Beyond what is happening in the strategic board room meetings of realty companies, market is cautiously optimistic that with the inventories piling up, developers will sooner or later be forced to blink. A look at the recent developments in the sector does indicate that prices can come down, but it all depends on the builders holding power.
DLF on Sunday, July 15, said it planned to cut its Rs 23,000-crore debt to about Rs 17,000 crore in this financial year and asserted that it was not unduly “perturbed” by the massive load.
CHD Developers has acquired Empire Realtech, a company holding about 12.34 acres of land at Sector 106 in Dwarka Expressway, Gurgaon. This land is licensed and has all approvals in place. CHD Developer acquired entire shareholding of Empire Realtech, pursuant to which it has become a wholly owned subsidiary of CHD Developers Ltd.
More than 30% of retail mall space against the projected supply for the first half of the year were deferred, says Cushman & Wakefield report on the retail real estate market. A fresh mall supply for H1 2012 stood at 2.27 million sq. ft. (msf). Approximately one million sq.ft. of expected mall supply was deferred to second half of the year or next year. The overall vacancy rate for the major cities as of H1 2012 stood at 19.6% marginally higher than the previous quarter.
The operational inexperience of the developers’ is also being sewn up through strategic tie-ups with the majors in the hotel industry. An improving economic scenario and demand for more hotel rooms across categories is persuading international hotel chains to sign new management contracts with Indian developers and property owners, according to analysts. The industry will witness the announcement of a number of new hotels in the year ahead.
In the wake of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposing a hefty penalty of Rs. 630 crore on DLF, the anti-monopoly regulator has been flooded with a host of real estate related consumer complaints which may not be in the ambit of CCI. CCI should draw a line that bifurcates between what falls in its domain and what is in the consumer protection ambit. However, in the absence of scientific economic analysis of the relevant market, both in product category and geographic category, the two legs of the relevant market, the sector is keeping its fingers crossed as there has been a clear anomaly in defining the relevant market by the CCI.
The commercial rentals in the country have not seen vibrancy this quarter as some localities have witnessed rental price correction in Q1-12 when compared to Q1-11. However, the southern part of the country, and some localities in Delhi and Mumbai did see per square feet growth figures over a period of one year. Overall commercial rentals in Mumbai saw 2% increase in commercial rentals, Bangalore saw 3% growth and Delhi de-grew by 7% over the last one year. These are the findings of a study by property portal 99acres.com.
Spiraling property prices and slump in home sales have forced the Union Housing Ministry to think out-of-the-box solutions. After the decision to set up a high-level committee to recommend policy interventions to facilitate creation of rental housing stocks, the ministry has now sought views from private developers and builders to evolve a strategy for reducing the time taken in approval of real estate projects that can help bring down the cost of houses.
Sahara Infrastructure and Housing, of late being in the news for market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) rap for mopping up Rs 17,400 crore through debentures and delayed project completion has now announced another 68 projects within FY 2012 – 13 across India. A statement issued by Sahara claims to introduce 10 lifestyle township projects, of which 9 will be self sufficient integrated townships under the brand name of ‘Sahara City Homes’ and 1 under the brand name of ‘Sahara Grace’.
After house tax, the Haryana Cabinet has reportedly targeted real estate sector in the state by approving the proposal of the department of town and country planning to increase the licence fee for residential plots, group housing and industrial colonies. Details of the increased rates shall be notified in the next couple of days, officials in the department of town and country planning said.