Bhiwadi, as a matter of fact, has been the first town to conceptualise what is the most need-based housing in India. Facts speak for themselves. There are 98 million people over 55 with a steady growth of 3.5 per cent per annum. In terms of market numbers, in an analysis of 135 urban cities with a total population of 223 million and 52 million households, as many as 12.8 million families have senior citizens.
Amidst all the misleading claims and marketing exaggerations, location mapping is the most glaring one. Generally maps are not to scale and give the wrong perception of the location of the project. For example, the brochure will say 10 minutes from the airport or commercial district; it does not state distance in kilometres.
The expectation of an overnight change is because the Act is a result of years of expectations on part of the buyers. The developers, on their part, are also changing their business strategy overnight to play it safe with the new regulatory regime.
The supply of quality housing even today is confined to eight key cities. It is not that the new cities are not coming up, but neither the investors nor even the end users want to buy a house in Tier II cities today. The dream and aspiration is always Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune kind of life.
Virtuous Retail South Asia has acquired the 2 million sq ft North Country Mall from Sun Apollo/Gumberg for INR 700 crores (USD 108 MM), including paying down debt. With this acquisition, VRSA establishes its presence in North India, adding to its existing award winning portfolio of community-centric centers VR Surat and VR Bangalore, and the 2 million sq ft. VR Chennai slated to open in Q4 2017.
Are the CBDs really losing out as the benchmark of economic activity in the major cities of India? Well, if only Gurgaon business destinations as against Connaught Place or Nehru Place in Delhi-NCR are any indication, or if only BKC and Navi Mumbai as against Nariman Point in Mumbai is any indication, then the CBDs have lost a significant ground by all means of reputation and economic scale.
It is the roll out of the policies by the respective urban bodies that have been behind the BKC emerging as a case study of urbanisation with booming economy while Noida ending up as a ghost city sitting over piles of unsold housing stock. Both the markets nevertheless had the tremendous potential in its early stage of inception.
The proposed Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) also promises to change the Faridabad landscape opening floodgates of opportunity. The DMIC stretch that touches Faridabad-Palwal is poised to open floodgates of economic opportunities with world class infrastructure at the doorsteps of Faridabad.
Las Vegas, London and also Ghaziabad in the same league! Believe it or not but the western hinterland of Uttar Pradesh was chosen to be having the potential to be among the 10 most dynamic cities of the world. A Newsweek survey, which put the city on the global map, said so as early as in 2006, but since then it seems the city has weathered many challenges in its quest for glory and fame as an urban metropolis city.
The budget factor can only lead to identifying one’s requirements and priorities with regards to location, number of bedrooms and amenities that one aspires to have. If the borrower has done his affordability calculation and knows his repayment and other expenses, then only one is technically and financially ready to borrow with full knowledge of his capacity to repay a loan, in addition to any savings one may be using as a down payment. These simple check marks will go a long way in deciding the future home and whether or not you are over leveraging yourself.