According to the latest RICS India Commercial Property Survey, sentiment in the Indian real estate market has been adversely affected in the second quarter, as the economic picture in the country continues to remain bleak with the declining value of the rupee and growth forecasts being revised lower, along with a deteriorating global climate.
“Supertech invites you to invest in a pre-launch project at an attractive discount,” this SMS has been sent at least 5 times within a week. The bulk SMS, however, fails to acknowledge that many of these unsolicited messages are being delivered to the wrong recipients, including media, in front of whom most of the developers deny to pre-launch the projects any more. As a matter of fact, ever since Supreme Court came down heavily on the pre-launch offer of the developers, various states including Haryana have banned such offers.
RICS India Commercial Property Survey suggests an easing in global strains has led respondents to upgrade their expectation in both the occupier and investment markets in the country. With real estate clearly feeling the effects of the softer macro environment in the previous two quarters, the market is now witnessing improving results across several indicators, which could signal the beginning of a turnaround.
If you look the FDI side of the story over the years, initially there was an influx of a lot of foreign funds and in 2007, it was driven by the US. But the 3-4 years that investors have been here, we have seen a lot of selling. So a lot of investors withdrew or reduced their portfolio and even though being a fund, we found ourselves putting our hands into the acquisitions, marketing etc. It was not our comfort zone and we have been playing the role of a developer instead.
Sunil Dahiya: When the meltdown of 2008 and the aftereffects of 2009 rolled in, see the amount of letters sent by developers to the customers and the customer calling back and telling that ‘sorry boss, I am on the verge of losing my job, I don’t have the money’. Not a single developer went to any court or had any power in this judicial system to recover any payment from the consumer, there is no law.
Ravi Sinha: Sachin, if I come back to the topic of consumer redressal, isn’t it true that lack of clarity in policy leads to consumer blackmailing also in cases like CCI against DLF. How do you see that?
Sachin Sandhir: When the Government talks about affordable housing and expects the developers to do affordable housing, it is a misnomer because the Government is the first perpetuator of price escalation by auctioning the land to the highest bidder. Then to expect the developer to not make a profit of 50-60 per cent or whatever his expectation, is unrealistic.
Track2Realty Roundtable-IV Venue—India Habitat Centre Moderator—Ravi Sinha, CEO & Managing…
Track2Realty Roundtable-III Venue—India Habitat Centre Moderator—Ravi Sinha, CEO & Managing…
Ravi Sinha: You mean to suggest the land acquisition bill has not really been deliberated upon and came as a knee jerk reaction?