With criticism ranging from alleged corruption in the defence deals to slow moving economy, the government that came to the power with these two major planks of fighting corruption and accelerating the economic growth is under pressure. The government is, therefore, left with no option but to present a budget that gives a feel good factor.
Gross leasing activity is recorded at 50 million square feet in 2018, highest in last eight years driven by buoyant leasing in Bengaluru and NCR. Compared to the previous year, gross leasing increased by 17% as occupiers continued to expand and consolidate. The top 3 sectors contributing to gross leasing were IT-ITeS with 43%, flexible workplaces with 14% and BFSI with 12% share.
The listing of India’s first REIT by Blackstone-backed Embassy Group has been in the offing for quite some time, but it now finally appears that it will be listed within the first half of 2019. As REITs await their official deployment in India, investors hoping to cash on this new avenue for generous ROI growth seek to understand what exactly is in store for them – and for the real estate market.
As per the statistics, the Exhibition had 20 000+ visitors 8,000+ VIPs and 200 foreign exhibitors; altogether about 150 orders of intention were signed; the transaction amounts reached up to USD 1.2 billion. Ninety percent of the exhibitors were satisfied with the Exhibition, which was also highly praised by relevant government departments and industry.
Track2Realty approached to a number of real estate developers who are offering assured returns. Though all of them refused to speak ‘on record’ but privately they admit that their assured returns have failed due to market dynamics than intentional cheating.
While 2018 lived up to a fair number of expectations, there were a few misses too, particularly in the case of clarity on GST norms. Key highlights of 2018 were the creation of positive sentiments in the market by way of a robust office space absorption by emerging segments, as well as increase in the number of new launches and sales in the affordable housing sector.
The low consumer confidence has been linked as much to peoples’ lack of confidence in their own ability to pay as with the employment uncertainties. Collectively, the buyers’ risk aversion in today’s economy as well as the developers’ unfair business practices have eclipsed real estate like never before.
The Government’s decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and 100% FDI in single-brand retail under the automatic route was a definite crowd-pleaser that attracted giants like Walmart to make forays into the country.
With high expectations from 2018, it was anticipated that the teething problems around policy initiative introduced in 2017 (RERA and GST) would ease out by the end of the year, bringing a new order of transparency and efficiency.
Year 2018 was a veritable roller-coaster ride for the Indian real estate. Despite signs of recovery across segments, the liquidity crunch – further exacerbated by the NBFC crisis – put all industry stakeholders on tenterhooks.