With liquidity from traditional channels like banks and equity markets drying up for property developers, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have raised rates for loans to real estate companies by two-three percentage points (200-300 basis points). The rates have gone up from 15-19 per cent to 17-22 per cent. The rates vary according to the developer, the project and the requirement of the company, say NBFCs and consultants.
Shares in Indiabulls Real Estate rose as much as 4 per cent on Tuesday morning, while those of group firm Indiabulls Power rose more than 3.5 per cent, after the real estate firm said it received board approval to restructure its businesses.
Gurgaon initially gained prominence as an outsourcing centre for major international companies that found it cheaper to locate their back-end operations in India due to the availability of high-quality but cost-effective employee resources. GE Capital initiated this trend and was the first multinational company to enter Gurgaon in 1997.
U.S. billionaire real-estate developer Donald Trump is entering the Indian realty market with a luxury residential tower in Mumbai, more than two years after announcing plans to expand in the south Asian nation. Trump, who has partnered with Mumbai developer Rohan Lifescapes Pvt. for his first venture in the country, expects to start marketing the project by March, said Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s son and executive vice president at the Trump Organization LLC.
CB Richard Ellis, the US-listed property services firm, has emerged as favourite to acquire the majority of ING’s real estate group in deal worth one billion euro (USD 1.35 billion) to create the world’s largest property funds business, says a media report.
While the real estate sector has always shied with the need to have a regulatory body, Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan talking of constituting a regulatory authority to control high property prices seems to have sent alarm bells ringing among major players. Some of the real estate companies are now talking about the need to check pricing rather than just setting up a body.
Private equity investments continue to trickle into project or SPV level in the realty space. Sun Apollo India Real Estate Fund LLC, a $630-million India-dedicated real estate private equity fund, has invested Rs 100 crore in a residential project SPV led by Parsvnath Developers Limited (PDL). SUN-Apollo will invest Rs 100 crore for a 49.9% stake in the project SPV, Parsvnath Buildwell Private Limited, which will develop a premium residential project at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, spread over an area of 31 acres. The project is called Parsvnath Exotica- Ghaziabad.
Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, is still in talks with New Delhi-based Jubilant FoodWorks and some of the top real estate and retail chains to set up standalone stores in the country, said a person with direct knowledge of the development. Starbucks has signed a binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Coffee to set up stores in Tata Group’s associated retail outlets and hotels besides sourcing and roasting coffee beans in Tata Coffee’s Kodagu facility in Karnataka.
The buzz word among realty consultants at the beginning of the year seems to be price correction. After the real estate firms like Jones Lang LaSalle India and Cushman & Wakefield forecast of a correction in real estate prices in 2011, now Crisil also forecasts a price correction, though in select pockets.
After Gurgaon One, western part of the city might see rise of another multi-storey building in the same vicinity. Jawala Mills, decades-old defunct textile mill on Old Delhi Road is slated to be sold by mid-February. The 17 acres of land was first purchased by IT major Aricent Technologies in early 2000s as tech firm wanted to re-develop the area into an office space. However, the new Master Plan of Gurgaon has marked the area as a residential zone. Following this, Aricent Technologies have decided to put the land up for sale.