When the Government of India was announcing relaxation with FDI norms a day ahead of Diwali, many analysts thought it to be a Diwali gift for 15 core sectors that could also prolong the festive spirit for the real estate sector.
Immediately after the earthquake in Delhi-NCR a builder sends a group WhatsApp message that says: Our project in Noida is NCR’s 1st and only earthquake resistant structure with seismic zone V compliance approved by IIT Bombay. Possession next month.” It does not go down well in the collective consciousness as an impression gains ground that the developers are evaluating the opportunity cost in times of a natural calamity. This message nevertheless raises more questions than it tries to answer that the given project is earthquake complaint.
From being the governance wild child to maturing into a market influencer, India’s real-estate sector has transformed in the past decade, with a paradigm shift from family owned businesses to corporates along with a few companies listing on stock exchanges. The change began with the government opening doors to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2005 and then welcoming the next wave of stability as corporate houses brought image restoration for the sector. Led by corporate entities, realty companies soon adopted corporate governance wherein transparency began to trickle down into the system as a norm slowly.
As the Modi Government completes its first year in office, there is no dearth of bouquets and brickbats for the NaMo regime in the media. On analysing the Modi government’s electoral assurances, the actions taken so far and the respective timelines being followed to achieve these, I would say that it is reasonably on track with fulfilling its short-term, medium-term and long-term promises.
A National Green Tribunal (NGT) order in 2013 and yet another recent one have collectively had a greater negative impact on home buyers in the National Capital Region (NCR) than on the developer community. While home buyers were caught unawares and continue to remain jittery with the resultant delay in possessing their dream homes, these two NGT orders reveal the apathy authorities and developers have towards buyers.
Track2Realty: Reams of newsprint have been dedicated to discussing the sufferings of consumers in the Indian real estate sector. Particularly, homebuyers’ woes related to late delivery of projects, deviation of housing projects from promised quality, additional payments due to change in apartment area and inadequate protection of their rights have been well-documented.
Track2Realty Exclusive: On the eve of Union Budget every year the Indian real estate sector seems to be fighting a losing battle with the government. For long the policy advocacy of the sector has amounted to confrontation with the policy makers where the sector proposes and the Finance Minister disposes.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Affordable housing has always been a wishful thought in Mumbai real estate and the call for the same has been reignited post the Government of India calling for a vision document to ensure houses for all by 2022. However, Mumbai is not like the rest of the country and the sky high land prices due to unavailability of developable and licensable land calls for a rethink over what precisely is feasible to create affordable housing stock in the city.
Track2Realty: A high-rise is a tall or multi-storied building equipped with elevators, but various bodies have defined the term ‘high-rise differently. For instance, the International Conference on Fire Safety in High-Rise Buildings pessimistically defined a high-rise as a structure where height can seriously impact evacuation, while the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary merely refers to high-rises as buildings having many stories.
Track2Realty: Rapid urbanization has thrown up many complicated challenges for home owners as well as city planners. While most of the debate tends to revolve around how to improve living conditions in the core urban areas, real estate developers in many cities like Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore are now coming up with an entirely new solution – the creation of entirely new satellite mega-cities.