An increase in lending rates is almost inevitable, considering the high need to curb inflation. On its own, an increase in lending rates would probably not have a very significant effect on the market. However, the fact is that there are already a number of negatives such as overpricing at play in the residential real estate sectors of large cities like Mumbai and Delhi.
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.
In the immediate aftermath of the bribes for loan scam involving LIC Housing Finance, the Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in conjunction with Dept of Financial Services asked for a complete monitoring of all the companies mentioned in the CBI case filed. All public sector banks, financial institutions and state owned insurance companies have been asked to examine their exposure to the 21 companies named by CBI in the housing loan scam, and give a subsequent compliance report.
Pune is virtually unrecognizable from the sleepy, laid-back city it was a few decades ago. There were no signs of any significant real estate action in the erstwhile Punyanagari before that. Today, however, Pune numbers in the Top Seven property hotspots within the country.
If 2008 was the year of shock, 2009 the year of discovery & introspection and 2010 the follow-up experiment; the year 2011 promises to be the year of comfort level for the Indian real estate sector. It seems the turmoil of the last couple of years has made everybody come out intelligent–investors, developers, bankers and end users.
It is an established fact that scheduled infrastructure projects tend to increase the value of properties in the adjoining areas. This occurs because the infrastructure project becomes a part of USP for the developers or property owners. There have been instances where property prices have increased 50-70% from the announcement of an infrastructure initiative until the operational phase.
Demand for mid-segment residential units in Mumbai is far greater than available and future supply, therefore growth is expected in 2011. In the industrial sector, cities such as Ahmedabad, Vadodara and other port cities in Gujarat are seeing the highest growth.
The CBI investigation into the 2G spectrum scam is learnt to have zeroed on how lobbyist Nira Radia and former telecom minister A Raja circumvented all the norms to benefit the real estate company Unitech. The loss caused to the public exchequer and corresponding gain to the realty company is not confined to mere arbitrary granting of second-generation mobile telephony licenses.
India has been ranked as the most preferred real estate destination among the Asia Pacific region as foreign investors still consider the country to be extremely viable, according to a report released by ULI-PwC. “India, and particularly Mumbai and New Delhi, are ranked the foremost real estate market destinations as the residential properties have maintain the growth momentum, and foreign investors still consider this market to be extremely viable,” the report titled ‘Emerging trends in Real Estate in Asia Pacific 2011′, said.
The Chennai-based Shriram Group, is expanding its realty business Shriram Properties. As per the plans the Group will invest around Rs 1,500 crore over the next three years in developing various residential projects. The zero-debt company says 60 per cent of this investment, or around Rs 900 crore, would be funded through equity, from existing or new investors.