In the last five years of our editorial journey our constant endeavor has been to establish Track2Realty as a constructive critic of Indian real estate. In the process we have also succeeded in setting up a few benchmark along the way where Track2Realty has been accepted as the milestone of high quality journalism.
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The meteoric growth of e-commerce in India in recent years was broadly seen as a threat to physical retail. Seemingly bearing this out, ASSOCHAM states that e-commerce has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~30%, while retail sector growth has been at 15% CAGR over the last five years.
In a price-sensitive market like Pune, affordable housing is always in demand. The city’s working and earning middle class is constantly on the lookout for good homes available within their budget. This festive season, the Pune market is showing signs of increased activity as always, but the onus is on homes which fit people’s budgets.
The place of residence is a measure of one’s quality of living, and the availability of open recreational spaces near one’s place of residence is a direct measure of social and physical satisfaction.
Over the past two decades, Pune has seen rapid growth of the IT culture. In the beginning, this culture was limited to employees of the city’s many IT/ITES parks – today, it has touched almost everyone who lives in Pune. The cyber revolution in this city is inescapable – those who do not own computers populate internet cafes.
The idea of creating a new city as a counter magnet to Mumbai was originally envisaged in the Regional Plan of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in 1965. The actual planning process of this new city began in 1971 after the formation of CIDCO, a Government-owned company for development of cities.
For a very long time, Pune was considered little more than a pensioner’s destination which benefited to some extent from its proximity to Mumbai. It was not considered a serious real estate market at a national or international level. This has now changed for good – the city has attained its own unique identity and is firmly in the limelight as a thriving economic microcosm, with a real estate market that has overtaken Mumbai in terms of attractiveness and investment viability.
With the reviving economy having infused a renewed sense of confidence among HNI home buyers, there has been a significant surge in demand for luxury homes asset class in the metropolitan cities of India. Many more developers are now venturing into the premium segment, which has resulted in a massive spurt of luxury projects. In fact, many of these properties are being touted as so exclusive that sales are by invitations only.
Over the past decade, the Pune hotel sector has emerged a formidable competitor to other the hospitality markets in the country, growing from a negligible base of branded hotel rooms in 2005 into becoming one of India’s top five hotel markets in 2014. Over the course, it has weathered multiple storms ranging from significant supply increases to multiple bouts of economic uncertainty, both globally and regionally.
What needs to be done to ensure that Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) get to be the game changer? In India, we have seen ‘pious thought’ and ‘positive thinking’ not always being supplemented by positive action on part of the ‘powers that be’; be they regulatory authorities or the taxation authorities. Challenges which need to be addressed include different rates at which stamp duties are levied, for purchase and sale of assets across various states in India. Potential exists; making it a reality is the challenge.