Track2Realty Exclusive: Not all large developments can however, be called townships. A development comprising only budget apartments is an incomplete township. So is one that has only luxury housing. It is essential for a township to have an inclusive character.
Pranay Vakil: Good afternoon everyone. We are indeed sitting in one of the most interesting market of real estate when I feel the developer is confused, the buyer is confused and the government is confused.
Jhumur Ghosh: The most confused.
Pranay Vakil: You said it, I didn’t. The buyer is confused because every day he is reading in the newspapers that prices are going down, but when he goes out to buy a house he finds that prices have actually gone up. I think the lender is confused because he is lending money and the developer is making all kinds of commitment and things are not working out the way it was promised and he is unable to understand why it is not happening.
Track2Realty: Expressing disappointment over the RBI’s decision to cut repo rate by “just” 25 basis points, realtors’ apex body CREDAI said the central bank appears to missing opportunities time and again.
Track2Realty: Tata Housing has launched the second phase of its luxury residential development – Amantra. Amantra – Phase II comprises of 565, two and three BHK units, starting at Rs. 5800/- per square feet.
I welcome all the panelists in the final roundtable for Track2Realty Focus 2013. As we come to the end of 2012, it is time to look in & look ahead as far as the prospects of the realty sector are concerned. In this discussion, we would try to wrap up the year 2012, and see where the sector has been heading to in 2013. So, when you look at the year Mr Sharma, don’t you think “oh! what a waste.” So much was expected this year but nothing has moved forward, be it in terms of administrative reforms, fiscal reforms or land reforms; nothing has gone right for the sector.
Track2Realty: In India, labour shortage is pegged to go up by 65 per cent by the next decade with more workforce moving from traditional brick and mortar industry like the construction and real estate sectors to more lucrative industries such as IT, ITeS, Banking and Telecom.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Come budget and the real estate in the last few years seems to have been repeating the rhetoric of industry status. As a result, year after year it has been a case of realty proposes and the Finance Minister disposes. However, the sector on the eve of 2013-14 makes a strategic shift to be more realistic with its causes and concerns.
Track2Realty-Agencies: The Bombay High Court has cleared the way for construction major Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. to sue Qatar Airways for Rs 59 lakh with interest.
Track2Realty Exclusive-Yearly Analysis: Indian banks lending to real estate sector grew by 10.4% in the fiscal year ended March 2010 to Rs.5.8 trillion, contributing nearly 17% of their loan book, according to RBI data. Since then it has nosedived and now the government also wants public sector banks to focus more on home loans and to streamline lending norms to the real estate sector.
Track2Realty: Responding to Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s suggestion for reducing the price of housing stock, Confederation of Real Estate developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has asked its 8,000 plus members across the country to seriously consider the proposal to sell in maximum numbers.