Track2Realty: Total inflows in the real estate sector for the first quarter of 2014 were recorded at INR 2,800 crores (USD 460 million), witnessing an increase of 28% compared to the previous quarter and nearly 2.5 times the investment in Q1 2013, says Cushman & Wakefield’s report on private equity (PE) investments in real estate.
Track2Realty: Investment-grade office space demand slowed down in the first quarter of 2014, with around 6.3 million sq. ft. of Grade A office space getting absorbed across the leading cities of the country. Transaction activity was dominated by the National Capital Region (NCR), Bangalore and Chennai.
Track2Realty: A burgeoning automobile ancillary industry and the IT/ITeS sector’s growing presence have been the major growth drivers behind the notable transformation of Maharashtra’s second largest city—Pune. Over the past couple of years, the city’s IT sector in particular has seen significant growth, leading to sustained demand for office space in the city.
Track2Realty: Although the Interim Budget announcement supporting affordable housing was welcomed by the real estate industry, the segment has a long way ahead as yet. To begin with, there is considerable supply shortage in this arena—pegged at 18.78 million for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012–2017) by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry (HUPA), of which 96% is in the EWS and LIG categories. Housing shortage for the EWS stands at almost 11 million homes, while that for LIG stands at 7.41 million homes.
Track2Realty Exclusive: 2014 is the year when, to some extent, not only the real estate market but the economy as a whole will have the impact of being in an election year. This is because real estate gets affected as approvals get delayed during this time. A couple of months before even the State elections, slowdown in deals happens on which new approvals are pending.
Track2Realty Exclusive: If you ever thought religious sentiments only affect the home buyers in affordable category, then probably you have neither been exposed to the India’s costliest property market trends in South Mumbai, nor have you monitored the transactions in this region during Akshay Tirtiya.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Property markets across the country have shoot up in capital and rental values in tandem with the infrastructure development. Infrastructure development and better connectivity are two key elements behind property prices going up. Navi Mumbai, however, presents a different picture with arguably the best infrastructure development and connectivity in Mumbai.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Noida has defied the conventional wisdom of economics of late, thanks to the new found interest of the multinational corporations (MNCs) and the NRIs. This is due to the fact that the investment pattern of these two demand drivers have so far been guided by the conventional wisdom of economics that suggests to put money in a relatively mature market, and that too when the macro economic outlook is bright and the sentiments bullish.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The Tamil Nadu Government must be commended for its focus on infrastructure development; it is a key determinant of the state’s economic progress. So long as the commitment to infrastructure remains, the prognosis for real estate will be good.
Track2Realty: During 1Q 2014, commercial leasing in eight major cities recorded at around 8 MN SF including 1.7 million sq ft pre commitment from large corporates for future expansion. Cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon and Kolkata witnessed increase absorption on qoq basis. Bangalore and NCR topped the chart contributing 75% in the total absorption. Bengaluru witnessed the highest absorption to the tune of 3.8 million sq ft followed by 2.3 million sq ft in NCR. IT/ITeS topped the charts and remained the primary demand driver IT/ITeS followed by Engineering and BFSI sectors.