Haryana government has risen up in deference of defence personnel, both retired and serving. Accordingly the stamp duty for registration of plots, apartments or units stands slashed by 1%. As against prevailing 7 and 5 percent for urban and rural respectively, they will now be charged 6 and 4 percent. This can be availed once in a lifetime. Haryana CM goes on to ascribe the gesture as an appreciation of courage, discipline and valour of armed forces personnel.

JAFRA ( Joint Action Forum for RWAs) and for good measure 150 of them are up in arms with MCG (Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon). In a sinister move, MCG decided to hitherto exempt section of self occupied properties under the ambit of House Tax hoping to mop up a neat 350 crores from the 3 lakh odd properties that would have been affected. However, it didn't bargain for RWAs calling their bluff and as a retaliatory action simply refused to pay.No less than CMs office found its door under pressure and the matter is ripe for a review by the taxation committee. The message from RWAs is loud and clear - 'Hands off My property' !

 Godrej Properties is all set to lock on Delhi NCR. Its debut is a typically high end 170 crore residential project to develop 1.05 million sq feet over 9 acres at Sector 80 Gurgaon. Frontier Home Developers is the chosen vehicle for a bouquette of penthouses, apartments, independent floors etc. The location is withing 20 km of IGI adjacent to NH-8. By their own claims the gestation period of their projects is within 12 to 18 months and so the funds it is claimed would be entirely internally generated.

As if the host of issues that plague the CWG were not enough, the construction of 8000 odd flats seem to be plagued by labour problems. Only 2500 odd are ready and the rest languish as the labour is hard to come by, this being the labour intensive agro season.Biharis who form the bulk of the labour are headed home for Rabi or winter crops harvest. It may be a photofinish after all.

 RAY ( Rajiv Awas Yojna) was conceived and announced with the accompanied chest beating to make India slum free. A tidy sum of Rs 1279 crores was promptly sanctioned for housing of urban power. That is far as it reached, till date the housing plan has not seen the light of day. Officials of Ministry and Housing while being skeptical about the planned utilisation before the expiry of allocation at the end of FY are trying to raise hopes by musing that possibly the pending Central finalisation of guidelines may just give the Yojna the requisite shot in the arms.

 The onset of monsoon may have cooled off the rising temperatures but has sure heated up the fund market. Coinciding with its arrival is a modest global recovery. With fears of double dip receding bargain hunting has become the call of the day. A $ 100 billion dollar sign up between China and Taiwan has done wonders for the investor confidence and fund outflows. If monsoon is the bearer of rains it is also raining funds with global flows into India having hit an 11 week high !

 Builders of Western region have been lamenting about clarity on a definitive government policy on Real Estate. Frequent chop and change adversely effect the completion and thus the logical culmination of any project. The going rate from conceptualisation to occupation is as much as 4 to 5 years. This is not inclusive of land acquisition time after which there are an inevitable 18 to 20 months for getting all the necessary government clearances. This can be expedited by institution of a single window clearance system. Lets be REAL there is a need to be cLEAR.

 As from 01 July, property prices will be steeper by about 2.58%, this is unless the entire amount is paid after the construction is completed. Construction linked payment plans being the norms of the industry, that more often than not will not be the case.  The service tax component is about 10 percent and the developer like always is likely to simply pass it on to the end user. Though it remains to be seen as to what shape it eventually takes. Earlier the finance ministry has increased the abatment portion to 75 percent from the proposed 67 percent.This is a relief of about 0.83%. In tangible terms this will boil down to about Rs 41,500 lesser than what was mooted earlier. Every little bit would eventually count either way !

 In the price rise in residential sector India occupies the 13th ranking amongst 47 countries surveyed with China at poll position. The price rise in developing nations can be attributed to low interest rates, demand supply gap, tax rebates and other concessions for first time users to name a few. However, the rising inflation is sniping at the heels of the very fundamentals of this price rise.  The interest rates are hardening, the stimulus packages are getting withdrawn. Ironically the supply response picking up is likely to reduce the gap too. All told there could be a slippage in the pattern in coming 4 to 6 months. Lucky 13 ?

