The gross leasing activity in India was recorded at 36.4 million sq ft for the first nine months of 2018, up 26% YoY. Pan-India demand for Grade A office space was driven by the technology sector (48%) in Q3 2018, followed by banking and insurance representing 19% of the total leasing volume.
The Indian residential market volumes spiraled down in terms of demand and supply almost every successive year in this decade. From a high of 480,000 units in 2010, the supply last year stood at mere 103,000 units across the top 8 cities.
The International Real Estate and Investment Show (IREIS, a B2C sales and networking platform where spot sales are permitted, the 10th edition is bringing leading local and foreign real estate developers under one roof will reflect the attractiveness of UAE‟s real estate sector and will attract investors from various parts of the world.
Now that the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) brings the brokers into its ambit, the question that still stands is: What are the grey zones left which are not defined in the prescribed Act? What if the broker or builder has made the verbal promises to the buyer? What would be legal position if the marketing firm/broker misleads the buyer without the knowledge or consent of the builder?How can buyer be compensated if he has bought the property on the promise of misleading claims?
The ancient Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’ certainly has a lot of pertinence to Indian real estate today. These are doubtlessly ‘interesting’ times for the sector, which has transformed significantly over the last decade. The pace of transformation has been accelerated further by the Central Government’s reformative steps aimed at ushering in ‘Acche Din’ to the realty sector.
The Indians seem to be quite aware of the challenges of mass housing, as is visible with nearly half of the respondent, 48 per cent questioning when land acquisition is going to be tougher how housing for all will be a reality.
As per Colliers International, the overall absorption for H1 2018 now stands at ~ 24 million sq ft. Bengaluru (Bangalore) continued to account for the highest share of absorption at 34% in Q2, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) at 28%, Mumbai at 14%, Hyderabad and Chennai at 8% each, Pune at 6%, and Kolkata at 2%.
The Indian real estate market has always been notorious for its lack of transparency, and the changes in recent times has been less than desirable. As India aspires to get clean money into the sector, the foreign funds too have high standards in terms of service quality and clarity.
Housing.com, part of Elara Technologies which also owns PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, has launched “Housing Partner Assist” app to help the sellers manage listings, home seekers and much more with a single tap on their phones.
Full adoption of blockchain technology in Indian real estate may appear a remote possibility, however, low transparency provides an incentive for adoption of blockchain rather than an obstacle; and we see several near-term applications for the technology.