While the real estate sector has always shied with the need to have a regulatory body, Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan talking of constituting a regulatory authority to control high property prices seems to have sent alarm bells ringing among major players. Some of the real estate companies are now talking about the need to check pricing rather than just setting up a body.
Om Chaudhary, CEO or Fire Capital Fund has a word of caution for Indian realty market and he believes that while there’s a huge hunger line for the realty, FII’s inflow can be a matter of concern since China is going to control the GDP.
Private equity investments continue to trickle into project or SPV level in the realty space. Sun Apollo India Real Estate Fund LLC, a $630-million India-dedicated real estate private equity fund, has invested Rs 100 crore in a residential project SPV led by Parsvnath Developers Limited (PDL). SUN-Apollo will invest Rs 100 crore for a 49.9% stake in the project SPV, Parsvnath Buildwell Private Limited, which will develop a premium residential project at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, spread over an area of 31 acres. The project is called Parsvnath Exotica- Ghaziabad.
Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, is still in talks with New Delhi-based Jubilant FoodWorks and some of the top real estate and retail chains to set up standalone stores in the country, said a person with direct knowledge of the development. Starbucks has signed a binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Coffee to set up stores in Tata Group’s associated retail outlets and hotels besides sourcing and roasting coffee beans in Tata Coffee’s Kodagu facility in Karnataka.
The buzz word among realty consultants at the beginning of the year seems to be price correction. After the real estate firms like Jones Lang LaSalle India and Cushman & Wakefield forecast of a correction in real estate prices in 2011, now Crisil also forecasts a price correction, though in select pockets.
After Gurgaon One, western part of the city might see rise of another multi-storey building in the same vicinity. Jawala Mills, decades-old defunct textile mill on Old Delhi Road is slated to be sold by mid-February. The 17 acres of land was first purchased by IT major Aricent Technologies in early 2000s as tech firm wanted to re-develop the area into an office space. However, the new Master Plan of Gurgaon has marked the area as a residential zone. Following this, Aricent Technologies have decided to put the land up for sale.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has suggested the government to introduce Real Estate Investment Trust and Real Estate Mutual Fund to enable investors to own a diversified portfolio of professionally managed assets in the real estate sector. In a note submitted to the government, the Chamber said that the Indian Real estate sector currently lacks any monetization vehicle for capital intensive verticals such as commercial offices and retail malls.
This is the story of the plight of a family who wanted to sell off the house. What they got in exchange was a series of harassment by the property dealer. What makes this individual experience a case study and a newsworthy item is the fact that in the absence of any regulation, how the petty local goons are operating as property dealers.
Gurgaon initially gained prominence as an outsourcing centre for major international companies that found it cheaper to locate their back-end operations in India due to the availability of high-quality but cost-effective employee resources. GE Capital initiated this trend and was the first multinational company to enter Gurgaon in 1997.
The Fitch Ratings 2011 outlook for the Indian real estate sector seems to contradict itself. While it says the realty market is stable in the year, it also warns of a negative bias. The negative forecast of Fitch Ratings is, however, based more on the sentiments than the emerging market reality.