 Government of India has decided for a greenfield airport option with a difference. Earlier exercising these meant the death knell for existing ones as in case of Bangalore and Hyderabad. However better business sense seems to be prevailing and Dabolim may survive the option of Mopa yet. That may be the pre-cursor for Jhaver and IGI within 150 km from each other. In all cases a real estate in proximity to the airport is a gem in terms of evaluation and may reach for the skies like the aircraft in vicinity.

 Home loan rates are likely to see an upward revision from the beginning of the next month. RBI has ruled that loan rates cannot be that below the base rates and with the latter seeing a hike the teaser rates will have to go. SBI though is likely to announce base rates on 15th June but the home loan scheme being extended till 30th June will be increased only then. Another dimension to the issue is the lack of surplus liquidity with the banks digging into the window of  repo since last week.

 Realty major Anantraj Industries is planning to come out with an 'affordable' housing project at Manesar in coming six weeks. An area of 1.1 million square feet is proposed to be developed. The project is likely to see fructification in all of next three years. But has DLF not already in a project in the same area at a cost of 2650 per square feet with semi premium specifications and under two years for possession with a penatly clause @ Rs 10 per square feet in case of not sticking to the target date? Affodability is also getting tested these days as a matter of perception? No more sauce for goose is sauce for gander !

 US home sales which started it all once upon a time are on a six months high albeit with a rider. The popular tax credit for home buyers is no more on offer as a result the home loan segment has cooled off. Yet the pending home sales index has seen a rise of almost five percent and now stands at 110.9. In every case it is the highest since October and belies expectations.

 Royal Palms, a Mumbai based developers has launched a cinch of a scheme for investors. What is on offer, is an assured rental return of 18% for two years for all those who lease back the unit back to Royal Palms. The product is ready for possession office space and shops at an overall price of just 15.99 lakhs. So firstly there is an assured rental and secondly an enhanced capital. A complimentary membership of Emerald Club worth 2 lakhs is like icing on the cake. Apparently there is no catch as the cost of acquired land is negligible, since it was done over 25 years ago. The modalities are simple, Royal Palms will further lease the commercial space to corporates and will be able to payback its clients from the income generated. Can you possibly beat this?

Omaxe is all set to launch an affordable homes project in Allahabad. The 20 acre project offers 920 flats  between approx 10 and 20 lakhs. It is estimated that this will realise a revenue of approx 150 crores. Called Naffhil homes, the project is a part of around 1500 acre hi-tech city planned at Allahabad. It is expected that the houses will be ready for occupation in a time frame of around 30 months.

 Property aspirants can thank the Central Government for effecting a downsizing in Hyderabad property registration rates. Grapevine has it that about 1000 crores were to be released under the aegis of JNNURm (Jawahar Nehru National Urban Revival Mission), but were being held back unless the fee was revised. The last revision about four years ago had already brought down the rate from 14 to 9.5 percent and this time the clincher of an arguement has further downsized it to 5 percent. The change is likely to be effected in a fortnight's time.

 Nandigram's loss over Nano is Sanand's gain. Located 40 km from Ahmedabad airport yet desolate, forlorn and serviced by but a dusty road till last year, cometh the hour cometh the mankind. After the launch of Nano project a two laned state highway find its 40 km stretch from itself to Kandla upgraded by 300 percent to an IPL maximum lanes. Much the same is the case with the land prices - languishing at a meagre 800 to 1000 a square yard, today it commands a whopping Rs 3500 to 4000 per square yard. At the end of the day Nano heralds a new beginning and is No Nano on land prices.

 In order to pave the way for more affordable housing in Mumbai Metropolitan Region a new panel has been set up by means of a government resolution. This is to take the MoU signed between MCHI and State Government to its logical conclusion. It is the target of  developers to construct 5 lakh affordable units over the next 5 years. In principle the venture is jointly sponsored between MMRDA and MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority). Both will allow developers a high Floor Space Index in return of reserving a portion of projects on land owned by them for affordable housing.

