Real estate developers are trying to change perceptions. A new team of office bearers which took charge at the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has announced to work on a set of measures that will help builders deliver projects on time, redress customer grievances and improve governance to change image and perception of the sector.
As Central Business Districts (CBD) begin to gradually lose their sheen against alternative locations because of their inability to offer Grade A buildings at competitive rates, retrofitting emerges as a preferred option (as compared with redevelopment) for quality improvement to increase the attractiveness and economic life of existing old buildings.
Shahid Balwa, a key figure in the telecom scandal that has shaken the government, has resigned as the head of his flagship real estate company, DB Realty. Balwa is vice-chairman of Gulf group Etisalat’s joint venture in the country and at 36 was the youngest billionaire on last year’s Forbes India rich list.
The vision of owning a house is slowly getting clearer for buyers as residential real estate prices are beginning to see the promised correction on the back of hardening interest rates and poor transaction volumes.
Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHI), most prominent body of the real estate developers today described the Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as “Budget with few positive steps focused on the common man who is interested in buying a house in rural and urban areas”.
Reforms in the real estate sector is the need of the hour for tackling issues like high stamp duty which often results in otherwise honest people having to deal in black money, according to the Economic Survey 2010-11 tabled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Real Estate and Finance Minister seem to be at logger heads over the wants and needs of the sector. Interestingly when one proposes and the other disposes, both of them justify their stand in the name of “Aaam Aadmi”, the common man who is the consumer and the end-user. But in this cacophony of confusion the “Aaam Aadmi” is often found wondering as to who will ask for his wish list with Union Budget.
Even as Lower Parel and BKC vie with each other for pre-eminence as Mumbai’s commercial real estate hotspots, Dadar – Mumbai’s oldest and most established locations – stands in a class uniquely its own by virtue of its extremely favourable geographical placement and connectivity. For this reason – and for all practical purposes – Dadar is the heart of Mumbai.
Seven years ago, the managing committee of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) suddenly started breaking down the existing Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium to start building–what they led everyone to believe–would be Mumbai’s first international Olympic size indoor stadium. The project was conceived in 2003 to be worth around Rs 40 crore and scheduled to be completed in 18 months. Seven years and Rs 200 crore later, it still isn’t functional, but the superstructure is ready.
Nearly all the real estate developers, a whopping 96 per cent, across the country are cribbing for the sectors’ continued under representation in the Union Budget over the years.