JLL India has collaborated with Manpower Group and EMPI Business School to introduce Certificate Programs in Facilities Management. This initiative is aimed at meeting the need for a formal academic approach to empowering aspirant candidates for a career in Facilities Management (FM), which is one of the fastest-growing real estate services verticals in India today.
Tokyo is the world’s hottest city for new retailer expansion, attracting 63 new retail brands, according to the latest report by global property advisor CBRE, How Global is the Business of Retail?. Space in core areas of Tokyo remain highly sought after despite the mixed signals in the economy and an increase in sales tax of 8% introduced in April 2014.
The Indian subcontinent has always been prone to earthquakes. However, it is only the recent earthquakes in Nepal which have made home owners and prospective buyers wonder about the earthquake resistance factor in Indian real estate. Two quakes, a week apart, ripped the beautiful mountainous country to debris and several Indian states and cities felt the impact, as well. In some places, there were even incidents of damage to old structures and ill-planned buildings.
Following a particularly strong fourth quarter of 2014, the first quarter of 2015 reported comparatively slow activity on the office market front across leading cities. This apparent demand drop was largely because most corporate space occupiers were still strategizing their real estate plans for the year during the period, with fewer transaction decisions being implemented in the first quarter.
What needs to be done to ensure that Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) get to be the game changer? In India, we have seen ‘pious thought’ and ‘positive thinking’ not always being supplemented by positive action on part of the ‘powers that be’; be they regulatory authorities or the taxation authorities. Challenges which need to be addressed include different rates at which stamp duties are levied, for purchase and sale of assets across various states in India. Potential exists; making it a reality is the challenge.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Not that Hitender Tyagi of Noida was a prosperous landlord, yet he felt like the one with his small piece of 12 acre of agricultural land. Today this ailing farmer feels like a pauper who was forced to do away with his source of bread and butter as his land was forcibly acquired by the Noida Authority.
Track2Realty: The economic growth rates in Asia are likely to lead the world—creating demand for built spaces, triggering business expansion, and inducing businesses to occupy retail premises and office properties.
Track2Realty: International expansion remains high on the agenda for retailers in 2015, in spite of uncertain economic prospects and cost escalation. CBRE’s research report, How Active are Retailers Globally?, has several interesting implications for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, with some 85% of luxury and business fashion retailers looking at the region, and 67% of coffee and restaurant retailers doing the same.
Track2Realty: Bangalore has consistently remained the preferred destination for corporate real estate occupiers in the country over the last couple of years. More recently though, our IT City outperformed itself by catapulting into the league of the top performing office markets of the Asia Pacific region during 2014—in the company of Tokyo and Shanghai.
Track2Realty: India’s logistics and warehousing real estate segment attracted steady demand during the second half of 2014—according to the latest CBRE report, India Industrial and Logistics Market View – H2 2014. Occupiers from the automotive, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), engineering and manufacturing, and Third Party Logistics (3PLs) sectors were the principle demand drivers for warehousing space in the second half of the year.