It is a latter-day fact that project development on the outskirts of Indian metros begins before the necessary infrastructure has been put down. This happens because demand for developed spaces in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai is high enough to make even hastily established projects financially feasible for developers.
Real estate-focused Private Equity Funds are looking at investing in pre-leased commercial projects, including IT Parks and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), as they look for assured returns from their investments.
In the wake of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposing a hefty penalty of Rs. 630 crore on DLF, the anti-monopoly regulator has been flooded with a host of real estate related consumer complaints which may not be in the ambit of CCI. CCI should draw a line that bifurcates between what falls in its domain and what is in the consumer protection ambit. However, in the absence of scientific economic analysis of the relevant market, both in product category and geographic category, the two legs of the relevant market, the sector is keeping its fingers crossed as there has been a clear anomaly in defining the relevant market by the CCI.
Disney Consumer Products India, the licensing & merchandising arm of The Walt Disney Company India, has done its first licensing deal in the real estate sector with Mumbai-based real estate company Sunteck Realty to launch Disney Inspired Homes in Goregaon, the Northern suburb of Mumbai.
The commercial rentals in the country have not seen vibrancy this quarter as some localities have witnessed rental price correction in Q1-12 when compared to Q1-11. However, the southern part of the country, and some localities in Delhi and Mumbai did see per square feet growth figures over a period of one year. Overall commercial rentals in Mumbai saw 2% increase in commercial rentals, Bangalore saw 3% growth and Delhi de-grew by 7% over the last one year. These are the findings of a study by property portal 99acres.com.
Jones Lang LaSalle India has appointed Anurag Mathur as CEO – Project & Development Services and Head – Emerging Businesses. He was formerly Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield, where he led pan-India operations. Anurag Mathur brings with him eighteen years of hands-on experience in diverse real estate services.
Anticipating a significant rate cut by the RBI, disappointed real estate community has ring alarm bells and forecast more slump due to the high interest rate regime. Pointing out that the capital and labour intensive sector plays a key role in employment generation and accelerating growth, industry body CREDAI says the government has also been losers of revenue due to neglect of the sector and risks attributed to real estate and the RBI advisories against lending to real estate have only harmed the sector and made housing costlier for consumers, apart from affecting the economy.
Spiraling property prices and slump in home sales have forced the Union Housing Ministry to think out-of-the-box solutions. After the decision to set up a high-level committee to recommend policy interventions to facilitate creation of rental housing stocks, the ministry has now sought views from private developers and builders to evolve a strategy for reducing the time taken in approval of real estate projects that can help bring down the cost of houses.
Sahara Infrastructure and Housing, of late being in the news for market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) rap for mopping up Rs 17,400 crore through debentures and delayed project completion has now announced another 68 projects within FY 2012 – 13 across India. A statement issued by Sahara claims to introduce 10 lifestyle township projects, of which 9 will be self sufficient integrated townships under the brand name of ‘Sahara City Homes’ and 1 under the brand name of ‘Sahara Grace’.
Over the last year, there has been an unequivocal crystallization of Indian cities that continue to attract serious investment into real estate. This is directly correlated to the economic dynamics now working in the country. If India is to achieve even a conservative GDP growth of 6% per year, it emerges that only three cities – Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore – have the potential to deliver. The reason for this is that close to 2/3rd of the overall development of office space in the country is now taking place in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.