Track2Realty Exclusive: Thane is a cosmopolitan suburb which has evolved from being a mere city of lakes to the nestling zone of the urban middle class. Most of the working professionals in Mumbai have found Thane to be an ideal location to buy an apartment or take it on rent. Affordability has been a key USP of Thane property market, which has further been ignited with better connectivity.
Track2Realty: During 1Q 2014, commercial leasing in eight major cities recorded at around 8 MN SF including 1.7 million sq ft pre commitment from large corporates for future expansion. Cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon and Kolkata witnessed increase absorption on qoq basis. Bangalore and NCR topped the chart contributing 75% in the total absorption. Bengaluru witnessed the highest absorption to the tune of 3.8 million sq ft followed by 2.3 million sq ft in NCR. IT/ITeS topped the charts and remained the primary demand driver IT/ITeS followed by Engineering and BFSI sectors.
Track2Realty: There has been a 43% increase in Q1 2014 new residential unit launches from the previous quarter. The total estimated unit launches were recorded at 55,500 units across major eight cities of India with Bengaluru recording the largest number of units launched, an increase of 22% from previous quarter, says a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Track2Realty: Transactions in India’s real estate space might have slowed down over the last two quarters, but the sector has not been overwhelmed by the state of the wider economy. Despite the subdued pre-election economic scenario, in fact, the period observed an increase in private equity activity.
Track2Realty: The total the net office space absorption across 8 cities is recorded at 5.9 million square feet (msf) which is 58% higher than same time last year, says the quarterly office market report (Jan–Mar 2014) by Cushman & Wakefield. Among the 8 cities, Ahmedabad and NCR recorded a 3 times increase in net absorption over the same period last year. However, there was a decline in net absorption of approximately 22% over last quarter (Q4, 2014) in all cities.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The current economic environment is indeed one of the most challenging in recent history. The headwinds of inflation, interest rates, construction costs, and subdued consumer demand have constrained real-estate growth in many micro-markets across the country. Economic volatility aside, I am optimistic about long-term real-estate sector prospects. My optimism is founded in irrefutable realities – the rapid urbanization of India, burgeoning segment of upwardly mobile Indians, limited availability of urban residential housing and unabated aspiration of home ownership.
Track2Realty: The total fresh mall supply by the end of 2014 is projected to be approximately 14 million square feet (msf) approx. in the top eight cities of India, of which 13.6 msf is still under construction, says a report by Cushman & Wakefield. This is nearly 200% more than the supply received in 2013 which was recorded at almost 4.6 msf. Of the total expected mall supply for the year of 2014 approximately 60% or 8.2 msf of fresh mall supply is expected to be received by National Capital Region (NCR) followed by Bengaluru at 2.86 msf.
Track2Realty: Office space demand slowed down in the first quarter of 2014, with around 6.3 million sq. ft. of office space getting absorbed across the leading cities of the country as against 6.6 million sq. ft. in Q1 2013—a drop of approximately 5%. Transaction activity was dominated by the National Capital Region (NCR), Bangalore and Chennai—representing about 70% of the total space transacted during the quarter.
Track2Realty Exclusive: As the country heads towards the General Elections with policy uncertainties expected to get clarity ahead once a new Government assumes office, it seems Indian real estate is yet again high on the wish list of the investors, both domestic and international. If the investments and the policy announcements since the second half of 2013 are any indication, there has been a clear indication that the phase of over-cautious market sentiments is getting over.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Call it migration or mere attraction, the Indian Real estate is spreading its roots into cities-in-making. Though fact remains that this sector has lots to thank the tier I cities for its large scale investments, but the winds of change are here to stay. The recent economic and investment policies, initiated by the government are giving a boost to the less known lands across the Indian sub-continent.