Track2Realty: Smart Cities: The New Age Concept: The smart cities concept may not be a novel one, but in the Indian context it is definitely an idea whose relevance couldn’t have been better timed. The government has provided the thrust towards development of such cities, and needs to be now backed by a holistic concept.
Track2Realty: Bangalore has consistently remained the preferred destination for corporate real estate occupiers in the country over the last couple of years. More recently though, our IT City outperformed itself by catapulting into the league of the top performing office markets of the Asia Pacific region during 2014—in the company of Tokyo and Shanghai.
Track2Realty: India’s logistics and warehousing real estate segment attracted steady demand during the second half of 2014—according to the latest CBRE report, India Industrial and Logistics Market View – H2 2014. Occupiers from the automotive, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), engineering and manufacturing, and Third Party Logistics (3PLs) sectors were the principle demand drivers for warehousing space in the second half of the year.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Sales model in commercial office spaces that was only recently seen as an indicator of distress on part of the developers has, of late, turned out to be a smart business model by the MNCs. These multinational companies seem to have confidence in the Indian growth story and with long term plan they are investing into the purchase of these properties. Track2Realty Focus 2015 finds that it is not a distress sale of developers since the capital values and rental yields have both appreciated sharply in the last three years despite of impending slowdown. The shift of these commercial spaces beyond the IT/ITeS is the most significant trend.
Track2Realty Exclusive: In the last few years a perception has gained ground within the built environment of Indian real estate that the environmental concerns are at loggerheads with the development. The collective consciousness seems to have believed that the real estate and infrastructure projects often compromise with the environmental concerns and to make a balance between the inevitable urbanisation and avoiding the natural erosion is not that easy.
Track2Realty: As e-commerce attains new heights and presents a number of opportunities for the real estate sector in general—and the warehousing segment in particular—CBRE recommends strategies for landlords and e-retailers for attaining a win-win scenario.
Track2Realty: Almost 25% of the total warehousing/logistics space uptake across the country in 2014 was by e-retail players, while the uptake of logistics space rose by more than seven times over that of 2013. India’s online retail sector saw exponential growth, as a number of local market-specific services—such as cash on delivery (COD), multiple payment options, and EMI options—assisted in developing the growth curve of e-commerce in the country—according to the findings of CBRE’s latest special report, India Online Retail Driving Realty.
Track2Realty: As we move closer to the Union Budget 2015–16, India’s real estate sector is hoping for certain key expectations to get implemented. Following the Government’s announcements of building SMART Cities in the Budget last year, the industry seeks more clarity on the exact definition of one in the Indian context, fund allocations for, and city/Greenfield location identification of such development. The implementation of such ambitions would ultimately result in national wealth creation—to help our cities become sustainable and livable urban centers of growth.
Track2Realty-Agencies: Fair trade regulator CCI has rejected a plea alleging that real estate company BPTP abused its dominant market position with respect to a residential project in Gurgaon.
Track2Realty Exclusive: In 2014, India elected a new Central Government with absolute majority after three decades. The absolute majority helped in the formation of the strong government capable of taking decisive steps without much opposition. Likewise, several pro-business reforms were introduced to propel the infrastructure growth and to infuse a positive sentiment for the future of the real estate sector including revitalising Special Economic Zones (SEZs), development of several industrial corridors, creation of 100 smart cities, relaxation in FDI norms in real estate, supporting affordable housing sector, introduction of REITs and InVITs etc