Weekend homes, also called second homes or vacation homes, are currently an oasis of market activity in India’s the otherwise lacklustre residential real estate sector. In earlier years, only the affluent could and would invest in them – today, these properties are generating interest even from the country’s middle class.
All over the world, cities are facing the challenge of uncontrolled urbanisation. According to the United Nations, 54% of the population across the world today resides in urban areas, and that this figure will rise to 66% by 2050. An accompanying fact is that urbanization is happening too fast, and without adequate foresight and planning.
Home Credit India Finance, a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) has announced a festive campaign that offers customers, especially first-time borrowers in over 30 cities across 13 states, a chance to buy products of their choice at customized EMIs.
Office space take-up by corporates in the first nine months of the 2015 calendar year rose to 30 million sq ft, 11% more than 27 million sq ft in the same period last year, according to a new report by property consultancy Colliers International.
Affordable housing, though a widely-used term in India, actually means different things to different sets of demographics. The definition of ‘affordable’ is heavily influenced by the socio-economic variables that drive a certain city or location.
The place of residence is a measure of one’s quality of living, and the availability of open recreational spaces near one’s place of residence is a direct measure of social and physical satisfaction.
For a very long time, Pune was considered little more than a pensioner’s destination which benefited to some extent from its proximity to Mumbai. It was not considered a serious real estate market at a national or international level. This has now changed for good – the city has attained its own unique identity and is firmly in the limelight as a thriving economic microcosm, with a real estate market that has overtaken Mumbai in terms of attractiveness and investment viability.
Tokyo is the world’s hottest city for new retailer expansion, attracting 63 new retail brands, according to the latest report by global property advisor CBRE, How Global is the Business of Retail?. Space in core areas of Tokyo remain highly sought after despite the mixed signals in the economy and an increase in sales tax of 8% introduced in April 2014.
As the Modi Government completes its first year in office, there is no dearth of bouquets and brickbats for the NaMo regime in the media. On analysing the Modi government’s electoral assurances, the actions taken so far and the respective timelines being followed to achieve these, I would say that it is reasonably on track with fulfilling its short-term, medium-term and long-term promises.
Following a particularly strong fourth quarter of 2014, the first quarter of 2015 reported comparatively slow activity on the office market front across leading cities. This apparent demand drop was largely because most corporate space occupiers were still strategizing their real estate plans for the year during the period, with fewer transaction decisions being implemented in the first quarter.