While crossing through the MG Road of Bengaluru, I accidentally came across a project by Bhadra Landmark called Bhadra Legacy. MG Road, as we all know, is the Pin Code Number 1 of the city. It is the heart of the city and the first choice of the business travellers, celebrities of the city, NRIs & HNIs and the skylines of the place is dotted with the top-end hotels. The strategic importance of the place can’t be debated.
This home buyers’ outburst over the media hype & industry reaction with reference to reduced GST is not an exception. Across the country the home buyers are questioning how the GST reduction has made the houses affordable in the cities where the jobless growth is fast turning into job loss de-growth. This is over and above the fact that the property prices are way beyond the affordability index.
About 40% of all the new launches in 2018 were under the affordable segment. Cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and NCR witnessed maximum launches in the affordable segment that is below INR5 million. Mumbai on the other hand witnessed more launches in the mid segment housing, in the range of INR 5-10 million.
This is a major push to the housing sector as aspiring home buyers now have a wider range of options to choose from. Additionally, developers would be enthused enough to commit towards offering more residential options in the affordable category.
Cash-strapped builders have been hoping for all and any Government interventions which can help boost their sales volumes. This GST cut will provide such a boost, at least in the short-term as more fence-sitters who had been postponing their purchase decisions now have an additional incentive to take the plunge.
The greener pastures are mostly defined with numbers and not execution capabilities or business model. For example, the absorption of office space has been upwards of 40 million square feet per annum for the last 3 years. The overall sentiments in this segment look bullish with PE investors also putting in money. As a matter of fact, even in retail real estate the PE investors are bullish and exploring even the Tier II cities having malls with good footfalls, brand mix and strong sales. This is what is enticing the residential developers looking for both the buyers as well as the capital investments.
PEL had previously announced a strategic co-investment fund with Ivanhoé Cambridge, to provide long term equity capital to blue chip residential developers across the five major metro cities in India (Mumbai, Bengaluru, NCR, Pune and Chennai). Ivanhoé Cambridge had allocated an initial US$ 250 Mn towards this fund.
There is no restriction on the number of properties that NRIs can own in India. However, NRIs obviously need to make informed decisions on such acquisitions. The most important consideration is that of whether the property purchase is for their own or their family’s actual use, or as an investment for rental income and potential capital appreciation.
In the second edition of evaluating the best practices being followed in the Indian real estate, Bangalore-based Sobha Limited has yet again maintained its leadership position. As a matter of fact, it has improved its performance, compared to first study with Track2Realty best Practices Report 2017.
Gross leasing activity is recorded at 50 million square feet in 2018, highest in last eight years driven by buoyant leasing in Bengaluru and NCR. Compared to the previous year, gross leasing increased by 17% as occupiers continued to expand and consolidate. The top 3 sectors contributing to gross leasing were IT-ITeS with 43%, flexible workplaces with 14% and BFSI with 12% share.