Track2Realty Exclusive: It has indeed been a busy year and 2014 can well be described as the year of roller coaster emotions where the business confidence index was exposed to two extreme ends of swing. In an otherwise flat year, the real estate sector may not have been witness to transactions on ground but the poetic engagement has definitely been at the emotional level.
Track2Realty Exclusive: 2014 was an eventful year for the commercial real estate market in India. The economic outlook in the first half of the year was uninspiring. Coupled with political uncertainty this resulted in investors and occupiers stalled making any real estate decisions. Business confidence was at its lowest. The sentiment changed dramatically in the second half post the national elections as it became clear that there would a ‘new’ stable government.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The real estate sector is of strategic economic importance to India, as it is the second largest employment generator after agriculture and contributes about six per cent to India’s GDP. The sector with its backward and forward linkages to 250 ancillary industries has the potential to generate significant employment opportunities and provide a quantum jump to the Indian economy. Accelerating the growth in the sector can help turn-around the sluggish GDP growth witnessed in the last few years.
Track2Realty: The year 2014 has been quite fruitful for the real estate sector in terms of business sentiment, although the real effect of many of the policies and amendments announced in 2014 will take effect only in 2015. Starting from Union Budget FY2014-15, where affordable housing was considered on par with infrastructure, to relaxation of rigidities in the Land Acquisition and Real Estate Regulatory Bill, India’s new Prime Minister has been offering the India real estate sector consistent doses of energy.
Track2Realty: The definition of affordable means different for different people depending on the socio-economic class, income levels etc. In India, the term applies most pertinently to housing created for the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) of society so that they, like the middle class, can also benefit from the financial and emotional security of home ownership.
Track2Realty: In recent years, the Asia Pacific retail market has boomed on the back of strong economic growth, rapid urbanization and the emergence of a large and prosperous middle class population, CBRE’s latest report The New Age of the Asia Pacific Retail Market reveals. As a result, Asia Pacific is now experiencing an upsurge of new retail construction to meet demand as international retailers flock to the region.
Track2Realty: At nearly US$160 per sq. ft. per annum, Delhi’s Central Business District (CBD) of Connaught Place was ranked as the sixth most expensive prime office market in the world, according to CBRE’s semi-annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey. Mumbai’s alternative business district of Bandra–Kurla Complex (BKC) remained at the sixteenth, and its CBD of Nariman Point at the thirty-second positions on the Top 50 rankings for global prime office properties.
Track2Realty: We are currently witnessing a market scenario wherein inflation and interest rates will taper down even as the GDP growth rate picks up, and selective asset classes are becoming increasingly attractive for investment. International market dynamics suggests that gold and crude oil will continue to weaken, and commodities as an overall asset class will continue to display weakness because of easing inflation.
Track2Realty: The investment vehicle called REITs is once again in the news, and the Indian real estate sector eagerly anticipates this internationally tried and tested platform for smaller investors to invest in larger real estate portfolios.
Track2Realty: The government’s announcement of easier FDI norms for the construction sector has generated a lot of excitement among the country’s real estate players – and justifiably so. The fact that 100% FDI will now be allowed under automatic route to invest in completed assets along with relaxation of other norms is expected to increase FDI inflows significantly.