 Reliance (ADAG) has managed to land up with the premium highway connecting Delhi with Agra. It has bagged the project from NHAI for six laning the segment. The project is on a DBFOT basis - design, build, finance, operate and transfer toll. The estimated cost is likely to be around 3000 crores and the gestation period for earnings is a minimal 6 months from date of financial closure.

Should you be owner of a house in Gurgaon you may as well brace up for coughing up more than the share of Property Tax than you are used to. Hitherto, only the owners of rented premises were required to pay Property Tax but now even the self occupied properties will be required to pay up. Only houses with 100 square yards or less of area would be exempt. Naturally the Resident Welfare Associations are up in arms against the move and want it to be discontinued with. The ball it seems is on the bounce in no lesser a court than that of CM, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

 The Union Budget had unsheathed yet another double edges sword which the Ministry now wants to flash in earnest. A service tax of 2.5% had been proposed for all properties in future including those which had not recieved an occupation certificate. The builders have already started asking buyers to cough up the amount which is in addition to 'fine print' charges of external development, society, parking and what have you? The industry feels that this will definitely affect regressively but at the same time have had no qualms in passing the buck  on to buyers to suffer. In fact in many cases it has been made the pre-requisite of Occupation and Possession formalities. The window to avoid it is but a crack in terms of already finished buildings on offer before a photo finish with official notification.

Delhi administration has taken exception to the lowly circle rates prevailing. As a sequel to the hike in registration fee it is now being mooted that absolutely minimal prevailing circle rates will soon be history. A hike of at least 25 to 30 percent is proposed to hit the circle rates shortly. The middle class dream of real estate ownership in the capital may thus soon be reduced to a pipe dream. When it does rain it pours ?!

 DLF has launched megaplans on fundraising ad is aiming at a lofty 2700 crores by means of asset sales in the forthcoming year and a half. It expects it Tamil Nadu land at TIDCO to garner 900 crores, Dwarka sales to be worth 800 crores and others around 700 crores. A divestment in the last quarter has been of the order of around 600 crores. In all the non core asset unlocking could well be the key to around 1800 crores in the foreseeable period.

To follow up on River Heights a  residential project in Raj Nagar Extn Ghaziabad on NH 58 in NCR, Landcrafts has launched a sequel adjacent to the earlier one - River Heights Status. The development will take place on 8 acres of land and will consist 756 residential units. Slated to be completed within 30 months of breaking ground the project will comprise 2 and 3 BHK units. Further this will range from 823 to 1244 sq ft. Landcrafts spokesman Mr Garg claims that all the feedback from old and prospective customers has been factored to make this project a success.

The height restriction in Gurgaon and NCR has got deregulated and 150 to 180 metre residential towers are likey to become common place. As a firs Ireo has already announced a 51 floors tower, the USP being the tallest in Northern India. Like always others like MGF, DLF & Rahejas are likely to throw in their hat in the 'hyper-rise' bandwagon.

In a first of the first, Omaxe constructions has bagged a 57 crores construction contact with Air Force Navl Housing Board (AFNHB). The project is at Meerut. The contract involves 10 acre residential development and construction of approximately 365 dwelling units. The total constructed area could be close to 5 lakh square feet and the time to construct would be approximately 24 months.

Demand of Real Estate is outstrippin supply. In the NCR there is a requirement of 5 lakh housing units and there is an ever increasing demand for 1 lakh units per year. Given the supply demand gap, availability of funds, improved purchasing power a hike of 10 to 15 percent in the coming 6 to 9 months seems to be on the anvil.Due to the improvement in the situation the hike in prices is unlikely to impact the demand. The viewpoint has been strongly endorsed by Chairman of Parsvnath developers and BPTP chief finacial officer.

IT is slated to grow over four times in the coming decade. To nurture the growth state level talks have been initiated by NASSCOM ( National Association of Software and Services Companies) to meet the space concerns of SMEs ( Small and Medium Enterprises). More SEZ space needs to be allocated and the thrust may shift to Tier II and Tier III cities. The concerns are not out of place what with the looming possiblity of withdrawal of STPs( Software Technology Parks). The SME segment needs to be supported if the vision of 43 smaller and spread out locations to complement 7 major cities is to be realised.

