Track2Realty: Net office uptake in the first three quarters (Jan – Sept) of 2014 has seen a significant rise of 36% as compared to same time last year. Total net absorption of office space has been recorded at approximately 24 million square feet (msf) between January – September in 2014 as against the 17.7 msf in same time in 2013, says Cushman & Wakefield in a report.
Track2Realty: Knight Frank India in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in its fourth set of findings of its flagship report – the Real Estate Sentiment Index for Q3 2014 (July – September) finds that sentiments are still riding high, though investors remain cautiously optimistic. The report captures the sentiments of the supply side stakeholders on the current real estate market conditions and gives a view into the near future.
Track2Realty: India’s economy grew 5.7% y-o-y in Q1 2014–15 (April–June) belying market forecasts of 5.3%, and showing signs of recovery following annual growth numbers of between 4.4% and 5.2% in each quarter between Q1 2012–13 and Q4 2013–14.
Track2Realty: The global house price boom continues, with a new geographical twist. Housing markets surged during the year to Q2 2014 in Dubai, parts of Europe and the Pacific. In contrast, several Asian governments have implemented cooling measures, successfully restraining their housing markets, and the US housing market boom is weakening.
Track2Realty: Narendra Modi’s government has made massive forward strides within a short period. The progress in such a short period is remarkable, considering that the government is still hamstrung by a disproportionate fiscal deficit and its ability to induce further growth through public investment.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It was only a few years back that when a couple of high-end luxury projects were launched in Pune analysts were busy with the cost-benefit analysis of the splurge in the market. The rising interest of NRIs, HNIs and even global realty baron soon made everyone realise that Pune has already made its presence on the luxury landscape of India.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Statistics often only tell half the story and in real estate this old adage is all the more true as the figure are often not the facts and ground realities may juxtapose facts with figure. For instance, a perception is gaining ground that Mumbai property has reached beyond its saturation point and the standing inventory of 48 months is being cited as the evidence.
Track2Realty: According to recent CBRE report—How Global is the Business of Retail?—new trends identified in the global retail market saw retailers focusing on larger markets in 2013, with 83% of the survey cities witnessing at least one new entrant in the year (compared to 81% in 2012), while the top target markets saw a 28% rise in new entrants.
Track2Realty Exclusive: To say that expressways are lifeline of urban centres would be like stating the obvious. The expressways across the country have been a connecting point of the main city with the periphery locations, thus ensuring that satellite cities are sustainable for the working class who can otherwise not afford to buy a house in the main city. In the process, expressways have been catalyst to the vibrant economy of the region as well.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Till very recently, unlike several other industries, real estate used to take a back seat in times of a sluggish market or when there was some controversy around. Any negative market sentiment or slowdown more often than not led to newspapers’ property supplements growing thinner and vacant hoardings in and around city becoming common. Prima facie it was seen to be a sales driven exercise where real estate companies’ approach has been to advertise for selling their product and not creating a brand icon. But that seems to be only half the truth in today’s context as the sector is doling out more money for advertising despite slowdown.