’s top urban centers is about 1.5 sq ft per person, but this can vary from city to city.

With an estimated urban population of 30 million people, one of the hottest markets the Delhi-NCR market can absorb more in it. With the rise in demand the average size of malls in India has increase as the developers are focusing on larger spaces. It is estimated that a large mall average size is 4,50,000 sq ft.

The larger mall allows the tenant to mix the various formats, and with the introduction of multi-brand the size needs to be larger as most of the areas are occupied by the foreign retailers.

The wave group and the DLF are going to open new malls in sector 18, Noida very soon. The malls will give a blend of entrainment and shopping with possible all the amenities. The Wage grup is alos plnning to extend arms in Tier-II cities in India.

CREDAI Finally Says “No” to Real Estate Corruption

 

credai anti corruption

Anti Corruption Campaign By CREDAI.

CREDAI– Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India has asked the members not to bribe officials as part of their anti-corruption policy. This warning is resulted from the hurt feeling caused by the growing allegations on real estate corruption. Continue reading

How Koramangala Became a Hot Real Estate Destination in Bangalore

The area spread over 1,800 acres in eight blocks, was once petrified by mosquito menace and mangroves. Once upon a time localities used to call Koramangala ‘Sollemangala’ (Solle means mosquitoes in Kannada). It was a village and was considered not a great place to live for a Bangalorean in the 80s and 90s.

Today, it is one of the hottest real estate destinations in India’s Silicon Valley. “I would kill to get a place in Koramangala,” said MR Jagannathan jokingly. The 60-year-old retired employee stays very close to Koramangala. “It used to be in the outskirts of the city when I could afford it. Now, unfortunately I cannot buy a place there.” This is just a glimpse of how much the landscape and aspiration for Koramangala has changed over the years.

“You won’t believe it. I once had an offer to buy a plot in Koramangala for a few lakhs in the 90s. That time if I would have stretched a bit I could have actually owned something in Koramangala, but it was not so good then. This is one decision I regret to have made,” added Mr Jagannathan.

The Rahejas, real estate developers, are often credited with changing the landscape of Koramangala when they come up with mixed-use project called Raheja Arcade. Many companies those days shifted from other parts of Bangalore to Raheja Arcade. Then Forum Mall, which further increased the value of the locality. In fact Forum is one of the earliest malls in the country, which was constructed to meet international standards. Even to this day, it is one of most successful malls in the country.

At present, the rentals for mid-segment residential properties are expected to grow by 5-10 per cent in the Koramangala locality over the next few months. “This is due to good social as well as physical infrastructure, good connectivity to various business districts and availability of premium developments,” said Naveen Nadwani, director South India, for Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate consulting firm.

“Rentals for residential properties in the high-end segment are expected to remain stable while mid-segment are expected to witness further increases on account of persistent demand. While in the commercial office market space as well as in the retail segment, rentals may remain stable in the short to medium term,” added Mr Nadwani

While the rate for land parcels range between Rs 13,000-15,000 per square feet, not much of commercial space is available for sale. “At present, no major land parcels suitable for developers are available in Koramangala. Only a few scattered small plots ranging up to a size of 3,500 sq ft owned by individuals are available,” added Mr Nadwani. The residents of Koramangala are buying whatever is available. Recently, a well-known local businessman bought two adjacent plots in the vicinity. 

 

Delhi: Homes Sells Faster Than Mumbai

Mumbai may be second to Delhi in unsold homes, but it will take longer to sell them. Real estate developers in the financial capital must wait over three years to clear 1.13 lakh units or 120 million sq ft as high prices deter potential buyers, shows a study released by Liases Foras, a real estate rating and research consultant.

The study covers units in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) — including Mumbai city, Thane, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai — National Capital Region in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. NCR, with 232.57 million square feet or 1.60 lakh units of unsold homes — roughly double Mumbai’s —will likely sell homes much faster, in 23 months.

“The NCR market is primarily an investor market and has very little comparison with Mumbai,” says Om Ahuja, chief executive officer (residential services) at Jones Lang LaSalle India. “The real estate market in areas like Gurgaon or Noida attracts a lot of money from neighbouring states like Punjab, UP and Delhi as people invest in residential properties.” Among the six metros, Pune homes will be sold the fastest, taking just 14 months to sell its 43.06 m sq ft at the current pace of buying. A steep rise in interest rates in the last 18 months was seen as the key reason for low sales as buyers try to avoid high home loan instalments.

The Reserve Bank of India cut key rates by 50 basis points last month, forcing lenders to lower their retail lending rates which could push sales.

