Track2Realty-Agencies: Foreign investors are being cautious about the Indian real estate market because it fails to meet the global standards, says Sean Tompkins, global Chief Executive Officer of UK-based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Track2Realty: Real estate sentiment remains fragile, most notably in the occupier markets in Europe, as the global economy continues to face strong and persistent headwinds. The recession in Europe, coupled with only modest growth in the US and a slowdown in China has resulted in global economic prospects being no more certain than in the previous quarter. These are the findings of These are the findings of the latest RICS Global Commercial Property Survey.
Track2Realty: RICS and CREDAI have joined hands to promote professional skills in real estate and construction. At the 12th National Convention of CREDAI at Barcelona, a joint initiative called “RICS-CREDAI Skills Development Initiative” was announced to address the education and training needs of professionals engaged in the real estate and construction sector in the country.
Further insight on the current state of the Indian economy will be provided with the release of July industrial production data on Wednesday 12th and August WPI (inflation) on Friday 14th. Recent news flow has generally been a little downbeat but the picture is not a uniform one.
The Environment Ministry has now set new norms for buildings higher than four floors. However, experts question the compliance aspect. Sachin Sandhir, Managing Director (South Asia) of RICS is apprehensive with the enforcement of stricter norms for structural safety.
According to the latest RICS India Commercial Property Survey, sentiment in the Indian real estate market has been adversely affected in the second quarter, as the economic picture in the country continues to remain bleak with the declining value of the rupee and growth forecasts being revised lower, along with a deteriorating global climate.
RICS India Commercial Property Survey suggests an easing in global strains has led respondents to upgrade their expectation in both the occupier and investment markets in the country. With real estate clearly feeling the effects of the softer macro environment in the previous two quarters, the market is now witnessing improving results across several indicators, which could signal the beginning of a turnaround.
If you look the FDI side of the story over the years, initially there was an influx of a lot of foreign funds and in 2007, it was driven by the US. But the 3-4 years that investors have been here, we have seen a lot of selling. So a lot of investors withdrew or reduced their portfolio and even though being a fund, we found ourselves putting our hands into the acquisitions, marketing etc. It was not our comfort zone and we have been playing the role of a developer instead.
The building approval process in India is relatively slower and more expensive in comparison to several other countries as indicated by a recent World Bank assessment. The report highlights that an average 37 procedures over a period of 195 days are needed for obtaining construction permits in the country vis-à-vis 15 approvals over an average 157 days in the OECD region.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published the FSB Principles for Sound Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices that aim to provide a framework for different countries to set minimum acceptable loan underwriting standards so as to limit the risks that mortgage markets pose to financial stability and to better safeguard borrowers and investors.