The journalists covering real estate news are always on the lookout for the grey areas and these buyers’ associations feed them. In exchange, they are always in the news and that lends them credibility in the given market.
Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (MLDL) has launched ‘Happinest – Palghar’ – the first affordable housing project to be undertaken by a joint platform between the Company and HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Fund-1 (‘HDFC Capital’), a fund managed by HDFC Capital Advisors Ltd.
I am also conscious of the fact that a large number of developers are hoping against the hope that once the tide is over and investors return to the market their ordeal would be over. I may sound to be disappointing gentlemen but the era of investor driven real estate business is over.
It seems the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has failed to address the struggling and ailing real estate sector from the standpoint of both the homebuyers as well as the developers. However, what is all the more interesting is the fact that the developers are not overtly complaining. It is only the homebuyers who are sulking while the developers are trying best to put up a brave face.
The real estate markets across the major cities is today witness to a new spate of consumer activism which is more political in its functioning than consumer centric. Worse even, many of them even operate as the de facto consumer courts in advising others in how they should take on the builders.
A friendly budget is always on the wish list of everyone. Across the industries the stakeholders, including the consumers, have more or less the same expectations with the Finance Minister to call it a friendly budget. But in the context of the Indian real estate a friendly budget for the sector does not necessarily mean a homebuyer friendly budget.
The real estate sector is in dire need to communicate an connect with the stakeholders and society at large. In the name of communication all that they do is to hire a PR (Public Relations) agency for the purpose of brand building but do not understand what is communication in the right context.
In real estate, market dynamics is so more complex that all the marketing theories and economic rationale have already gone for the toss. The conventional financial definitions are often challenged by the imbalance of demand & supply. With real estate predominantly being a micro market business, each market has its own dynamics.
Kolhapur district is no longer considered as just rural and agrarian. Today, the demand for good quality residences has increased with improvements in jobs and other economic activities. This has also led to the increasing demand for commercial real estate. Some of the companies are increasingly evaluating the city for business establishments, as the cost of doing business per square feet in Kolhapur is much cheaper than Mumbai or Pune.
The more liberalized FDI regime now further attracting global capital flow to Indian real estate sector. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) system will also have a major impact especially in sell to build model in Real Estate. And the Benami Property Act will surely curb the parking of black money in real estate.