Track2Realty: In marked contrast to other cities, the dynamics of luxury housing in Mumbai have changed dramatically over the last decade. Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai continue to have location-specific premiums, which have risen consistently.
Track2Realty: Over fifty percent of real estate buyers decisions are influenced by Internet research. The phenomenon, of researching online for real estate information is not limited to metros but also extended to buyers in tier II cities, as per the study of Google India. The study was conducted to understand the influence of Internet on real estate purchase decisions in India.
Track2Realty: In India’s competitive real estate market, luxury housing projects have been launched aplenty over the last couple of years. So much so that a conservative market like Chennai, for instance, is likely to witness about 1,500 units of ultra-luxury homes—budgeted between Rs. 5–20 crore—within the next 12 months.
Track2Realty: Expectations of an economic turnaround were belied with GDP growth slowing down to about 4.7% for FY 2013–14, marking it as the second straight year with below-5% growth.
Track2Realty: The global house price boom continued during the year to Q1 (first quarter) 2014, gathering pace. Despite strongly rising housing markets in Taiwan and the Philippines, the momentum seems to be passing momentarily from Asia, where interventionist authorities have slowed housing markets in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. Instead, action is shifting to the Pacific, the Gulf, and (less forcefully) to Europe, which are all seeing strong price rises.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Analysts have been wondering in the last couple of years that when the property market across the country had been witness to slowdown, how come Coimbatore market kept its momentum up with no visible signs of stress. As a matter of fact, the property prices in the city across the asset class noticed upward movement in the range of 10-15 per cent, thus bucking the trend of slowdown.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Prophets of doomsday in Mumbai who till only recently have written off the growth of the city and its realty market due to saturation and infrastructural bottlenecks are today very apprehensive lot. The proposed industrial corridors promise to open the floodgates of new investment opportunities and make them eat their own words. Mumbai which has been facing stiff competition with certain other emerging markets is expected to redefine the financial capital of the country once the first corridor Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project is over and investors find avenues like gold mine on the ground.
Track2Realty: Although the Interim Budget announcement supporting affordable housing was welcomed by the real estate industry, the segment has a long way ahead as yet. To begin with, there is considerable supply shortage in this arena—pegged at 18.78 million for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012–2017) by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry (HUPA), of which 96% is in the EWS and LIG categories. Housing shortage for the EWS stands at almost 11 million homes, while that for LIG stands at 7.41 million homes.
Track2Realty: Marathon Group has launched Marathon Nextown, a township project in Dombivli East, Mumbai that is conceptualised on its brand titled ‘NEX (Next generation Eco-friendly Xtra utility homes)’. With this project, the group claims to fulfill the dream of every modern buyer who aspires to have a spacious home with all the premium amenities and facilities and provides value to the money of the young home buyer.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Property markets across the country have shoot up in capital and rental values in tandem with the infrastructure development. Infrastructure development and better connectivity are two key elements behind property prices going up. Navi Mumbai, however, presents a different picture with arguably the best infrastructure development and connectivity in Mumbai.