Over the last few years, the number of HNI investors and corporates who are seriously looking at investing into Indian office space has increased manifold. Mumbai continues to hold its own as India’s numero uno office space investment destination, with companies from all over the world unerringly zeroing in on the financial capital.
Ravi Sinha: You mean to suggest the land acquisition bill has not really been deliberated upon and came as a knee jerk reaction?
No wonder, the healthcare sector is being adopted by the developers across the country. Property analysts are of the opinion that proximity to a hospital in an area also impacts the price of real estate and many developers use it as USP to market their projects.
The retail real estate market received a fresh mall supply of approximately 1.94 million sq. ft. (msf) in Q1 2012 (quarter ending March 2012). Many of the expected mall projects were differed on account of delay in construction, leading to a deficit of close to 50% from the estimated supply (3.37 msf) for the quarter, says Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report.
Even as the cost of housing is skyrocketing in Mumbai, an ambitious proposal to create at least 500,000 houses as part of a “Homes for All” initiative between the real estate industry and the Maharashtra Government is gathering dust in the ministry.
Ravi Sinha: I welcome all the panelists in this roundtable discussion. We are organizing the brain storming session for our inaugural yearly Handbook Focus 2012. This is the second of the series after the 1st discussion in Mumbai on “Funding Gap in Real Estate.”
Increasing population, higher expenditure on lifestyles, rising market of health insurance, Government initiatives for better medical infrastructure, and focus on Public Private Partnership (PPP) models are some of the driving factors for the growth of healthcare sector in India.
Ravi Sinha: To sum up the discussion, what kind of funding do you see emerging in the coming year?
Is the Indian real estate sector the right place to make a serious career in now? Compared to more developed countries, the Indian real estate sector still lacks sophistication and transparency. However, it continues to be in the limelight of domestic and international investments. This has naturally brought on the need for better, more capable human resources.
The much awaited verdict of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on real estate developers’ complaint against cartelisation among cement companies is expected next week.