NCR sees 54% decline in new realty projects

Date : Nov 4, 2014

NEW DELHI: The slowdown in India's real estate sector continues with the number of new construction projects declining sharply in the three biggest realty markets in the third quarter of this year, global real estate consultancy firm Cushman and Wakefield has said in a yet-to-be-released report. New launches were down 54% in the national capital region, 27% in Bangalore and 11% in Mumbai during July-September 2014, as compared to the same period last year. The country as a whole saw a decline of 21% in new projects. The drop was steeper — more than 50% — in the affordable housing segment. However, relatively smaller markets such as Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata bucked the trend and witnessed an incre

View Details

Realty check: Kolkata to have lowest housing demand

Date : Nov 3, 2014

          KOLKATA: The city is likely to witness a slow off-take of residential units despite the state government's efforts to give a push to the sector. A Cushman & Wakefield study finds that the city will have a demand of less than a lakh residential units in next five years, which will be the lowest among all the metros in the country. In its report, real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield projected a demand of around 97,300 units in Kolkata between 2014 and 2018. The report also projected that more than half of the demand would come from low-income group. Around 34 per cent demand is projected to come from the middle-income group while rest of the dem

View Details

Indian property remains attractive to Gulf NRIs

Date : Nov 2, 2014

Dubai: Top Indian developers were in Dubai and were keen to attend the IndiaHome Property Exhibition, which concluded on a positive note on Saturday. The two-day exhibition, in which the country’s most reputable developers participatedin, showcased a wide range of residential and commercial properties from cities across India. The event provided a platform to non-resident Indians, or NRIs, in the UAE to see the latest projects in the real estate sector and interact with developers’ representatives to decide and invest in their dream homes. Leading real estate developers like Emaar Developers, L&T Realty, Sunteck Realty, Lotus Greens and Jaypee Greens, among many others, showcased their projects in major citie

View Details

'Wealth of billionaires could eliminate poverty in India'

Date : Nov 1, 2014

In the 1990s, India had only two billionaires. Now, the figure stands at 65 and their net worth is enough to eliminate absolute poverty in the country twice over, suggests a report by the Oxfam. "A significant number of India's billionaires made their fortunes in sectors highly dependent on exclusive government contracts and licenses, such as real estate, construction, mining, telecommunications and the media," the non-profit organisation disclosed in the report Even it Up: Time to End Extreme Inequality, released on Friday. "At least half of India's billionaire wealth came from such 'rent-thick' sectors of the economy. The net worth of India's billionaires would be enough to eliminate ab

View Details

Maruti looks to create land bank for dealerships

Date : Oct 31, 2014

NEW DELHI: The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki has set its eyes on the real estate sector. Flush with over Rs 9,000 crore fund, the company is planning to create a huge real estate bank by buying land across towns and cities that it aims to develop and lease out for dealerships. Ajay Seth, Maruti's chief financial officer, said the company has mega expansion plans to double its outlets over the next five years as it aims to increase annual sales to 2 million units against the 1.15 million vehicles sold in 2013-14. At present, Maruti has 1,300 sales outlets across the country — by far the biggest amongst all the car makers. Seth said a big portion of this network expansion will be through Maruti'

View Details

Government relaxes FDI norms for construction, real estate sector

Date : Oct 30, 2014

In a boost to cash-starved real estate industry, the Narendra Modi government today relaxed rules for FDI in the construction sector by reducing minimum built-up area as well as capital requirement and easing the exit norms. The proposal to amend the FDI policy in construction development sector was approved by the Union Cabinet. In view of depleting FDI inflow in construction and real estate sector in last couple of years, the Cabinet decided to reduce the minimum floor area to 20,000 sq mt from the earlier 50,000 sq mt. It also brought down the minimum capital requirement to USD 5 million from USD 10 million. In case of development of serviced plots, the condition of minimum land of 10 hectares has been completely remo

