IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is convening a voluntary, collaborative effort with leading Indian housing sector companies to form an industry-led Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium to drive sustainability in India’s housing market with a particular focus on the affordable housing sector.
JLL has announced the completion of their mandate for sale of the 156 keys Ganesh Meridian Hotel at Ahmedabad.
To say that the year 2015 has not been very excisiting for the real estate market across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) would be stating the obvious. The slowdown in the macro-economy, wait & watch by the homebuyers in the property market, relatively higher cost of borrowing till late and fate of reforms oriented policies hanging in uncertainty all collectively dampenend the property market in India’s financial capital. Will the year 2016 be any different?
Today, the world sees India as a land of opportunity for business and investment. RBI head Raghuram Rajan said in mid-September that while fellow BRICs have deep problems, India appears to be an island of relative calm in an ocean of turmoil.
When the Government of India was announcing relaxation with FDI norms a day ahead of Diwali, many analysts thought it to be a Diwali gift for 15 core sectors that could also prolong the festive spirit for the real estate sector.
Immediately after the earthquake in Delhi-NCR a builder sends a group WhatsApp message that says: Our project in Noida is NCR’s 1st and only earthquake resistant structure with seismic zone V compliance approved by IIT Bombay. Possession next month.” It does not go down well in the collective consciousness as an impression gains ground that the developers are evaluating the opportunity cost in times of a natural calamity. This message nevertheless raises more questions than it tries to answer that the given project is earthquake complaint.
A few may have succeeded but most of the developers have failed to position themselves right during the slowdown. In the process Track2Realty finds that the brand realty has taken a severe beating, losing the trust of both the end-users and the investors. The brand positioning that differentiates between the two different realty companies is today negligible with developers’ focus to sell. That, unfortunately, is not working for them and commanding premium over the brand reputation today is a far cry. Our team speaks to a cross section of developers, analysts and brand experts who may differ with each other but nearly all agree that sector has to come out of the Catch 22 situation.
In the evaluation of sustainability of a housing market, the absorption of office space is the prime indicator across the world. After all, it is the economic activity and the job magnet that fuels the demand for new houses. The city of Mumbai has always been blessed on that count due to demand and supply dynamics.
The idea of creating a new city as a counter magnet to Mumbai was originally envisaged in the Regional Plan of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in 1965. The actual planning process of this new city began in 1971 after the formation of CIDCO, a Government-owned company for development of cities.
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.