Track2Realty: In marked contrast to other cities, the dynamics of luxury housing in Mumbai have changed dramatically over the last decade. Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai continue to have location-specific premiums, which have risen consistently.
Track2Realty: For the quarter ended March 2014, nearly US$800 million was invested into India’s real estate sector. This translates to almost Rs.4,800 crore having been injected into the sector through the private equity route over the past few months. This couldn’t have happened at a more opportune timefor a sector faced with a liquidity crunch, high land acquisition costs, and stringent due diligence from the banking sector—which continues to perceive real estate as a high-risk domain in India.
Track2Realty: Several years after New Delhi, the country’s political capital, witnessed a transformation with the implementation of the Delhi Metro, the financial capital of Mumbai is set to experience a similar phenomenon with the imminent commissioning of the Versova Andheri-Ghatkopar (VAG) corridor of the Mumbai Metro. With equity participation from Reliance Infra and Veolia (a French transportation major), this PPP initiative has all the hallmarks of a game-changer for the city’s transportation and realty landscape.
Track2Realty: Despite more than 60% of global retailers already having a presence in India, the lack of quality retail space and legislative issues have been an impediment to the spread of organized retail in the country, according to CBRE’s report, Expanding Horizons of Global Retailers in India.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The east coast of Delhi-NCR has been on a roll and bucking all the trends of slowdown areas in and around, most importantly Ghaziabad, NH 24 stretch and Noida have done better than the national average in the last couple of years. To say that the property market in this part of the world has been more realistic having registered more property transactions would be stating the obvious.
Track2Realty: As consumers continued to face inflation and high interest rates in April, average household spending seemed unlikely to recover in the near term. Subdued market sentiments looked likely to continue unless consumer confidence began to rise.
Track2Realty: Sustainable and inclusive urban development is of particular importance at this juncture of our economic growth. With the urban infrastructure of our major metropolitan cities bursting at the seams from increasing urban migratory patterns—which is only set to accelerate in years to come—the development of new integrated cities has become the need of the hour.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Stable government has been the buzz word in India for quite some time; it has actually been one of the focal points of General Elections of 2014. In India since 1984 no government at centre could take charge of the office without the added baggage of unlike minded friends as alliance partners.
Track2Realty: The Housing Sentiment Index (IIMB MB HIS) assessed by IIM Bangalore and Magicbricks forecasts that homebuyers across 8 of the 10 cities surveyed expect real estate prices to rise over the next six months. The aggregate Housing Sentiment Index (HSI) measured across 10 cities this quarter stood at 108. (An HSI score of 100 suggests the prices would remain static).
Track2Realty Exclusive: Prophets of doomsday in Mumbai who till only recently have written off the growth of the city and its realty market due to saturation and infrastructural bottlenecks are today very apprehensive lot. The proposed industrial corridors promise to open the floodgates of new investment opportunities and make them eat their own words. Mumbai which has been facing stiff competition with certain other emerging markets is expected to redefine the financial capital of the country once the first corridor Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project is over and investors find avenues like gold mine on the ground.