Tag Archives: real estate development

Affordable Housing, a priority for real estate

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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.

Rates to take a step down alongside Noida expressway

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In the NCR region, that is subtly attached to the capital region of India, Delhi there extends two expressways that are built to let the residents enjoy the great community and work from far off places while travelling through these roads. The eastern region has been accurately acquired by the 22km long through Noida and Greater Noida. The other one runs for 18km in the regions of Dwarka.

All these expressways are developed to join the regions of Delhi NCR in a better way providing the areas extending adjacent to them to the real estate developers to create more and more property in Noida and in Dwarka.

These lands were also supposed to be given to the developers who want to build commercial spaces and give away office for rent in Noida, Greater Noida, Dwarka, and Gurugram. This, however, made both the regions a large hub for the working class people who migrated here from all over the country. This gave a major boost to all the realty developers to build more and more residential complexes.

As soon as the areas were changing into residential complexes, the southern areas started to experience water and sewage problems. Developers were unable to provide their residents with the daily needs. However, the eastern region thoroughly enjoyed the regular facilities of water and sewage but could not gather proper funds. These developers tracked the funds from the farmers and this became a major reason to manage all the funds and thus fulfil the increasing demands of people. Also, after the demonetization process, those launched flats which were left in the middle of the construction period were unable to be delivered on the expected date of delivery. One Unitech project called Grande, located in Greater Noida was launched in 2007 and even after 10 years, it could not be completed due to inappropriate funds. Now as the government orders all the realty developers to increase the supply, these well-built flats would be sold at much lesser prices given its history of in accomplishment. These flats are built along with the Yamuna Expressway and were targeted towards those who wanted to have the luxury as they were built across an 18 hole golf course.

Due to these reasons and the post demonetisation effect where people just stopped thinking of following their dreams and the wish to buy a house vanished all of a sudden, lowering the rates seemed to be the only option. These low rates would fill the empty flats and would decrease the number of new flats that were to be constructed to meet the demands after the Union Budget of 2017.

Gudi Padwa, a positive occasion for Pune’s low Real estate

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With India’s economy finally growing its pace, Pune’s real estate market is now slowly witnessing a move in the forward direction in regard to the residential sector with a high rise in new residential launches. As prices are now stable and cheap after the announcement of the new set of rules in the Union Budget 2017, experts say that the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa will set a right tone in the minds of buyers to set their pace in investing new property in Pune.
With the storm of demonetisation slowly calming and settling down, Pune real estate is again starting to gather its momentum now. Gudi Padwa, according to experts is expected to give the sector a high increase in demands as residents of Maharashtra prefer home investments on the day. After slowly following this upward movement, Pune’s real estate market is expecting the past inquiries to be smoothly translated into sales. It has been noted that Pune has a huge unsold inventory of its real estate has slowed down since the past one and half years. Even those who cannot afford flats are inquiring for cheap 1bhk Flats in Pune in a relief of low-interest rates from banks and affordable schemes carried forward to them.
After the wonderful festive period, the real estate saw an exhausted inquiry inventory and a piled up sales record. This was due to the belief of auspicious occasion and the pocket-friendly schemes as after demonetization, real estate was one of the major sectors among many to be harmed by the cash crunch. Nevertheless, now as the cash flow in the bank is back to normal, the pace of remonetization has grown up faster than it was actually expected. Again, realty market in India has witnessed some big reforms like Benami Transactions Bill, RERA, or GST which are directly aimed at giving the sector of residential spaces transparency and more credibility.
It has been clearly seen in the country that a big investment like gold or property is considered more sentimentally than economically. Therefore the festive occasion added on to the sentiments and increased the sale to next level. Gudi Padwa, which marks a New Year in Maharashtra saw a huge increase in the sales as well as the new launched by reputed builders and developers of the state. Many people book their new homes or host housewarming parties in this occasion. Thus, Maharashtra real estate defines it as its level best on this day.

New residential projects in North Bangalore

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With the high increase in commercial activity in North Banglore region, the demand for residential sector also gets affected. New residential projects are being launched in this area which comprises of both apartments and Luxuroy homes (villas).

