The Centre’s plan to regulate the real estate sector by safeguarding consumers from land sharks has hit a road block with several states opposing some provisions of a proposed bill. Track2Realty has learnt that in an effort to bring states on board, the Centre intends to drop the provision of giving direction to the States under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill.
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.
Puravankara Projects Limited has ventured into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to cater to the Indian housing needs of NRIs residing there. With the increasing interest among Indians in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to invest in luxury and affordable luxury homes back home in India, Puravankara is now well poised to tap this potential market with a permanent presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its new branch office in Al Khobar, Dammam.
The market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the real estate arm of the Sahara group of companies had no right to mobilise Rs.27,000 crore from 30 million investors through debentures without complying with the regulatory regime.
Indian real estate companies, which borrowed heavily during the peak of the economic cycle and rosy business forecast, are now caught in the vortex of piling debt post-slowdown. Most of the realtors who went on a land bank acquisition with borrowed money are struggling to repay even the interest and banks look reluctant to restructure the debt any more.
The new concept of integrated townships is now more about a single developer taking over a large tract of land. There are benefits too. “The infrastructure is under the developers’ control,” explains Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, JLLI, adding that the developer can plan and use the FSI better, and long-term maintenance is a possibility.
DLF has said its March quarter consolidated net profit fell 39 per cent on higher interest outgo and it had received an additional tax demand of Rs 457.4 crore from the Income Tax (I-T) Department for the 2009-10 assessment year (AY).
Omaxe has reported a more than two-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 23.73 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 as against Rs 11.67 crore in the year-ago period.
The income from operations increased by six per cent to Rs 603.58 crore in the fourth quarter of 2011-12 as compared with Rs 568.60 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.
Integrated townships can reduce the burden on infrastructure and provide a fulfilling lifestyle for buyers, at a much reduced cost all round. Gulam Zia, National Director – Research & Advisory Services, Knight Frank India points out, “Of late, the planning authorities and Government bodies have realised the importance of integrated townships and are giving special concessions for creation of such townships.
The Indian banks have been hit the worst with the downturn of the real estate sector. Even after restructuring the loans to the developers, they have a collective deficit of Rs. 7 lakh crore. With spiraling input costs & property prices, demand in the real estate sector has been on a steady downfall. Given the declining demand, it is is unlikely that the real estate companies will be able to repay their bank loans, especially since banks are the only source of funds for the sector.