 

 

Bengal Urban Land Policy: Seeks 30% Reservation for Low-Cost Housing

The promise of Ma, Mati, and Manush governance by Mamata Banerjee may fall short of the second M-word, meaning land — at least for real estate developers in the state’s capital city. For, the West Bengal government has now decided to bring in an amendment to the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act (ULCA), 1976, an eyesore of developers for quite some time. The proposed alteration will stipulate the developers to reserve 30 per cent apartments in big housing projects for the low-income group (LIG). Industrialists have been seeking a total repeal of the Act, introduced in 1976 to prevent hoarding or excessive holding of land in urban centres.

According to the Act, the ceiling limit on vacant land in a category ‘A’ city like Kolkata is 7.5 cottah or about 500 square meters. The demand for repealing the ULCA was raised for the first time by Godrej Properties chairman Adi Godrej, at an industry meet within the first month of Banerjee taking over the chief minister’s office.

Much to the disappointment of the developers, urban development minister Firhad Hakim has now totally ruled out the possibility of repealing the Act. “We are not going to abolish the Land Ceiling Act,” he said. “Instead, we will give permission to developers for purchase of land beyond ceiling, provided they reserve 30 per cent housing for low-income housing segment.”

As for the Trinamool dispensation, it has also decided to do away with the concept of public-private partnership (PPP) — an idea pioneered by the earlier Left Front government under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Instead, “the government will allocate land to the highest bidder and for the rest of the big projects the state will build on its own,” according to Hakim. Notably, in spite of the Land Ceiling Act, the earlier government had windfall gains by allotting land in prime areas of city.

For example, three prominent government agencies involved in land deals in and around Kolkata — the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Kolkata Municipal Corporation and West Bengal Housing Board— signed deals worth more than Rs 18,000 crore, for over 5,250 acres of land during the period in little over two years. In fact, KMDA was credited with signing deals, worth more thanRs 800 crore with real estate developers on a single day. “The process of land allotment slowed substantially over the last two years. First, it was due to elections,” said a city-based real estate developer. “Second, it was due to lack of vision and policy of the new government.”

DLF and Unitech stocks up for mortgage cut.

Real estate developers rallied after newspaper Times of India reported on Tuesday some banks were cutting home loan rates for new borrowers, sparking hope of increased property sales in the country.

DLF and Unitech rose about 1% each on the report, which said that lenders Canara Bank and IDBI Bankhad slashed these rates to attract new borrowers.

The reported moves sparked hopes other rival banks would be forced to match the cuts in the loan rates.

‘Simplify Administrative Procedures, Introduce Reforms’-CREDAI

Simplify administrative procedures, introduce land reforms and changes in banking and taxation systems is the way to increase construction of houses, according to Mr Lalit Jain, National President of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI). The developers have decided to make a representation to the Central Government on the issue of administrative reforms.

The governing council of the industry body will follow up on its representation, and in 45 days decide on further course of action, including going on strike, according to a press release from the confederation. The release said Mr Jain, addressing the annual governing council meeting in Pune, said the changes are needed to encourage the construction business. This will help increase the supply of houses and bring down costs. The Government and the private sector should partner to address the shortage in housing.

The real estate developers have been demanding the changes as they maintain that delays in getting project clearances, high land cost, high rates of taxation and shortage of funds in the real estate sector are driving up the cost of construction. The real estate developers’ organisation has emerged the main representative for the sector, as its membership includes more than 6,000 developers across 20 States and 100 associations in major cities in India.

Mr Pradeep Jain, National Chairman of CREDAI, said the industry body is encouraging self-regulation, by demanding its members to adopt a uniform code of conduct. The members discussed a range of issues that needed to be addressed, including the need for an affordable housing policy, undue delays in approvals, price rise, and standardising procedures across various States.

CREDAI is committed to disclosing the exact cost of a project, once the single-window clearance for approvals is set in place. Each developer will be required to mention the complete cost in each sale. In agreements with buyers, the developers must mention carpet areas in all sale material and agreements; each city unit will establish a consumer redressal forum for dispute resolution. Peer pressure and better understanding between buyer and seller helps resolve issues and save on cost and time for both parties and re-establish goodwill.

Real Estate Sector Brokers bail out Developers with Buyback Deals.

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

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

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

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

 

Real Estate Sops can’t impress Firms.

The finance minister relaxed borrowing norms for real estate firms and extended the loan subsidy for low-cost affordable houses. The concessions have, however, failed to impress the industry leaders who termed it as a too-little-too late move that would have a limited impact on the sector.

“I propose to allow ECB (external commercial borrowing) for low-cost affordable housing projects,“ the Budget said.

The move has a dual aim of expanding the window of funds for real estate developers such that affordable housing projects do not face cash crunch and are completed within the time frame.

Global consultancy Deloitte said RBI had earlier allowed ECB for developers in integrated township projects of 100 acres or more till December 31, 2010.