Bengaluru provides flats for sale in affordabe prices. The development in this area offers residential spaces for all three budgets; premium, mid range and luxury. Areas like Thanisandra, Yelahanka Doddaballapur, location near airport offers mig segment housing to its buyrers whereas, for luxury living one has to look for available in and arond Hennur Road, Kogilu, and some parts of Thanisandra.
New flats for sale in Hebbal-Yelahanka stretch of Bellary Road, which includes Hebbal and RMV II Stage has luxury apartments in the price range of Rs 8,000-12,000 per sqft. The areas situated beyond Devanahalli till Doddaballapur is very popular as it comprises of a large variety of high-end villa projects and also, plot development projects. The price here ranges between Rs 6,800-12,000 per sqft accumuating an area range of 2,500-7000sqft.
Meanwhile, the plot development projects in this area ranges from Rs 2,150 to 4,000 per sqft. Plots as well as luxury flats in this region are mostly preffered by high net worth individuals and investors due to their ability to serve as good holiday or retirement second home options. Apartments towards Nandi Hills Road are looked at with a keen eye as they range between Rs 7,300-10,00 per sqft. Vijayoura has new flats for sale ranging between 4,500-5,050.

Increasing residential demand in the Silicon Valley of India, Whitefield

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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

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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

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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.

Amrapali Dream Valley project’s action against MD

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Homebuyers of Amrapali Dream Valley project have written a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking the permission for impounding of the passport of Amrapali MD Anil Sharma.

The buyers are in a fear that Sharma may try to leave the country as the project is far from complete. Amrapali is one of top investors who is in debt of owing huge amount of money to Noida and Greater Noida authorities. Most of its projects are sold but is far from construction.

In a letter of appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi submitted on February 22, Dream Valley buyers have requested that impoertant measures should be taken to safeguard the interests of buyers who have deeply invested in Amrapali.

Meanwhile, the Noida homebuyers’ association on Thursday demanded explanation from the Noida Real estate authority on lack of investigation on their part and keeping a check on defaulting builders. They wrote a letter  seeking answers from the GNIDA, Nefowa referred to therecent arrest of Earth Infrastructure owner Avdesh Goel by the Delhi Police in response to complaints by the Economic Offences Wing. Goel was arrested on February 20 on the basis of complaints by investors in Amrapali.

Where to buy your house in Bangalore?

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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

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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.

Yamuna Expressway Awaits Approval Of Master Plan 2031

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Seeking approval from the state government, Yamuna Expressway Authority has dispatched a revised draft of Master Plan 2031 for the development of the first phase.
More residential development is likely to come on the Yamuna Expressway corridor.

More residential development is likely to come on the Yamuna Expressway corridor.

Yamuna Expressway Authority has dispatched a revised draft of Master Plan 2031 to the state government with some alterations. The altered draft omits plans to build Jewar Airport and the Yamuna Expressway Authority will reserve the set- aside- land for the airport.

Earlier 10,000 hectares of agricultural land was kept apart for the airport construction. Once the plan gets approval, the revisions will be implemented in the sub-regional plan of Uttar Pradesh.

During its last month’s board meeting, Yamuna Expressway Authority had declared that it would send revised master plan to the state government for approval.  However the move is believed to follow the State’s CM Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to construct the proposed airport somewhere nearby Agra or its neighborhood. Continue reading →

Lodha may buy DLF’s Mumbai land-sources

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India’s Lodha Group is in advanced talks to buy a plot of land in Mumbai from DLF, the country’s largest listed real estate developer, for about $500 million, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Sale of the 17-acre plot is seen as part of DLF’s plan to sell some of its assets to pare its debt of about $4 billion. DLF bought the land for about 7 billion rupees ($129 million) in 2005.

Mumbai-based developer Lodha has emerged as the front-runner for the land parcel in central Mumbai said the sources, declining to be named as the matter is not public yet.

DLF declined to comment, while a spokesman for Lodha said the company was not in talks with DLF.

Will MoU Between CREDAI, Fire Department work?

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Announcement of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) and the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services (KSFES) Department on fire safety certification has raised quite a few eyebrows in the real estate industry.

