The concerns about soaring rentals and unaffordable housing in Mumbai notwithstanding, the surprising fact is that residential property prices across Mumbai city and its suburbs increased only by 7% in 2014, and by a negligible 0.3% in 2013.
New recommendations on the Real Estate Regulatory Bill were made by the ministry and sent to PMO for approval, and the cabinet has now approved it. Next, it will be tabled in the Parliament for passing the bill and making it an Act. In essence, reduction of minimum balance to be maintained in the escrow account of a project has been reduced from 70% to 50%. This amount from the monies collected from the buyers must be placed in an escrow account within 15 days.
The stock market is not only showing the investors’ confidence index going up. It is also indicating the way forward for the Indian real estate. After all, investor sentiment on the bourses have often led to the recovery of the real estate market as the investment grows to the next level of confidence for a long term investment. It may be too early for concluding whether the stock recovery is here to stay and lead to revival of the fortunes of the real estate, yet Track2Realty finds the debate has gained ground. While the developers are optimistic about the money sooner than later coming into the sector, the critics have their own reasons to advice wait & watch policy, if not outright denial.
CBRE’s Retail Hotspots in Asia Pacific 2014reports on international retailer activity occurring in the APAC region. Established as well as emerging retail markets in the region saw 464 new retail entrants in 2014—23% more than in 2013.
Godrej Properties has entered into a new deal to develop a residential project at Whitefield, in Bengaluru. The proposed project will offer approximately 79,000 square metres (0.85 million sq. ft.) of saleable area and will be developed as a modern residential development.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Not that Hitender Tyagi of Noida was a prosperous landlord, yet he felt like the one with his small piece of 12 acre of agricultural land. Today this ailing farmer feels like a pauper who was forced to do away with his source of bread and butter as his land was forcibly acquired by the Noida Authority.
Track2Realty: RICS, along with 61 professional bodies from around the world, has called for setting uniform measurement standards for residential sector globally (including India) to bring clarity on measuring various aspects of property measurement such as super built up area, built up area and carpet area.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The time of transition for the Indian real estate and construction sector has finally arrived. Since last few years, a number of regulations pertaining to the real estate market were put on hold. A number of them are now at the draft stage waiting for Parliament’s approvals.
Track2Realty: Smart Cities: The New Age Concept: The smart cities concept may not be a novel one, but in the Indian context it is definitely an idea whose relevance couldn’t have been better timed. The government has provided the thrust towards development of such cities, and needs to be now backed by a holistic concept.
Track2Realty: Reams of newsprint have been dedicated to discussing the sufferings of consumers in the Indian real estate sector. Particularly, homebuyers’ woes related to late delivery of projects, deviation of housing projects from promised quality, additional payments due to change in apartment area and inadequate protection of their rights have been well-documented.