Track2Realty: 2013 was one of much economic turbulence. High retail inflation, high interest rates and a continuous fall in the rupee value, have been slowing the overall growth and have continuously hindered the investment sentiment in the market during the entire 2013.
Track2Realty Exclusive: A great challenge in real estate branding is the local versus national market. 90 per cent of the realty brands have local presence and not pan India. Most of the projects are linked locally like Prestige with Bangalore or DLF with Gurgaon.
Track2Realty: Total net office space absorption recorded a 25% decline in across top eight cities over last year. According to the annual year end estimations by Cushman & Wakefield the total net absorption for 2013 was recorded at 23 million square feet (msf). Most cities have witnessed a decline in net absorption in the range of 20-40% during the year, except Pune where incremental new space take-up increased by 15% in 2013.
Track2Realty: There are still significant investment opportunities left in India’s real estate market. For investors looking at cost-effective projects to park their funds, this might be a right time as weak market sentiments are likely to lead to weak valuations, providing windows for investing in quality projects.
Track2Realty Exclusive: When a developer few years back launched a 5 acre project in Coimbatore dedicated to the senior living, it raised quite many eye brows. Everyone was wondering whether there is a market for such a project, exclusively conceptualised for the senior citizens. Critics even had it that the project is ahead of its time and some termed it as a project meant for parking the investment.
Track2Realty: India’s hospitality real estate space has probably come of age; and has reached a critical threshold in its learning as well as business development curves. Although the ongoing economic slowdown and uncertainty have caused hotel rates to decrease marginally in the last couple of years, India now stands at the cusp of a hotel building and rebranding boom, which should help keep rates competitive in 2013.
Track2Realty: Emerging markets are offering interesting investment opportunities in terms of shopping center development, according to the latest Asia Pacific Retail Trends and Retail Hotspots reports released by CBRE. The Asia Pacific market in particular continued to see a steady flow of new retailer openings in 2013, amid steady economic growth and generally positive consumer sentiment.
Track2Realty Exclusive: A property analyst new in the Gujarat market wondered, “If Ahmedabad is not about satellite living, how come Bopal is a property hotspot?” Well, the curiosity is not without valid reason. Bopal is a classic case of a satellite town in which defies the conventional concept of satellite townships. Bopal has been witness to a massive growth in infrastructure the last 5 to 7 years, and that makes it look like the extension of another property hotspot in Ahmedabad itself.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Media perception is not much different than public perception in developing brand. It depends on how media plays down. 50 per cent of the media is honest in promoting actual brand worthiness but few media also carries planted articles or on the contrary, prevents negative articles in exchange of media barter deals.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It is relatively easier to plan a real estate project’s brand positioning in the high-end category where overboard advertising creates the top-of-the-mind recall value. Though many carry home the perception that branding is about ATL (Above the Line) activities for premium projects; fact of the matter is that branding at the bottom of the pyramid is even more challenging.