While an industry expert questioned how “credible” would the entire process be, if the issuance of a no-objection certificate (NOC) and a clearance certificate (CC), which earlier took months or even years, would now have to be completed within 30 days. “Currently, the KSFES has been manually going through each drawing and then mulling over all the errors and suggestions. This consumes a lot of time. According to our MoU, we will be providing software prepared by a company which would identify the errors in the drawing. It would indicate whether a particular project proposal is in acceptance of the norms by highlighting the faults in red colour. Then at the click of a button, the department can either condone or reject the proposal. The company has provided similar software to civic bodies of other places like Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and other places. Hence, their credibility is established,” asserted Sushil Mantri, under whose President ship CREDAI signed the MoU. He argued that it is important to make this move as almost 90 percent developers are suffering because a handful of builders did not follow norms.

“CREDAI members are responsible for almost 60-70 percent output of the city. Further, to become a member of the confederation, they have to sign a code of conduct which covers all the approvals and rules. By delaying progress of approvals, not only do builders incur losses as production suffers, but also the revenue to the city and BBMP is further delayed,” he said.

In London, Tata Housing Development to represent APAC at the International Property Awards

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Tata Housing Development Company (Tata Housing), India’s fastest growing real estate development company, with over 46 million sq ft under various stages of development, has once again triumphed at the most prestigious Asia Pacific Property Awards 2012 (part of the International Property Awards), for the fourth year in a row, bagging five coveted awards under various categories.

Tata Housing is the country’s only residential developer to receive the prestigious five-star award in the Leisure Architecture category for La Montana; highly commended awards in the Show Home category for Prive and Primanti; highly commended award in the Development Marketing category for La Montana; highly commended developer website for www.lamontana.co.in.

Additionally, La Montana, a Mediterranean-themed township located at Talegaon, designed by international architect firm F + A, was adjudged as an Asian contender in the Leisure Architecture category, to compete against the highest-scoring contenders from Europe, Africa, the Americas and Arabia, to find the ultimate ‘world’s best’.

Speaking on the achievement Brotin Banerjee, managing director and chief executive officer, Tata Housing, said, “At Tata Housing, it’s our constant endeavour to create benchmark projects based on the consumer’s needs and requirement. We are proud of our continued success at the Asia Pacific Property Awards. This year is special for us as our project La Montana achieved the distinction of winning the five-star rating for Best Leisure Architecture India, and it leads from the Asia Pacific region to be honoured with Best Leisure Architect Residential Asia Pacific. It is indeed a very proud moment for us as this is the only residential project to be nominated from India to represent the Asia Pacific region for the International Property Awards. This will strengthen our commitment to create landmark projects in the country.”

Held in association with Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Asia, the Asia Pacific Property Awards recognises 40 categories of distinction within the fields of development, interior design, architecture and real estate. Each project was judged by a team of 65 professionals from the property discipline. They are ascertained based on quality of design, construction and presentation of individual properties as well as interior, architecture and marketing.

The Asia Pacific Property Awards are part of the long-established International Property Awards and its winners’ logo is recognised as a symbol of excellence throughout the global industry. Founded 18 years ago, these accolades distinguish excellence in the property industry worldwide, and promote international standards. For the last four years consecutively, Tata Housing has been acknowledged with multiple accolades at this prestigious annual symposium, demonstrating that it is again at the forefront of the real estate industry in Asia.

DLF gains profit much after Goldman Sachs upgrade

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Reuters Market Eye – India’s biggest real estate developer DLF (DLF.NS) rose 3.2 percent to 188.10 rupees after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and raised its 12-month target price to 264 rupees from 252 rupees.

Goldman cited a pickup in residential launches, a recovery in commercial property, easing interest rates, and improved outlooks for asset sales as well as for operating/financial leverage as reasons for upgrade.

DLF’s share price is down 0.5 percent for 2012 while the BSE Sensex is up about 11 percent in the same period.

The upgrade has come close on the heels of DLF’s removal from the Sensex, which will come into effect from June 11.

Report: DLF in talks to sell Mumbai land

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DLF, India’s top-listed realtor, is in talks with three Mumbai-based real estate companies — Lodha Developers, Runwal Group and Sheth Creators, to sell a piece of land in central Mumbai, according to a report on Friday.

While DLF is seeking a valuation of 30 billion rupees ($571 million) for the 6.8 hectare property, the potential buyers are negotiating at between 20 billion and 22 billion rupees, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed person.