Picture this Ansals plans to launch high end villas at Lucknow later this year priced at a whopping 5-10 crores. Skyline plans to launch custom made 6 designer apartments at Bangalore at a whopping 4 to 23 crores. With increase in demand, developers are lining up to take off in the luxury segment across the length and breadth of the country.

The ongoing crusade by the real estate developers seems to have borne fruit. In a last minute change of heart, FM Mr Pranab Mukherjee anounced the rate of abatement to 75% instead of 67 proposed earlier. This would amount to a reduction in newly introduced Service Tax from 3.3% to 2.5%. However, even while acknowledging that the move is likely to benefit small investors there was an air of disappointment that exclusion of land cost while calculating the service tax has not found favour.

India's premium four Real Estate companies found their ratings with Fitch on a ski-jump. Unitech, Omaxe, Parsvnath & Ansals find themselves at RWP (Rating Watch Positve) It has been noted that Indian industry fundamentals are consolidating every day. There is a steady improvement in liquidity as well as demand seeing a jump. The defining parameters have been enhanced secuirty of jobs, affordable housing and a reduction in mortgage rates. Yet demand in Commercial space has more than a scope of improvement a positive  trend is expected to emerge by the year end.

2008-09 was the fall year for real estate worldwide which brought about a recession in even the economic powers of the planet. However 2010 has been welcomed as a turnaround year especially in India. New projects, innovative concepts and state of the art quality have become the defining parameters. Return of normalcy indicates return of good times and the growth in GDP is hand in glove with that in realty. Incidentally the industry is second only to agriculture in GDP growth and is pegged at 5 percent. Housing sector is the bulk provider within this, close to four fifth with commercial, office, hospital, hotels, malls and retail forming the rest. The growth in housing is due to higher incomes, affordable housing and ease of loan disbursement. It is estimated that the profit margins on housing are of the order of 18 percent which works out almost double of contemporaries in developed world. In essence with the skyscraping skyline Indian Realty is Rising.

According to a major Real Estate Consultancy theoffice space rentals in near term are likely to stabilise through 2010. Rentals are not expected to move up as the supply can be absorbed by turnaround in IT and ITED. The upward movement is likely to take time although a 4% revision may be taken as a postive indication of things to come. Telecom, FMCG and Pharma are also likely to take up office space and as big difference from last year, this time their are fair indications of improving demand, absorption and momentum in the market.

The government is planning to rationalise the norms hitherto loaded in favour of NRIs to make it a level playin field and introduce regulation. The idea being making it extremely difficult to venture into banned areas of FDI.A proposal to remove their special status as regards FDI in sectors like aviation, housing and real estate seems to be in the offing. It may be noteworthy that NRIs can pick up a hundred percent stake in air transport as compared to 49 percent by other foreign investors. They are also not bound by minimum capitalisation or minimum area for development in real estate sector. Wonder if IPL is showing the way?!

Home loan availers can continue to enjoy status quo in interest rates at least in the near term. Although RBI policy has ample indications of an upward revision but the bankers are able to hold on. In fact a hike may well fall flat in the face because a unilateral move may see the institution 'interested out' in face of competition. Yet short term and sub PLR corporate rates may tow the line of ehanced repo and reverse rates and cash reserve rations by 25 basis points and may hence go up.

A lot many big ticket developers like Purvankara, Unitech and Ansals to name a few have put their telescopes on and are looking at distant Brazil, Mexico and China for low cost housing solutions. The sector is technically developed to a nicety in these parts of the world and especially in a super affordable 5 to 12 lakhs segment. The construction materials, techniques, processes and management all have evolved by experience. A lesson which can be imbibed without reinventing the wheel and at a whopping margins of 10 to 25 percent. Talk about keeping abreast with all that happens on the globe and learning from others mistakes across the borders.

