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 Exclusive: The Real Estate Regulation Bill will define and clarify various concepts in the sector; this will bring in transparency and curb unfair practices. Following the trend seen in other sectors like telecom, banking, insurance etc, the Bill provides for creation of a separate Regulator and Appellate Authority. While it is expected to provide specialized regulation and enforcement, this should not become another regulatory in the ‘approval’ matrix.
Track2Realty: An increase in the number of enquiries for residential properties has been seen across the major cities. However, transaction volumes have not improved much. Restricted sales transactions were observed in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon and NOIDA during 1Q 2014, as per a report by Colliers International.
Track2Realty-Agencies: Brys Group has given a Rs 330-crore contract to UAE-based Arabian Construction Company for the development of 81-storey tower in Noida.
Track2Realty: Tata Housing, has announced the launch of its mixed use township at Colombo in Sri Lanka. The project in partnership with UDA (Urban Development Authority) of Sri Lanka will commence its operations with starting construction of residences for rehabilitation of the current tenants in the phase one and also launch a mix use development project at slave Island in Colombo. The company will invest over $ 400 million for the project.
Track2Realty: Although the Interim Budget announcement supporting affordable housing was welcomed by the real estate industry, the segment has a long way ahead as yet. To begin with, there is considerable supply shortage in this arena—pegged at 18.78 million for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012–2017) by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry (HUPA), of which 96% is in the EWS and LIG categories. Housing shortage for the EWS stands at almost 11 million homes, while that for LIG stands at 7.41 million homes.
Track2Realty Exclusive: 2014 is the year when, to some extent, not only the real estate market but the economy as a whole will have the impact of being in an election year. This is because real estate gets affected as approvals get delayed during this time. A couple of months before even the State elections, slowdown in deals happens on which new approvals are pending.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Noida has defied the conventional wisdom of economics of late, thanks to the new found interest of the multinational corporations (MNCs) and the NRIs. This is due to the fact that the investment pattern of these two demand drivers have so far been guided by the conventional wisdom of economics that suggests to put money in a relatively mature market, and that too when the macro economic outlook is bright and the sentiments bullish.
Track2Realty: Employment opportunities to the tune of approximately four to five lakh are expected to be generated within the next two years across the country’s leading cities. In case India’s economic growth accerelates to above 6% in 2015, more such opportunities may be expected.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Elections are part of a vibrant democracy. And like everyone else who is part of this democratic system, the developer community also pins hope on the upcoming elections. We are, in fact, watching all development with bated breath. We will keenly follow the five Assembly elections to be followed by the general elections of 2014 without any bias and in a totally unattached manner with no political affiliations whatsoever.