Track2Realty Exclusive: It has indeed been a busy year and 2014 can well be described as the year of roller coaster emotions where the business confidence index was exposed to two extreme ends of swing. In an otherwise flat year, the real estate sector may not have been witness to transactions on ground but the poetic engagement has definitely been at the emotional level.
Track2Realty Exclusive:Following nearly two years of sub-5% growth due to currency volatility, high inflation and fiscal deficits, poor investment and market sentiment scenario, India’s economy bounced back with a growth rate of 5.7% during the April–June period of FY 2014–15, up from 4.6% in the preceding quarter. With business prospects improving across key sectors, the economy is expected to display further improvements in the next quarter.
Track2Realty: In recent years, the Asia Pacific retail market has boomed on the back of strong economic growth, rapid urbanization and the emergence of a large and prosperous middle class population, CBRE’s latest report The New Age of the Asia Pacific Retail Market reveals. As a result, Asia Pacific is now experiencing an upsurge of new retail construction to meet demand as international retailers flock to the region.
Track2Realty: At nearly US$160 per sq. ft. per annum, Delhi’s Central Business District (CBD) of Connaught Place was ranked as the sixth most expensive prime office market in the world, according to CBRE’s semi-annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey. Mumbai’s alternative business district of Bandra–Kurla Complex (BKC) remained at the sixteenth, and its CBD of Nariman Point at the thirty-second positions on the Top 50 rankings for global prime office properties.
Track2Realty: After a better than expected growth of 5.7% during the April–June quarter, India’s GDP growth slowed down to 5.3% during July–September, mainly due to sluggishness in manufacturing growth and a slowdown in agricultural output.
Track2Realty: The investment vehicle called REITs is once again in the news, and the Indian real estate sector eagerly anticipates this internationally tried and tested platform for smaller investors to invest in larger real estate portfolios.
Track2Realty: Sentiment around Indian real estate among both domestic and international investors has improved in recent times, following the election of a new government and also on account of an upturn in consumer demand, says theEmerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific 2015 report, published jointly by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Track2Realty: With the rapidly changing profile of consumers the world over, it remains a challenge for retailers to keep up with shifting shopping demands. Shoppers today are more discerning and better informed about products and services than ever before, expecting a certain standard of shopping experience from retailers.
Track2Realty-Agencies: News Corp has acquired a major stake in an Indian digital real estate company, continuing the company’s aggressive expansion into attractive early stage markets around the world.
Track2Realty: The completion of several large transactions—including a couple of deals worth overUS$ 500 million each—pushed up the total real estate investment volume in the Asia Pacific region in the June–September period to US$ 35 billion, a quarter-on-quarter increase of about 40% (as per the CBRE APAC Capital Markets MarketView Q3 2014 report).