The buyers of Valenova Park have questioned that at a time when the District Administration of Gautam Buddh Nagar has warned the maintenance of Eros Sampoornam to stop hiking maintenance charges during the lockdown or else face arrest, how come Hawelia is hell-bent to charge maintenance without giving them any facilities, other than water and limited electricity with diktat to use it economically.
There are altogether over 6.1 lakh affordable units under construction across the top 7 cities, of which NCR and MMR alone account for nearly 59% – or 3.59 lakh units. These units were launched between 2013 to 2019. Both cities together also have a 57% share (approx. 1.34 lakh units) of the overall unsold stock of 2.34 lakh units in the budget homes category. (Unsold affordable stock consists of both under-construction and ready-to-move homes.)
Lockdown is not a new reality for the developers across India, and more particularly in the Delhi NCR region. The NGT construction ban, often for months together, has hampered the execution cycle of the business. However, the comprehensive lockdown due to Coronavirus could multiply the woes of the business with supply chain hurdles leading to cost escalation, labour migration and the job losses in the market leading to standstill sales and even foreclosures. However, Amit Modi, Director of ABA Corp who is also a known face of CREDAI in this part of world thinks otherwise. In an exclusive video conferencing with Ravi Sinha, he feels some of the input costs might come down to clear the material inventory in a competitive market.
It is pertinent to note here that the builder has serious tussle with many of the home buyers at both his projects. Many a times the home buyers have been overtly refused the services with point blank justification that the Hawelia Facility Management is not obliged to entertain those who are unsatisfied buyers. However, in today’s pandemic it is not just unprofessional & unethical but also inhuman to not facilitate supply of day-to-day commodities when the builder’s commercial shops are not operational. Interestingly, Hawelia’s CSR initiative is called as Hawelia Humanity.
The habitual project delaying and absurd justifications of the builders in calling everything as Force Majeure has got another alibi – Corona. It has sparked a fresh debate within the built environment of the Indian real estate as to whether the Corona pandemic could be treated as Force Majeure in the sector.
Apart from the top cities, Tier 2 & 3 cities are also on the radar of many PE funds which see these cities actively driving retail going forward. At least 36% (nearly USD 1 bn) retail-focused funds went to cities like Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Nagpur and Mohali. In 2019, ANAROCK Capital was instrumental in Virtuous Retail South Asia (a JV between Singapore’s PE firm Xander Group and Dutch institutional investor APG) concluding a USD 100 mn deal with TRIL for two retail malls – one each in Nagpur and Amritsar.
I&L space take-up in 2019 was dominated by small-sized transactions (less than 50,000 sq. ft.), which held a share of about 42%. The share of medium-sized transactions (ranging between 50,000 sq. ft. and 1,00,000 sq. ft.) rose from 26% in 2018 to 30% in 2019. Large-sized deals (greater than 1,00,000 sq. ft.) accounted for 28% of the leasing activity during 2019. The number of large-sized deal closures in Hyderabad, in particular, doubled in 2019 as compared to 2018.
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.
For the real estate, it seems the government message is that if you wish to revive than learn to survive on your own. Unfortunately, in a market loaded with housing inventory, added with the liquidity crunch, the over-supply could only be absorbed with the revival in demand. There has been no announcement as to how the government would ease the stuck up projects after its initial stressed funds.
Balvinder Kumar, member of the UP RERA is no stranger to the functioning of the real estate and the government agencies. As a former bureaucrat, he has seen it as an insider with many key positions, including his stint with the high profile Delhi Development Authority (DDA). In an exclusive interview with Ravi Sinha, he shares his roadmap for making RERA an ideal platform for due diligence as well.