Track2Realty: Following the slow market conditions of the last couple of quarters, Mumbai’s office market saw a slight spurt in market sentiments in the second quarter of 2014. The city’s overall real estate market is anticipated to fare better in the third quarter over the second quarter of the year.
Track2Realty: In India’s competitive real estate market, luxury housing projects have been launched aplenty over the last couple of years. So much so that a conservative market like Chennai, for instance, is likely to witness about 1,500 units of ultra-luxury homes—budgeted between Rs. 5–20 crore—within the next 12 months.
Track2Realty: For the quarter ended March 2014, nearly US$800 million was invested into India’s real estate sector. This translates to almost Rs.4,800 crore having been injected into the sector through the private equity route over the past few months. This couldn’t have happened at a more opportune timefor a sector faced with a liquidity crunch, high land acquisition costs, and stringent due diligence from the banking sector—which continues to perceive real estate as a high-risk domain in India.
Track2Realty: As consumers continued to face inflation and high interest rates in April, average household spending seemed unlikely to recover in the near term. Subdued market sentiments looked likely to continue unless consumer confidence began to rise.
Track2Realty: Over the past year, Mumbai continued to remain a preferred city for both domestic and foreign brands keen to open their first outlets or expand their presence across India. The city’s favorable demographics, along with the availability of investment-grade retail space, led to strong demand from retailers for shopping space.
Track2Realty: A burgeoning automobile ancillary industry and the IT/ITeS sector’s growing presence have been the major growth drivers behind the notable transformation of Maharashtra’s second largest city—Pune. Over the past couple of years, the city’s IT sector in particular has seen significant growth, leading to sustained demand for office space in the city.
Track2Realty: Transactions in India’s real estate space might have slowed down over the last two quarters, but the sector has not been overwhelmed by the state of the wider economy. Despite the subdued pre-election economic scenario, in fact, the period observed an increase in private equity activity.
Track2Realty: The economic downturn has subdued office and retail markets, resulting in a sales slowdown as well as pressurized capital values across leading cities—according to CBRE Research’s year-to-date coverage of trends in India’s real estate sector.
Track2Realty: Less than 3 million sq.ft of office space entered India’s prime real estate market in the quarter ending September 2013—dropping by more than 75% q-o-q over last quarter’s 10 million sq.ft of fresh office space supply; and by nearly 50% over the same period last year.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Most of the real estate analysts believe the year 2012 has been pretty disappointing and actually a waste. Anshuman Magazine, CMD of CB Richard Ellis (South Asia), however, feels it was better than expected. He asserts when the global economy is down and the Indian GDP continuously nose diving, any movement is a positive indicator. In an Exclusive Interview with Track2Realty Magazine talks about the learning of the year and sounds cautious with the prospects of the year ahead.