Track2Realty Exclusive: Analysts believe most capital in Indian real estate was invested at the exchange rate of around Rs 40-45 to a dollar with the expectation of 25 per cent returns. The currency depreciation has impacted the sector adversely as foreign investors would wait for the full cycle to play out and exchange rate to settle down before taking any fresh investment calls. Even if rupee comes down to below Rs. 60 an exit would mean a loss of around 30 per cent.
Browsing: Trends
Track2Realty: The multinational companies are increasingly investing through purchasing offices in India with INR 2,470 crores worth office transactions in the last 2 years. There is a seismic shift in the traditional approach of leasing space that such companies have had for years while considering overseas investment. MNCs in the BFSI, ITeS, FMCG & Pharmaceutical sectors are among the lead commercial office buyers in these markets. These are the findings of a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Tapping NRI money is a wish that kept the developers driving throughout the year with the depreciation in Indian rupee. However, any wishful thought of fall in the currency would be suicidal for the sector in the year ahead as this rupee depreciation would not benefit them as much with NRIs investment as it would affect the foreign private equity (PE) funds which have been the project rider for many of the developers.
Track2Realty: In Mumbai, the residential property prices per square foot have seen a minor increase in Q2-14 as compared to Q1-14. Annual comparison (Q2-14 with Q2-13) shows a 7% increase in capital prices. Rentals of a 3 BHK house have also witnessed northward movement with yearly comparison showing a 3% growth in Q2-14 as compared to Q2-13.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It may sound like a paradox but the rental market of Gujarat city is showing bias in two directions when it comes to the property acquisition on rent. While the housing market is showing rental bias in the negative direction, the same property index is going northwards in the commercial vertical of property.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The NRI enquiries are unlikely to materialise as sales because Indian real estate has lost its credibility. Moreover, given that general elections are around the corner, real estate is in doldrums as all the black money that has been pumped into realty, is slowly being drained out to fund elections.
Track2Realty: Snapdeal.com and Tata Value Homes have entered into a strategic and exclusive partnership with which Snapdeal.com will now foray into the real estate category and start selling apartments by the real estate major on its site. Together, the brands will work towards revolutionizing the real estate sector in India.
Track2Realty Exclusive: At a time when the clouds hovered all around the realty sector ranging from the policy bottlenecks to dried finance and inventory overhang, the depreciating value of rupee vis-à-vis US dollar was seen to be the only silver lining. The sector went euphoric with the increase in NRI enquiries all through the year 2013.
Track2Realty: The overall mall vacancy levels across the top eight India cities remained stagnant at 14.47% in Q2 2014, which was recorded around 0.4 percentage points lower compared to Q1 2014. Amongst the top eight cities, Pune witnessed sharpest decline of 2.5 percentage points due to healthy leasing activity and no new mall supply. These are the findings of Cushman & Wakefield latest report.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It is strange paradox of economics that property prices keep on moving up despite the sluggish market economy and demand. Various research agencies in recent years have reported about the amount of unsold stock lying with the developers and how it has increased over the last quarter or year. This gives hope to the end users that prices might come down to reasonable level.