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The National Housing Bank (NHB) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) are jointly preparing the norms, standards and procedures for real estate valuation.
Real estate developers have expressed their reservations to the proposed Real Estate Bill 2011, which is likely to see light by this year-end.
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Absalon Project, a joint venture between affiliates of VP Securities and Soros Fund Management, have launched a feasibility study for a mortgage system in the UAE, based on the principles of the Danish Mortgage Model.
Terming stamp duties as a “big obstacle” in ensuring transparent transactions in real estate, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday batted for reducing such levies to check the flow of black money in the sector.
Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said in the Rajya Sabha the Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Bill is still being deliberated.
The cash strapped realty companies can have a breather in budget for 2011-12 as the Finance Minister is expected to make announcement of a guarantee corpus for banks on realty lending. Track2Realty has learnt that the banks will get this guarantee corpus of Rs. 1000 crore to lend for housing projects.
The housing and real estate sector in India witnessed foreign direct investment (FDI) of $2.8 billion in the fiscal year (April-March) 2009-10, according to Indian Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The statistics made available to the media at the India Home property exhibition, which concluded in Dubai on Sunday, revealed that total NRI FDI inflows through the period April-December 2009-10 stood at $320.05 million.
Concerned over excessive flow of banking funds to the real estate sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said lenders will provide loans only up to 80 per cent of the cost of property. Following the RBI directive, a home buyer will necessarily have to arrange at least 20 per cent of the property value on his own before seeking loan from a bank.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has urged the real estate sector to be sensitive to the purchasing power of the poor while pricing their housing units. Speaking at the 10th national convention of the Confederation of Real Estate developers” Association of India (CREDAI) in New Delhi on Dec 16, Mukherjee also called for greater integrity in development, construction and marketing or real estate business.
While the foreign direct investment flows (FDI) dependent Indian realty market is awaiting a good fortune, a World Bank report brings cheer to the industry. It says the FDI into developing countries including India is expected to recover over the next couple of years and is projected to increase by 17 per cent in 2010.