“Even as all the parties had talks with DLF, the developer is yet to make up its mind, as it is expecting higher valuations,” it quoted the person as saying.

DLF bought the land for 7.02 billion rupees in 2005 from state-owned National Textile Corporation.

Abhisheck Lodha, managing director of Lodha Developers, said the company was not in talks with DLF while an executive at Runwal group also responded in the negative, the paper said.

DLF does not comment on market speculation, the company’s spokesman told.

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

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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.”

Realtors expect rise in property demand post RBI’s rate cut

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Realty firms on Tuesday hailed the RBI’s decision to cut short-term lending rate saying the move would reduce the cost of funds to home buyers as well as developers and boost property demand.

“Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the repo rate by 50 basis points and abolish pre-payment penalties is a good move for home buyers,” Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Chairman Pradeep Jain said. In its annual credit policy, RBI has asked banks not to levy foreclosure charges or pre-payment penalties on home loans extended on a floating interest rate.

The country’s largest realty firm DLF also welcomed the decision, saying it would significantly improve the cash flows of developers. “It is positive news although very-very delayed. This will benefit home buyers besides the industry. It will improve cash flows tremendously,” DLF Group Executive Director Rajeev Talwar said.

Jain too said that liquidity for developers would improve and cost of funds would be cheaper. On demand, Credai Chairman said the move would definitely boost housing demand. However, property consultant DTZ India CEO Anshul Jain felt more measures need to be taken to have a positive impact on housing demand.

“It is a step in right direction although lot more measures need to be taken before we see any effect of the rate cut on the real estate sector,” said Jain of DTZ. The housing demand, which is very subdued currently, would only rise if the interest rates on home loans come down to below 10 percent, he added.

‘Simplify Administrative Procedures, Introduce Reforms’-CREDAI

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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.

Banks prefer Private Developers for lending.

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As per the latest data available from the Reserve Bank of India, the outstanding for commercial real estate is Rs 1187.1 billion as of January 2012, a growth of 12.2 per cent over the year-ago period. Although this rate is lower than the growth figure of 19.9 per cent in the same period the previous year, the double-digit growth stands in sharp contrast to the claims from public-listed realty firms who say bank lending has shrunk considerably.

Central to the theme of continued lending to real estate development are the low-lying, unlisted property developers of the country – a crop of realtors who have always been on the side-lines of the big Indian realty story but who are slowly yet surely climbing up the ladder for a larger share of bank loans.

According to a research report by IDFC’s Institutional Securities team last December, bank and NBFC loans to developers have increased 15 per cent to Rs 1.8 trillion for the 12 months ended September 11 in spite of higher interest rates and the RBI’s efforts to curb lending to the sector. Of this, loans to unlisted developers accounted for more than 72 per cent of the total.

One reason for such a shift could be the hard targets that listed realty firms chase due to the pressure of being listed, with compulsory quarterly disclosures. Add to it the size of the firm and pressure points will become clearer. A listed firm usually places bigger bets with larger projects and when the market faces turbulence, project execution becomes a problem. This reverberates with pending projects and drying up of bank credit.

Even as most unlisted private developers are small realtors, there are some large private groups in different regions of the country. Given the huge set of private developers, even private equity developers have been betting on projects sponsored by such realtors.

Acron Infra Projects Constructing Residential Complex at Pune

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Acron Infra Project, Mumbai-based developing company is building a large residential multiplex at Karvenagar which is in the heart of Pune, a 3-hrs drive from the metropolis of Mumbai. They are building a big, affordable residential complex with a total of 2,800 apts spread over a 24-acres green campus. The Director of Acron Group said the fund for the INR 800-cr project will be raised through internal accruals of the company and bookings.

This residential multplex will be developed in six phases.During the first phase, a total of four 25-storey buildings will be built within 18 months which includes 800 apartments. The two-bedroom apartments with an area of 900 sq ft at the rate of Rs 6,000-7,000 per sq ft will cost about INR 40 lac- Rs 50 lac. The registration and stamp duty will be an additional cost to the buyer. This project will develop eco-friendly apartments targeted at upper middle class home buyers looking for comfortable and affordable housing in the heart of the city and the housing complex will offer all the modern conveniences and amenities such as a clubhouse, swimming pool, jogging park, children’s park and a green surrounding environment.

