During the boom, many developers dreamed of transforming the urban landscape with millions of square feet of homes, offices and malls and set off on an aggressive expansion financed with debt that at 6 percent interest was cheap by Indian standards.
The first half of 2012 recorded total absorption of approximately 13.4 million sq ft of office space in India registering a decline of 21 percent compared to same period last year which was 16.9 million sq ft.
Singapore-listed technology park developer Ascendas is close to acquire an IT Special Economic Zone of Shriram Properties in Chennai for about Rs 500 crore, said banking sources close to the development. Ascendas, which owns a string of business parks in India, is said to have pipped competing offers from other global investors Tishmen Speyer, Xander Group and Mapletree, a real estate arm of Temasek.
The commercial rentals in the country have not seen vibrancy this quarter as some localities have witnessed rental price correction in Q1-12 when compared to Q1-11. However, the southern part of the country, and some localities in Delhi and Mumbai did see per square feet growth figures over a period of one year. Overall commercial rentals in Mumbai saw 2% increase in commercial rentals, Bangalore saw 3% growth and Delhi de-grew by 7% over the last one year. These are the findings of a study by property portal 99acres.com.
Asia Pacific Office market report by Cushman & Wakefield – that compared the rental values of Central Business Districts (CBD) across Asia Pacific – ranks NCR as the 5th most expensive CBD location in the region while Mumbai – CBD ranked 10th most expensive location in APAC. Traditionally expensive office destinations of Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo (continued to hold the top three positions respectively.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, is foraying into retail and hospitality segments through a new subsidiary, TRIL Hospitality Services. The company, which has about Rs 6,000-crore projects at hand, would also commence work on two more projects, and this would add business of Rs 3,000 crore, said a senior TRIL Infopark executive.
Substantial addition to supply has kept the rentals for the retail mall space in Pune stable in the first quarter of the year 2012, a report from real estate advisory Cushman & Wakefield India has said.
No wonder, the healthcare sector is being adopted by the developers across the country. Property analysts are of the opinion that proximity to a hospital in an area also impacts the price of real estate and many developers use it as USP to market their projects.
The retail real estate market received a fresh mall supply of approximately 1.94 million sq. ft. (msf) in Q1 2012 (quarter ending March 2012). Many of the expected mall projects were differed on account of delay in construction, leading to a deficit of close to 50% from the estimated supply (3.37 msf) for the quarter, says Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report.
The demand fundamentals of the India story are now focused around all cities that have sufficient economic activity, be it industrial, service sector-driven or incentive-driven programs by the State Government. In Gujarat, which has seen considerable industrial progress, the key cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara come readily to mind.