It is a highly disappointing budget. The Finance Minister has miserably failed in highlighting the importance the role of Housing in economy, employment generation, apart from the very need of housing. The announcements on ECB for affordable housing is a minor respite but still meaningless.
The Union Budget 2012-13 has left the Indian real estate sector grope with the indecision yet again and everyone is wondering whether the Finance Minister’s offer is glass half full or half empty for them.
The Economic Survey, while recognising the importance of the services sector (it accounts for 59 per cent of gross domestic product), has raised concern over the second largest economic activity–housing & real estate. Three months after the government rolled back its decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, the survey referred to it as a major challenge before the sector.
Real estate developers today expressed disappointment over the RBI’s decision to keep key policy rates unchanged and sought a cut in interest rate to boost housing demand.
Pranay Vakil: Let’s start by introducing ourselves. I am Pranay Vakil, Chairman of Knight Frank India. We are a brokerage and consultancy group, positioned as second in the business.
Ahmedabad stands out as a city that weathered the market slowdown most smartly and the property market of the city was the first in the country that showed signs of recovery by June 2009 itself. Since then realty in Ahmedabad is back and booming, with nearly 35% appreciation.
In contrast to what was been witnessed in many of the more volatile cities over the last couple of years, Chennai’s residential property market saw steady growth in terms of pricing, demand and supply. Chennai’s residential property market is predominantly end user driven, and this fact did a lot to sustain consistent absorption throughout 2011.
It has been a difficult market to be in as a developer. Rising interest rates have impacted the customer interest in new properties moderating the flow of new funds and in addition to that high inflation and rising commodity prices have increased substantially the delivery cost for existing projects.
In commercial real estate there is a general marketing strategy to showcase brands that book the space. Will SMEs cluster give the developer that cutting edge?
Despite a gloomy global outlook, foreign direct investment (FDI) clocked a 31 per cent growth to $27.5 billion during January-December 2011 period. FDI inflows for January-December 2010 stood at $21 billion.