The world’s housing markets moved clearly down during the year to the first quarter of 2012, according to the Global Property Guide’s latest house price indices survey. House prices fell in 24 countries, of the 36 countries for which quarterly house price statistics are available, and rose in only 12 countries.
Integrated townships can reduce the burden on infrastructure and provide a fulfilling lifestyle for buyers, at a much reduced cost all round. Gulam Zia, National Director – Research & Advisory Services, Knight Frank India points out, “Of late, the planning authorities and Government bodies have realised the importance of integrated townships and are giving special concessions for creation of such townships.
Sahara India today announced it would develop a new city near Dhaka called Notun Dhaka and has signed agreement with the Bangladesh government to invest in housing sector of neighbouring nation.
What goes into the strategic planning of an integrated township to make it a case study in flagship project? One such integrated township in Mumbai is Kohinoor City at Kurla Vidyavihar. Atul Modak, Head of Kohinoor City says, “What we considered was the need to provide plenty of recreational space and all ultra-modern amenities. It truly had to be a ‘city’ where all their needs and luxuries could be met.
The government has said “no specific instance” of flow of terror funds into the real estate sector has come to its notice. “As per the current assessment of revenue intelligence agencies…no specific instance of flow of terror funds into the real estate sector has been found,” Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. However, he said, “investigations by the Income Tax Department reveal unaccounted or undisclosed income or assets in various sectors of the economy, including real estate.”
Many developers believe that slum redevelopment adds asset value appreciation to the existing properties in the vicinity. This is a primary concern when it comes to town planning and infrastructure development. They say when a slum is redeveloped; the infrastructural development of the area in and around it is bound to happen.
Bandra Kurla Complex was created by MMRDA as an alternate CBD to Mumbai, with the express purpose of halting the further growth of offices and commercial activities in South Mumbai. Currently, BKC has a total stock of 8 million square feet of office space. An additional supply of 2.5 million square feet is expected in 2012 with the completion of The Capital, FIFC and TCG Finance Centres.
The recent announcement of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) and the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services (KSFES) Department on fire safety certification has raised quite a few eyebrows in the real estate industry.
Experts in the urban policy and planning are of the view that since none of the traditional solutions have worked, it calls for fresh approach and out-of-the-box thinking to make India slum free. Pranay Vakil, Chairman of Knight Frank India outrightly blames the ambiguous policies coming in the way of slum redevelopment. He says there is no dearth of expression of interest and even some of the international players had recently tied-up with the Indian partners for the same. He urges the Government for consistency in policy guidelines if slum free cities have to be a realty reality.
Ansal Properties & Infrastructure plans to expand its two big…