Track2Realty: Narendra Modi’s government has made massive forward strides within a short period. The progress in such a short period is remarkable, considering that the government is still hamstrung by a disproportionate fiscal deficit and its ability to induce further growth through public investment.
Track2Realty: India’s economy grew 5.7% y-o-y in Q1 2014 (April–June) beating market consensus forecasts of 5.3%, and showing signs of recovery following annual growth numbers of between 4.4% and 5.2% in each quarter between Q1 2012 and Q4 2013.
Track2Realty: The Union Budget 2014-15 was presented in the parliament under economic circumstances that required tax revenues to keep pace with targets. Considering the state of government finances and the current situation – below-normal monsoons, Middle East tension leading oil price volatility, the weakness of the India rupee etc., there was not much room for populism.
Track2Realty: Asian economies compete for greater global influence in terms of business, politics and sociocultural activity. Within economies, cities are the real growth engines. According to The Economic Intelligence Unit’s Hot Spots 2025 (2013) and AT Kearney’s 2014 Global Cities Index and Emerging Cities Outlook (2014), leading Indian cities have done well in terms of growing business activity and enhancing human capital.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Reeling under compelling economic circumstances that call for financial prudence and tough measures, the first Union Budget of the NDA Government is still reason enough for the real estate sector to exude optimism. It seems the euphoria of a stable government at the Centre is running so deep that despite of the government taking certain tough economic measures before the budget itself and the Reserve Bank of India also not cutting the repo rate down in its recent monetary policy review, the sector is expecting rosy days ahead with the budget being the first catalytic point.
Track2Realty: With the new government now firmly in charge of steering the country, the Indian economy is perched on the threshold of recovery and growth. The serious issues that have plagued the sector for so long may now be proactively addressed.
Track2Realty: The global house price boom continued during the year to Q1 (first quarter) 2014, gathering pace. Despite strongly rising housing markets in Taiwan and the Philippines, the momentum seems to be passing momentarily from Asia, where interventionist authorities have slowed housing markets in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. Instead, action is shifting to the Pacific, the Gulf, and (less forcefully) to Europe, which are all seeing strong price rises.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Investment in real estate has been a widely debated topic, dissected in great detail. For the past few years, India has been shining, has been one of the preferred destinations for real estate investments and has attracted capital infusion from foreign institutional investors/foreign funds as well as domestic players, both institutional and retail investors.
Track2Realty: Real estate investors as well as developers in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) had been cautiously awaiting the results of the recently concluded General Elections to ascertain the future mood of the market. Having been elected with a full majority, the new government will hopefully usher in a stable regime at the center, which will definitely have a positive impact on the real estate sector too.
Track2Realty: As consumers continued to face inflation and high interest rates in April, average household spending seemed unlikely to recover in the near term. Subdued market sentiments looked likely to continue unless consumer confidence began to rise.