View Details

Commercial Real Estate Investment set to grow in Asia

Date : Oct 29, 2014

JLL predicts 2015 transaction volumes will exceed 2014 levels as liquidity conditions improve with an estimated USD200 billion of capital available for investment  Direct commercial real estate investment across Asia Pacific in 2015 is expected to exceed 2014 levels, according to the latest figures from JLL. While transaction volumes in Q3 2014 were up just 1 percent on the same period last year, at USD30.3 billion, JLL has identified over USD200 billion worth of capital available for investment in the Asia Pacific real estate market in 2015. Activity is expected to gather pace throughout the final quarter of 2014, with year-end volumes set to reach USD120 billion. Volumes for the first three quarters of 2014 are down 5

View Details

Burger King to open 12 outlets in India over three months

Date : Oct 28, 2014

New Delhi: American fast food chain Burger King will open 12 outlets in India over the next two-three months, six each in Delhi and Mumbai. According to people familiar with the burger chain’s plans, the brand will roll out its first outlet in the capital in less than a month at a prominent mall in South Delhi, followed by the rest in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai. “The initial plan is to roll out a store every few weeks to keep the momentum going,” said a person with direct knowledge of the matter who declined to be named. With an investment of up to Rs.2-2.5 crore per outlet, Burger King is eyeing other potential locations like Pune, Chennai and Bangalore. To be sure, Burger King is launching in As

View Details

Urban areas in and around Delhi constitute 40% of unsold real estate in top eight cities

Date : Oct 27, 2014

NEW DELHI: Guess who probably had a terrible Diwali? The capital's builders. Just look at one simple statistic. Urban areas in and around Delhi account for a stunning 40% of unsold real estate in India's top eight cities. So, why is it so gloomy in NCR? Why does Bangalore and even Mumbai look better? THE PROBLEM The NCR has a total of 303.48 million sq ft (about 303,000 apartments) of unsold real estate, according to property research firm Liases Foras.  At the current pace of sales, this stock requires another 53 months to be completely sold off. In comparison, for the Mumbai region, the figure is about 48 months while it is the lowest for Bangalore at 19 months. For the top eight cities combined, the 765 m s

View Details

Housing prices remain stable in September, supply dips: CBRE

Date : Oct 26, 2014

NEW DELHI: Housing prices remained largely stable during the last month across the country's seven major cities while supply dipped marginally, according to property consultant CBRE. "After recording an improvement in sentiments in August, the residential market saw a marginal dip in fresh supply of housing units during September," CBRE South Asia CMD Anshuman Magazine said in 'India Realty Market Update' for September. The consultant tracks real estate market of seven cities .. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The consultant said the new project launches will increase over the next few months on the back of festive season, a revival in economic sentiments,

View Details

Festive season fails to bring cheers for real estate

Date : Oct 25, 2014

Mumbai: Despite recovery in market conditions and sentiment, this festive season has failed to bring in cheers to the real estate industry as home buyers continue to remain cautious, according to industry experts. Festive season is generally considered as the most important time for the realty sector as it records the highest number of sales, which is nearly 20-25 per cent more than non-festive period. "The real estate industry has always witnessed a rise in sales during the festive season especially on the back of freebies and incentives offered by the developers. However, despite recovery, there is no improvement in sales during the festive season," IndiaProperty.Com Chief Executive Ganesh Vasudevan said on Fri

View Details

Where to Find India's Black Money

Date : Oct 24, 2014

By Dhiraj Nayyar Like all politicians, Narendra Modi promised more than he could deliver while campaigning to become India’s prime minister. Critics are now making him pay. Earlier this week, a furor erupted after Modi acknowledged a setback in efforts to recover the billions in illicit, untaxed “black money” stashed abroad in foreign bank accounts. After lambasting the previous Congress-led government for failing to make public a list of Indian account holders in Liechtenstein’s LGT Bank, he admitted he couldn’t do so either because of confidentiality requirements in an existing agreement with Germany. While Modi’s promise was foolish, the black-money campaign is more so. Not only is

View Details