Track2Realty: Office markets in India registered a downward trend in absorption in the first half of the year (Jan–June 2013), according to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield. The total net absorption across top eight cities in H1 2013 was noted at 10.9 million square feet (msf) which denoted a decline of 15% compared to the same period last year.
Track2Realty Exclusive: South India has emerged as the hub of IT sector and the main arm of outsourcing business for the US and the UK. With more and more foreign investors looking forward to establish their back offices through the prime locations of South India, the scope of corporate real estate has become immensely high.
Track2Realty: Cushman & Wakefield has expanded its Greater China operations into Taiwan by opening its first office in Taipei. It has appointed Jack Lin as the Managing Director of Taipei office. Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield, Jack was the Managing Director of Taiwan Sotheby’s International Realty where he set up the luxury residential brokerage business. Together with Jack, Steven Chen was also appointed as the Director of Agency. Steven has more than 16 years’ experience in the real estate industry and was previously at Savills.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Some developers assert the redevelopment can add value in ways more than one and depends on the location and area of redevelopment. Diipesh Bhagtani Executive Director Jaycee Homes says in a particular location where the flats are already huge, a developer cannot offer a still larger space but can offer luxury.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The spin in the century has brought a series of transformations for the Indian economy and influenced by this change, cities have become the focal point for future developments. As a result, the real estate sector is constantly transforming to meet the developing requirements. Even cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad in South India have acquired a place on the global real estate map – a standing that was restricted just to Mumbai and Delhi in the past.
Track2Realty: The greatest opportunity and challenge to India’s growth is infrastructure and the greatest challenge to the growth of infrastructure is risks – anticipated and unforeseen – that is part of any project. Risk and its effective mitigation were discussed at Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) & CBRE’s flagship event the 2nd Edition of the Conference on Infrastructure Project Management with the theme ‘Risk Management in Projects’. CBRE is the Knowledge Partner for the Conference on Thursday, April 25.
Pranay Vakil: No but the same developer used to rent out commercial office space, but he won’t rent out the residence because of the return. So, according to Gaurav funding is the issue and according to Atul return on investment is the issue.
Gaurav Gupta: I think you will have to take into account the historical background of real estate industry. All of us know historically real estate was never a professional industry in the country before FDI came in 2005. The industry was really fragmented and the industry was with small developers and it was more like a family business.
Jhumur Ghosh: I am a little curious. In 2008, all the funds of the world were lining up for real estate and signing and today we are having this discussion, in just four years. How does that happen?
I would like to ask the developer friends here when they say there is an ambiguity as far as ECB is concerned. Which are the funding routes that you find without ambiguity—whether it is private equity, QIP, IPO or any other route to raise money?
Gaurav Gupta: I would say there are multiple challenges for the sector.