With two decades of experience in construction, Acron Group brings to the table a wealth of experience, modern techniques, state of the art building materials and institutional knowledge, engineering, management, talent and skill, especially in the area of green building development. Acron group with branches in Bangalore and Goa is an EPC company engaged in real estate development, infrastructure and hotels.

The project has already begun and the apartments will be ready for possession on schedule. “We want our clients to appreciate that housing development happens at Acron Infra in tandem with nature,” Meghnani said.

Realty Big Players Attracted Towards Small Cities for Expansion

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NEW DELHI: Growing demand for homes in smaller cities of the country is attracting real estate biggies. Cities like Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow , Nagpur, Surat , Vadodara and Visakhapatnam are estimated to add 354 million sq ft of residential development in the coming 03 years. According to a research, large builders like DLF , Unitech , Parsvnath , Omaxe , Ansals and Emaar MGF have already diversified into these cities. These cities today show huge potential for growth. These cities are attracting the big developers because of their considerable price stability and growth prospects. With economic activity picking up in these cities, there is a growing migration from smaller areas, which has created a shift towards an apartment culture. This shift will foster volumes for larger developers in the future.

Looking at this new demand, banks and financial institutions are also looking towards these cities to bridge the financial saturation gap.The growth prospects in the smaller cities are fascinating huge developers with multi-city existance.

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

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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.

 

CREDAI to Handle Corruption in Real Estate Sector

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“The CREDAI today presented an action plan to union urban development minister Kamalnath at the two-day 11th National Conference (NATCON) of CREDAI in Singapore to handle corruption”. CREDAI National President Lalitkumar Jain said, the developer community is being marked as being pollute. He said the association would seek an appointment with the prime minister to discuss ways and means to check the cancer of corruption rather indulging in blame game.

“Our country is, sadly though, rated to be one of the most corrupt nations of the world. Any citizen of the country will feel hurt and disgraced. The real estate sector is rated to be the biggest contributor to this dishonor. Jain Said, “I and all my colleagues in real estate  feel seriously insulted.” He added that developers were sufferers of the system and not the beneficiaries. He also said the real estate sector was being named as the reproduction ground for black money and corruption. “It is the various government methods, procedures and delays in clearances that give birth to corruption. We curse every person who exploits us to give us a lawful permission which we deserve immediately and without any dishonest demand,” he said.

“After investing madly in land, even a day’s delay in approvals adds to the costs and in extreme anxiety and when speed becomes important, the concept of speed money crawls in,” he pointed out. Every developer has to get 40 certificates, No Objection Certificates and clearances. “The McKinney report to the Government of India as long ago as in 2001 said that land approval related obstacles are costing 40% higher to home cost,” he said. CREDAI presented two key documents to Kamalnath – an anthology of best practices by some state governments that can be followed by the rest of the country and a extensive checklist for approvals.

Chhattisgarh Developers to Follow CREDAI Transparency

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CREDAI is coming up with new system for Real estate developers in Chhattisgarh. They will have to follow way to ensure transparency in the dealings of the sector. “The sector has been under the scanner of customer and the real estate developers across the country are on one operation, that is ‘transparency’ and hope to achieve it through the code of way initiated,” National President Lalit Jatin of CREDAI said.

The members in the state were prompt and had signed the declaration to follow the new rule drafted by the apex body of the real estate developers. The state will also have a consumer redressal forum managed by the Confederation. Under this new system, it would be compulsory for the developers to mention the actual usage area to buyers, reimbursement in case of project delay and honouring of the agreement between the two parties, said Anand Singhania, president of Chhattisgarh Chapter of CREDAI.

Moreover, there should be a true revelation of the property under development in the
“Title Certificate” from a solicitor or an Advocate showing the rights and obligations of the developers along with the Agreement for sale. All sanction from the sanctioning authorities like approved plans and starting certificates, should be made available for scrutiny of the purchaser at the time of signing the agreement.

The members will have to follow set of rules laid down by the national body. “If any member defy them, would be removed from the Association,” Jain said, also added that they would appeal people not to buy any property from the developer
who was not a member of CREDAI.