Since the hospitality sector was previously considered a part of Commercial Real Estate (CRE) and was subject to the same risk exposure, the cost of such debt was high. In September 2009, new guidelines on CRE released by the Reserve Bank of India, asserted that the hospitality sector would no longer be treated as a part of CRE and risk exposure would be based on the profile of the borrower and the nature of the project.
By allowing external commercial borrowings (ECBs) in the low-cost housing segment, the supply of affordable housing projects will increase in the outskirts of Mumbai in areas such as Karjat, Boisar, Nalasopara, Virar, Dombivili etc. on the heels of increased liquidity for budget home projects.
The rate at which economy is growing our urban centers shall add at least 100 million people by year 2020 merely on the account of urbanization. To provide housing to so many people India needs to invest a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. This is equivalent to 80 times our education budget allocation for year 2011-12.
It is a highly disappointing budget. The Finance Minister has miserably failed in highlighting the importance the role of Housing in economy, employment generation, apart from the very need of housing. The announcements on ECB for affordable housing is a minor respite but still meaningless.
Replicating global trends, the Indian economy is looking towards an impending slowdown in growth due to decline in consumption expenditure, repeated hikes in interest rates and consistently high inflation.
Equinox Realty,an arm of oli-to-steel conglomerate Essar Group,plans to sell a minority stake in its biggest commercial asset in Mumbai to raise between 7.5 billion rupees and 10 billion rupees, sources close to the development said.
Godrej Properties Limited, the real estate arm of the Godrej Group, is planning to raise Rs 500-600 crore through the institutional placement programme (IPP). The move is aimed at reducing its outstanding debt, which is around Rs 2,000 crore.
In 2011 six big ticket real estate IPOs was expected to raise over $2.9 billion or Rs.13,000 crore. Emaar MGF, which could not raise money in the capital market in consecutive attempts even when market conditions were conducive.
A recent industry report shows that FDI in 2010-11 was the lowest in the last four years. According to the FICCI-Ernst & Young real estate report, the FDI in the sector declined to 6 per cent of the total direct investment coming to India in 2010-11.
With the market set to bottom by out by the second quarter of 2012, we will see the beginning of a recovery in the city’s residential real estate fortunes by the second half of the year.