This year has seen 7000 units worth more than Rs 4.7 crores each getting sold at Mumbai. NCR too is not exactly lagging behind and is busy meeting the boom for bust. The Developers could not have it any better as they pack more bang for buck in terms of operating margins. Bangalore could have 400 high end luxury units in the market ranging from 3.5 crores to 20 crores each. The designs for each being unique as indeed the lay out. Looks like 'High End is far from The End'

Mumbai shows the way to recovery in residential segment after a steep fall. The bubble of mid 2008 burst precipitating an erosion of 18 to 20 percent in 2009. This gave way to a stable regime as witnessed till November 2009 and is now expected to herald a recovery and consolidation pattern. End users are back, firstly job related uncertainities are a thing of the past and secondly the innovative affordable segment makes it worth its while. For the record there has been an 11 percent spurt in the residential segment. A Crisil survey puts the ball park figure of around 10 percent for the recovery regimen.

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are proving to be too hot to handle for Indian real estate firms brought up on much more relaxed norms of revenue accounting. The prevalant practice in India is to recognise revenue no sooner than the agreement of sale is signed. As a safeguard, the marker is made at about 25% construction target which also indicates to the investors that the project is safe. The norms follow GAAP ( Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) whereby the revenue is accounted at the point of booking of the flat itself. However, with IFRS knocking at the doors for implementation as from next year, the realty firms are helter skelter and in a tizzy seeking exemption. The general sentiment being that this may result in shortfall of revenue targets at least in the short term. 

The turnaround has seen a steady growth in residential sector rental/sales. However, it has not been a happening story for Commercial properties. To tide over Developers have offered assured returns for strategically located Commercial properties of a minimum size of 100 sq ft. An investor is required to make a down payment and can get a return of 11 to 12 percent. The properties are mostly in construction phase. The Developers would be required to payout 17 to 18 percent on external borrowings. This method can generate funds at much lesser costs and is a secured return for the investor as well.

Floating rate borrowers have always found themselves getting short shrifted by changing home loan rates. An increase is always passed on to them but a reduction remains ellusive. However, RBI in the capacity of a regulator has made it abundantly clear that any change in rates will apply to new as well as old customers instead of selectively. The new guidline is expected to take effect as from 1st July.

Owning a property is what you have dreamt of and got waylaid by the economy slump? Well, times have shown a turnaround. Delhi NCR and Bangalore have shown a surge in middle income bookings. Mumbai was leading but sharp appreciation in prices has lead to some stagnation. The prices of commercial and residential both have started climbing. All told , 'Its the right time" to go for it and take advantage of the upliftment.

 Haryana government is all set to redefine its population density norms and revise the number of people per acre to 400 from existing 250 in case of high rise buildings. This will result in 80 apartments in every 4840 sq yards instead of prevailing 50. It sure is a more than a 'more or less shift' to 'more in less' in housing rules !

While multistoreyed flats maybe dotting the horizons of Delhi and NCR, but a survey reveals that almost three quarters of resident population have a independent space of their own. While lavish bungalows with sprawling greens may only be at Lutyens Delhi, independent living unit seems to be an aspiration.  Half of those with these dwelling units make do with just about 450 sq ft or thereabouts. Majority own the place while rest are in tenancy. The report is based on a survey conducted by National Sample & Survey between 2007 and 2008.

Investor demand at Pune appears to be higher than rest of the country. While Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore sees a sizeable end-user traffice, it is the investor interest in Pune which props it up as top notch. The interesting part is that the focus of investors is in 20 to 50 lakh or mid income bracket. The survey also infers that the rental market is stable and has seen a rise in past 12 months, on an average 12 percent of income is spent on rentals. The under construction property in 8 major cities is about 375 million sq feet, almost as much as demand. However, only about 65 million sq feet is ready to move in variety.

The Retail Rentals await a surge in Realty to look up themselves. Although prices appear to be firming up but the re-negotiation of rentals has not really taken off as yet.The revenue sharing model is still workable to the advantage of both developer and retailer. In any case the contracts are of an year or two duration.However, the deep discounts offered for mall shops by big developers are slowly being weened off. However, high street big ticket properties continue to look expensive.

