Singapore investors are betting big on Indian commercial real estate and other new sunshine sectors, including logistics and warehousing. Major Singapore-based private equity firms are funnelling billions of dollars into the country’s real estate sector, particularly in South Indian cities.
The company plans to increase its team strength in the Gulf to 500 and is targeting a Gross Transaction Value of $600 mn. from its international business in 2019. It also plans to set up operations in Saudi Arabia in this calendar year.
As per ANAROCK data, the top 7 cities currently have a total stock of 5.6 lakh delayed housing units worth a whopping INR 4,51,750 crore. These units were launched either in 2013 or before that. Lakhs of buyers across top cities – particularly MMR and NCR – have been left in limbo, leading to inconceivable mental stress and financial pain.
Investors are scouting for investment-ready assets in core office locations in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which together accounted for about 77% of the total leasing in 2018. We foresee higher investor interest for Greenfield projects in southern cities, especially Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which are witnessing pent-up demand in key office corridors.
The issue of stalled or delayed project is one of the major pain points of the Indian real estate sector currently. With buyers feeling the heat of delays, it is not surprising that some are now considering completing the projects themselves. This falls within the realm of possibility if the project in question has sufficient cash flows but is delayed for other reasons.
The Indians think instead of media hyperbole of big measures many of the small but practical measures can go a long way to ensure a house for each family, if not each individual. Some of the suggested measures may not make the government popular, and hence the Indians are not convinced with the promise of housing for all.
Unfortunately, in the name of common cause the cause is seldom common even though prima facie it appears to be. As a matter of fact, every buyer has his own definition and set of interests to get into a fight with the builder. The legitimate fight that should ideally start with the ‘conviction of being upright’ often starts with suspicion, one-upmanship, or even worse, ulterior motive.
Over-supply has been oft-repeated blame game for slow property absorption across the country. However, in most of the cases this over-supply is a misunderstood term. In a country where the housing shortage is huge, any mention of over-supply is misleading in the first place. In most of the property markets, it is the demand & supply mismatch which is termed as over-supply.
At a time when the developers across the cities are struggling to either cope up or align with the emerging regulatory compliances like the RERA, these numbers clearly indicate that Chennai has not only been among the front runners in compliances and best practices but also ahead of the competition curve as far as the launches and absorption are concerned.
This policy ‘trishul’ brought about a paradigm shift in the way Indian real estate does business and laid the groundwork for improved transparency and efficiency in the sector. However, while end-user and investor confidence were rekindled for real estate, it did not exactly set the industry on fire with renewed interest.