Track2Realty Exclusive: The financial capital of India, Mumbai has always been reflective of the business confidence of the country. It is a market that shows the way forward for the investors in general and India Inc in particular, be it on the Sensex or the real estate market. It is hence assumed that if the confidence index in the city is low, it will have a percolating effect on the rest of the markets across the country.
Track2Realty: Godrej Properties has launched a residential project, Godrej Oasis, in Sector 88A, Gurgaon. Spread over approximately 4.5 acres, this project will comprise 5 towers with 306 apartments and a total saleable area of approximately 46,000 square meters (500,000 sq. ft.). Customers can choose from 2, 2.5, 3 and 3.5 BHK apartments ranging in size from 121 square meters (1,307 sq. ft.) to 192 square meters (2,066 sq. ft.) with prices starting from INR 85 lakhs.
Track2Realty: Top eight major cities witnessed a total mall supply of 2.94 million square feet (msf) (3 malls) during the first half of 2013 with over 64% (13 malls) of the total expected supply deferred, says a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Some of the factors that vociferously call for apartment culture. New initiatives like the construction of a metro in cities like New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, suburban railway in the areas like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata and Bus Rapid Transit System taken by the various state governments to improve the public transport systems in cities has raised the interest among people in the surrounding areas so as to save the commutation time.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Administrative Reforms
A. Single window clearance for building approval.
B. Uniform and simplified building permissible rules.
C. No discretionary stoppage of work after granting approval for commencement without hearing by regulator/civil court.
D. Mindset reform; special campaign for political leaders and bureaucrats to support/accelerate growth, remove impediments.
E. To put mandatory block mentioning following in every order/permission, Date of application, Potential investment, Potential contribution to GDP in rupees, Potential new employment generation, Date of sanction, Number of days delay beyond permissible limit, reasons.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Moderation in new supply brought the vacancy down
During 2012, the new supply dropped by a whopping 40% y-o-y to 18 million sq ft, as across many cities, the slow adjustment of supply with the changing demand patterns took effect. Bangalore was the only exception to this, where the new supply rose by a whopping 35% y-o-y, as a number of developments which had been fast tracked in response to the sharp recovery in demand in the city since 2010, got completed during the period.
Track2Realty: The National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) has requested the government to extend the computation period for availing itself of income tax benefits by one more year. This period is going to end on March 31, 2013.
Track2Realty: Responding to Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s suggestion for reducing the price of housing stock, Confederation of Real Estate developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has asked its 8,000 plus members across the country to seriously consider the proposal to sell in maximum numbers.
Track2Realty: Former police officer turned activist Y P Singh has alleged that Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar was centre of real estate scam. At the same time he criticised Arvind Kejriwal for concealing information about a massive scam in Maharashtra because he was selective about which politicians he targets. He also attacked Kejriwal for his expose against BJP Nitin Gadkari while sparing Pawar.
Track2Realty Exclusive: While the Vijay Kelkar Committee has strongly advocated in its recommendation to the Central Government that monetisation of the government land can finance the basic urban infrastructure needs, a move in that direction has set the tone for a fresh debate in Maharashtra.