Track2Realty-Agencies: Lodha Group has acquired the Canadian embassy building in London’s Mayfair district for $530 million (Rs 3,300 crore) in its biggest move overseas. Lodha Group, which claims to be India’s largest real estate developer, has exchanged contracts to acquire the landmark MacDonald House in central London from.
Track2Realty Exclusive: As a brand management professional, I am often asked as to which industry in India needs branding the most. Without any second thoughts, my answer is real estate. Prima facie that may sound very counterintuitive as real estate is after all a big advertising spender.
Track2Realty Exclusive: A McKinsey report to the Government of India on cost of approval had clearly pointed out that the costs incurred on account of various approvals could constitute anything up to 40 per cent of the sale value. Such is the enormity of the problem of approvals and that the challenge of negativity that we suffer from.
Track2Realty Exclusive: A brand is the idea or image of a specific product or service that consumers connect with, by identifying the name, logo, slogan, or design of the company. Branding, according to me, is a double edged sword which grants an advantage of building clientele, loyalty, trust etc but also burdens the shoulders with an added responsibility and obligation to defend the ‘Brand’ so far created persistently.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Industry experts assert if the neighbourhood does not have the supportive social infrastructure, the demand will be less compared to the well-developed areas. The number of houses remaining vacant in a project in the core areas of the city is less compared to those outside the city.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It is said that this sector encourages black money and corruption, which is sad and upsetting for all developers/entrepreneurs who put in their best efforts to run the business.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Some of the developers believe that being a responsible corporate entity CSR forms a very important aspect of their day to day functioning. For example, Kamal Khetan, CMD, Sunteck Realty says they have formed Sunteck Foundation that is a dedicated entity which under its umbrella supports various initiatives that lead to social betterment.
Track2Realty Exclusive: As the country faces problems over land acquisition, events around the issue have been tarnishing the image of India’s built environment. Across sectors — real estate, infrastructure and construction events have not been conducive enough to create a good environment for investments. In addition, fragmentation and irregularities within the market, instances of fly-by-night-operators duping the consumers, an absence of regulation over transactions and developers have given a bad name to the environment.
Track2Realty: top eight cities witnessed total estimated residential unit launches of 132,000 units between January to September 2013 which represented an increase of 5% as compared the to the same period for 2012, says a report by Cushman & Wakefield (C&W).
Track2Realty: Office markets in India registered a downward trend in overall net absorption for the first three quarters of 2013, as per the latest report released by global real estate consultants, Cushman & Wakefield.