Indian buyers usually pay for apartments before construction has been completed. Many buyers do not take out mortgage loans (the ratio of housing loans to GDP is less than 5% in India).
The finance ministry has asked the central bank to bar real estate firms from seeking banking licences and alter conditions relating to financial inclusion and stake dilution by promoters.
Anil Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman inaugurated the two-day India Property Show (IPRO 2011) today at Al Falaj Hotel.
As real estate prices shoot up and interest rates, the outlook for the sector does not look too bright. In its year-end report, Knight Frank has stated that new home sales in India have fallen by 25 per cent due to soaring prices. With the Reserve Bank of India tightening lending norms to developers and raising interest rates, the property market is likely to plumb new lows in 2011 as buyers disappear.
Century Real Estate Holdings, the realty development arm of three-decade old Bangalore-based Century Group, is looking to raise Rs 700 crore through private equity players in three tranches. The company during the past four years have been focusing on development of projects, is understood to be effecting this deal at the holding company level.
In what real estate experts see as a sign that land rates are becoming more realistic, a 135-acre plot that belonged to the defunct PAL-Peugeot auto company in Dombivli has been auctioned off to Metropolitan Infra Housing Pvt Ltd (a subsidiary of Gammon India) for Rs 601 crore.
With liquidity from traditional channels like banks and equity markets drying up for property developers, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have raised rates for loans to real estate companies by two-three percentage points (200-300 basis points). The rates have gone up from 15-19 per cent to 17-22 per cent. The rates vary according to the developer, the project and the requirement of the company, say NBFCs and consultants.
Concerned over excessive flow of banking funds to the real estate sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said lenders will provide loans only up to 80 per cent of the cost of property. Following the RBI directive, a home buyer will necessarily have to arrange at least 20 per cent of the property value on his own before seeking loan from a bank.