Vestian MEA, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vestian INC Chicago, established in 2010. Vestian MEA will operate as a specialized real estate advisory firm providing comprehensive solutions to investors seeking to capitalize on opportunities in Dubai and the UAE. The launch of Vestian MEA represents a significant milestone in the company’s growth strategy, aligning with its commitment to delivering unparalleled real estate services globally.
While other developers aspiring to go global are tying up with international brands, PNC Menon, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Sobha Group believes in organic growth of the brand. In an exclusive interview with Ravi Sinha at his Dubai office, he explains how Sobha has the inherent resilience to succeed anywhere in the global market. Focus on quality & don’t break the law is his mantra of global brand leadership.
What is icing on the cake for the developers in these smaller towns now is the fact that they are getting the labour force at a much lower cost. Explaining this trend, Sandeep Agrawal, a property broker in Patna says that the labours were getting their daily wages in the Delhi NCR region in the range of INR 350-500, depending upon the project. But now they are more than willing to work at INR 250 in places like Patna, Kanpur, Kochi etc where they are stationed in proximity to their home towns and the cost of living is much lesser, compared to the metro cities.
A large share of global buyers (NRIs & HNIs) don’t wish to invest in the Indian property market. 78% of them have their own reasons to look towards overseas property market. The recent banking woes have further dented their confidence to invest in India. They also feel that the property prices in India are way too higher, compared to the overall value proposition on offer.
The Indian housing market is a vicious cycle of broken promises, trust deficit, sulking participants and non-delivery. Statistics only tell you half the story. For the developers, market trackers and the government agencies it is all about numbers – how many units have not been delivered. What these raw statistics don’t tell you that there is a sordid saga of drying emotions of one family with each housing unit. Probably the stakeholders are least bothered about the plight of an average middle class home buyer who has exhausted his lifetime savings, taken up home loan and now reeling under the burden of both the EMI and the rent.
Dubai has always been a popular destination for Indians, not just for vacationing and shopping, but for the overall aspirational lifestyle it offers. Due to Dubai’s diverse population and cosmopolitan lifestyle, the city offers its residents and businesses a unique environment enriched with hundreds of cultures and a quality of life and work unrivalled in the Middle East.
Jhumur Ghosh welcomed the panelists, following which Ravi Sinha questioned the global competitiveness of Indian real estate in the wake of thousands of abandoned projects waiting for the funds, the debt-equity ratio imbalance, lending issues, pre-launches without RERA sanctions, and the developers’ defending the indefensible.
According to a World Bank report, India received USD 79 billion in remittances in 2018 – with a sizeable portion going into real estate. NRI investments into Indian real estate are led Indian expatriates from UAE, USA, UK, and Canada. In terms of Indian cities, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi-NCR currently attract the lion’s share of NRI investments.
The company plans to increase its team strength in the Gulf to 500 and is targeting a Gross Transaction Value of $600 mn. from its international business in 2019. It also plans to set up operations in Saudi Arabia in this calendar year.
Backward integration definitely helps and my reason for backward integration is that I have total control over quality. I come from that industry where I had been into contracting for the last 40 years. Real estate for me is only for the last 20 years. I have since beginning worked on very high-end contracts, including design. So, I have the knowledge coming from the grassroot level of contracts. Eventually I thought I should do real estate also while doing contracts outside.