Better returns, a mature and transparent market are some of the factors that have made investors flock to the country’s commercial real estate. With commercial segment remaining the most favoured among all kinds of asset classes, high-net-worth investors and the uber-rich are now looking at pre-leased assets, primarily office assets, with hope.
Decline in occupancies was more visible in key cities including Goa, Pune and Ahmedabad, according to the Hotel Momentum India (HMI) – H1 2019, the half-yearly hospitality monitor (for January to June 2019 period), released today by JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group.
Construction for 4.9 million units has begun and 2.6 million units of which have been completed. Given the past trend, additional 1.64 million houses are likely to be sanctioned by December 2019, making it highly possible to achieve the 10 million houses target by 2022. Projected subsidy disbursement over next 3 year for the same is projected to INR 1 trillion.
Steady economic growth, favourable policy environment, growing preference of global occupiers for Indian offices and listing of first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in the country have put the India office market on a growth path, according to the half yearly update (H1 2019 – January to June 2019) by JLL India.
As anticipated, residential real estate activity remained largely tepid during the second quarter of 2019 in the backdrop of the general elections during the period but the recent Union Budget sops for the affordable sector may give the much-needed push to the segment henceforth. ANAROCK research indicates that housing sales in Q2 2019 fell by 13% q-o-q and stood at 68,600 units across the top 7 cities.
ANAROCK research reveals that as many as 220 projects equalling 1.74 lakh homes are completely stalled in the top 7 cities alone. Launched either in 2013 or before, these projects have absolutely no construction activity going on. The overall value of all stalled units is estimated to be more than INR 1,774 billion. Most of these projects have been grounded due to either liquidity issues or litigations.
Only a paltry number of developers have built housing that meets the Government’s criteria for incentivized affordable housing in 2019. ANAROCK data reveals that of the total housing supply of 1,39,490 units in the top 7 cities H1 2019, merely 39,840 units meet these criteria. The Government’s recent Budget ‘bonanza’ of an additional INR 1.5 lakh tax deduction on interest repayment of home loans availed till March 2020 will benefit very few people in urban India.
With spacious homes in a gated community, the project will have more than three acres of central greens, outdoor air pollution controllers, floral courts, parks, air purifying tree species, pocket amenity spaces under each tower, contemporary club house (around 24,000 sq. ft), swimming pool, gym, sports-facilities, recreation areas, cafeteria and shopping plaza to just name a few.
In terms of the overall brand gain for the year, Embassy has been way ahead of the competition curve post the REIT listing. Embassy has jumped from its last fiscal ranking at Number 5 to now at Number 2. As a matter of fact, Embassy is just 0.4 brand score behind Sobha Limited. Moreover, Embassy has taken a lead ahead of Sobha in terms of NRI perception. Moving forward, Embassy Group with diversified portfolio could have an edge over Sobha Limited.
Further liberalization in FDI policies – 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and 100% FDI in single-brand retail under the automatic route (against the previous 49%) – has attracted major global PE funds to double their investments in the Indian retail sector.