Track2Realty Exclusive-Yearly Analysis: To say that Indian real estate is standing on a shaky foundation would be like stating the obvious. Pressure is increasingly building on Indian developers. High mortgage rates and the slowest economic growth in nearly a decade are taking a toll on demand. Costs are rising, too. The Price of steel and concrete has jumped to double digit. The pipeline of cash has already dried up.
Track2Realty: Tata Housing has announced a non-binding MoU of Rs. 3500 crore with the Government of Gujarat at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Gandhinagar, yesterday. This agreement represents Tata Housing’s persistent efforts to create sustainable affordable townships and has been planned for the suburbs of Ahmedabad.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Call it being overt critical on the realty business or my sense of introspection, I maintain that the biggest drawbacks in the sector is we are not sure what precisely we want from the government, nor is there any clarity as to how this will help the sector; whether our demands are feasible from ethical, financial or legislative point of view.
Track2Realty Exclusive-Yearly Analysis: Indian banks lending to real estate sector grew by 10.4% in the fiscal year ended March 2010 to Rs.5.8 trillion, contributing nearly 17% of their loan book, according to RBI data. Since then it has nosedived and now the government also wants public sector banks to focus more on home loans and to streamline lending norms to the real estate sector.
Track2Realty Exclusive-Yearly Analysis:During the boom, many developers dreamt of transforming the urban landscape with millions of square feet of homes, offices and malls and set off on an aggressive expansion financed with debt that at 6 per cent interest was cheap by Indian standards. When the going was good, they went overboard with over ambitious big-ticket projects in various cities, many of which still remain stalled.
Track2Realty Exclusive: We all dream of living in a house of our own and often enough put in our lifelong savings investing in a home that has the best of both comfort and location. However, it can be a nightmare if your house is in a locality that requires a lot of effort in getting access to even the things of daily use or makes commuting to your workplace an ordeal. Even the posh areas of a metropolitan city are not free from this problem where you might have to walk quite a distance to get to the supermarket, travel from one corner of the city to other to reach malls and multiplexes, start early for workplace or drive for long to access a hospital in emergency.
Track2Realty Exclusive-Yearly Analysis: Indian real estate companies are reeling under the burden of debt, so much so that the excess cash that they had borrowed has become a liability that they want to get rid of but are unable to relieve themselves due to various factors beyond their control. They are nonetheless trying all possible measures, from selling land bank to restructuring their portfolio. Track2Realty tries to assess the seriousness of the situation where many of the realtors are caught between the distress sale and the debt trap.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The future of integrated townships is fraught with hurdles, yet it is the only win-win housing solution in the horizon. It is one of the primal human desires to own a home at a nice, peaceful locality with most immediate necessities in the vicinity. Till only recently the fulfillment of this desire came at a heavy price, leading people to often settle for less. These days, this has become affordable, thanks to the concept of integrated townships.
Track2Realty-Agencies: After some neglect in the past several years, the realty industry in India finally saw some reforms that had a direct and indirect impact on its fortunes and which led to the some development of the sector in 2012. The prospect of a revival looks brighter once the central bank keeps it promise of cutting interest rates to spur overall growth.
Track2Realty: Supertech has awarded the India branch of UAE’s Arabian Construction Company (ACC) its first project in North India. ACC’s Rs.650 crore ($125 million) contract will see them build Spira, India’s tallest mixed-use tower and part of the project, Supernova.