The FM also extended, by a year, the 1% interest subsidy on loans up to R15 lakh where the cost of house does not exceed R25 lakh.

Real Estate Sector is Worried Over Hike in Home Loan Rates by RBI

The hike in interest rates may have a wrinkly effect on the real estate sector with construction cost rising up. This announcement by RBI will have a negative impact on real estate developers already spining under pressure from lack of capital from financial institutions. It comes as bad news even for those looking to buy a house as loans would become more costlier. Several banks like ICICI Bank, SBI and IDBI indicated that they would increase interest rates on loans in near future.

Chairman of Credai said, “The 50 BPs hike is harsh. This will deepen the cash crunch scenario which industry is facing right now. Taking out funds of the market cannot be the only solution to overcome inflation. The current pressure on prices is global in character and reflects supply side bottleneck. The solution is not monetary tightening. To me it is surprising and anti-housing policy.” Ashok Tyagi, group CFO, DLF said, “hiking interest rate has never been a tool to fight inflation. This could start impacting supply side investment.”

Income Tax Department to Probe Suspected Real Estate Deals.

The Income Tax department is looking into all the alleged deals of real estate to check the contribution of black money and tax dodging of such dealings in the last few years. The process starts in New Delhi and eventually would move to other metros.
“Analysis of the Property deals will start with New Delhi and appropriate actions would be taken as required”, Sudhir Chandra, Chairman CBDT said. In the past few years after IT department had received complaints about the black money involvment, IT department has raided many real estate developers, including the major ones.
IT officials says that they had uncovered lot of black money from most of the builders. A new process is being levied which would keep an eye on sources of funding for developers projects which includes individuals as well as property dealers.
Approx 40-60 percent of the cash componenet is unaccounted on papers. This helps builders to avaoid tax on cash  incomes. The deaprtment is focusing very closely more on dealers rather than small ones. The amount of assets detained by the IT department had been more than doubled in the last four years, while the number of raids had came down. IT department searched 529 groups in 2006-07. The number of searches dropped to 454 in 2007-08, 429 in 2008-09 and 409 in 2009-10.

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.

CREDAI Report on Application of Service Tax

Tax Service
According to CREDAI, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, due to the application of service tax as per the union budget 2010, the property prices will experience an increase.

All of us are aware of the fact that this service tax has come into effect since July 1. For those who don’t, a quick recap says that an introduction of “deeming provision” took place in Union Budget 2010 which brought realty within the horizon of service tax.

According to the president of CREDAI, Mr Chitty Babu, there will be an increase of around 2.5% in property prices on account of the levy. Additional to this, in locations like Tamil Nadu where land registration and sale of building are done separately, a hiatus of 66.3% has been granted, thus, service tax will be applicable on the balance.

Finally, this whole tax would come just on the shoulders of buyers. This fact has even been admitted by some developers that they would charge extra from the buyers themselves to pay this tax.

CREDAI to liaise in builder- buyer disputes

Do's and Dont's
In the Visakhapatnam chapter, regarding the disputes between buyers and builders, on Thursday, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) took responsibility of being a mediator so as to arbitrate the disputes.

A code of conduct was formally released by code of conduct, national president, CREDAI. This code was originally brought by the Visakhapatnam chapter as a measure of self-regulation. The formal release of this code of conduct announced many dos and don’ts for member developers/builders of CREDAI.

In the welcome address, K. Subba Raju, the chairman of CREDAI said that they would surely keep a watch on all members so that they adhere to the 27 guidelines of the code completely which in turn would develop a sense of confidence upon the fraternity.

MCHI Showcasing in Indian Realty Expo 2010

One of the most prominent bodies of realty developers and builders, Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry has planned to showcase the phenomenal work of Indian builders in the field of property in the 13th India Realty Expo 2010. This expo is scheduled from 3rd to 5th June, 2010 in Dubai, at the Renaissance Hotel, Deira. This step is taken by MCHI to bring some  of the NRIs in the Indian realty market.
is a member of CREDAI, Confederation of Real Estate Developers‘ Association of India. This expo will last as an opportunity to NRI investors to fully explore the offers and opportunities in front of them as far as Indian realty sector is concerned. This expo would throw light on all the fields, be it be housing, retail or commercial sector.
This ‘India Realty Expo’ will prove as a golden opportunity for the NRIs, especially in the Gulf region, to come back close to their motherland. Apart from CREDAI and MCHI, there will be 21 more builders who will participate in this expo. The expo will be held at from 5 pm to 9 pm on 3rd June whereas the timings for and June are 10 am to 1 pm and 4 pm to 9 pm. The main focus of this expo will be on the real estate sector of cities like Bangalore, Goa, Pune and Mumbai.