Track2Realty: Though the opening of the Indian retail sector to foreign direct investments may have brought cheers to the commercial real estate sector in the country, it is expected that the supply of distressed properties within the commercial segment will increase during the second quarter of 2013, according to the RICS India Commercial Property Survey Q1 2013.
Track2Realty: Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath has promised to enhance collaboration with UK to improve overall urban infrastructure. He was speaking on Monday, Oct 8, at RICS international conference-Cities 2030: Are we on track?
In India, considerable improvement has definitely taken place over the years with respect to the legal framework which encourages inflow of foreign capital. But, despite significant progress, issues such as liquidity and title ownership continue to act as constraints to cross-border investor activity, along with high transaction costs which have resulted in keeping direct investments at bay.
The building approval process in India is relatively slower and more expensive in comparison to several other countries as indicated by a recent World Bank assessment. The report highlights that an average 37 procedures over a period of 195 days are needed for obtaining construction permits in the country vis-à-vis 15 approvals over an average 157 days in the OECD region.
In addition to professionalism, enacting laws to enforce high standards of disclosure, transparency and corporate governance within the realty sector are also needed in order to minimize investor risk. Specifically with consumer interests in mind, there must be a redressal or complaint handling mechanism that provides much needed recourse against customer grievances.
Greater emphasis needs to be awarded to project delivery in light of the human, physical and monetary resources that are lost as a consequence of such delays. Even in the most robust economy, the challenges involved in construction and delivery of projects are enormous. There are common worries focused on timeliness, costs, performance and delivery. Stakeholders involved across the development process are often insufficiently coordinated to deliver a finished product within budget and on time.
It has been strangely characteristic for the real estate and construction industry in India to remain unregulated and unrecognized, even though it is one of the largest employers and contributors to national growth.
“For the real estate and housing sector, this years’ budget has exceeded expectations given the pressure on fiscal situation. Most importantly, it has taken into account the crying need to focus on affordable housing sector by allowing ECB for low cost housing, road as well as construction. Withholding tax on ECBs for affordable housing has been reduced from 20% to 5% for 3 years and this move will help ease the liquidity in the sector.
The Union Budget 2012-13 has left the Indian real estate sector grope with the indecision yet again and everyone is wondering whether the Finance Minister’s offer is glass half full or half empty for them.
Come budget and the real estate sector, like any other industry, comes out with its own wish list. Unfortunately, while other organised industry get a patient hearing through their industry bodies, the Finance minister seem to be hardly entertaining the sector representatives till recently.