Kolkotta has throttled back to 'mach' ,'rosogulla' and 'sondesh' for almost an year and been taking it easy on hard issues like realty for over an year. But if the recent property fair is any indication the footfalls are headed back from queries to investment even a modest gain in prices. While it is early days but a 7 to 10 percent increase over past three months is no mean boast. The underlying statement is a mature one, Kolkotta never really suffered because it fell short of creating a bubble gum estate in first place. The heart of the matter is in a ration. 70:30 for end users: investors. Amar Sonar Bongla Desh !

Taxation incentives, FDI policies for Realty and spikes likewise are welcome. The same cannot be said for fiscal dampeners of the kind RBI seems to be intent in doling out in shape of hikes in loan rates. Recently a 25 basis points escalation in reverse and repo rates has garnered this fear. To the credit of banks this anti-inflationary measure has not been passed on to consumers and home loan rates have remained under the umbrella as of now. But for how long will they hold on, with another round of similar announcements in the offing, it is felt that the industry could well do without these at least in the short term.

CREDAI is exploring the legal recourse to get the proposed clasue of tax on land cost for projects under construction is not removed. Realty developers are already reeling under a slew of taxes under various heads including stamp duty charges. Although the proposed tax are supposed to be at 33% of property. But the developers are not willing to risk a almost 3.5% rise in the cost at this time. Such an untimely escalation may have repurcussions at a time when the industry is showing a turnaround.

Commercial properties are all set to get dearer what with cement,construction material and hike in excise duty one in rentals is bound to follow. It may be good news from some and not so good for others. Corporates for instance will have to shell out more, marginalising their profit books. The buzz is that the hike could well be on the right side of 10%.

Year 2010 may see the prime property rise by almost 15 % in year 2010 according to a survey conducted by Knight Frank and Citi Bank. Almost three quarters of survey respondents believe that 2010 is the turnaround bull market year. Almost half feelt that Residential sector is likely to be the key sector. Mumbai and Delhi sector is claimed to hold the key to the prices and likely to make the quantum jump.

Last fortnight has seen a frenzy of activity in Real Estate at Ahmedabad. A tidy sum of Rs 900 Crore stands commited , the sentiment is rocketing and its boom time. After a hiatus the investors seem to be even more bullish than developers. The rate of land has touched 55000-60000 per square yard.  A single deal has been touted at 150 crores with Parsvnath selling 27000 square meters in Satellite. In realty too it would appear Ahmedabad leads the way.

Its all get, set and vroom for NRIs post budget. If a conservative 87.9 percent was the call of last year on equity, those who betted on the bucking horse of realty stocks pocketed a hefty 139 percent. Even the appreciating rupee outperformed the FD in phoren accounts for those who chose to park their money in India. Home after all, especially in recessionary times, is sweetest home.

With the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill set for clearance by March the beneficial fall out on Realty sector is apparent and aniticipated. These could be big ticket demand drivers with educational clusters and university campuses coming up aplenty. At least a dozen colleges could be queing up to break ground and stay ahead of the competition with a time frame of 2 to 3 years. The US patent 'knowledge corridors' project may also be emabarked upon inviting large scale land acquisition and customised construction models.'Knowledge' may well be the key to unlock Realty.

Liveability Index 2010 suggests that when it comes to city of choice, national capital Delhi is tops. It pips Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkotta, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Gurgaon to the post. Education, Safety and Economic environment is right up there in choice parameters. Almost there in housing options, socio-cultural and political environment. Its the medical environment where it ranks a dismal seventeenth and finds Kochi and Trivandurum leading the pack. Incidentally it is the financial capital which finishes runners up in a field of 37.

In the current fiscal SBI occupies not just the pole position on the podium as far as disbursement of home loans is concerned but possibly the entire victory stand. Of the total of Rs 45000 crores let out towards cheap loans a staggering 67 percent is SBI share. The teaser rates marketing method saw them dish out almost 30,000 crores. HDFC and erstwhile market leader found itself a distant second with just 9000 crores to the credit of its debit . Others find themselves busy with the hadle and ladle of the proverbial wooden spoon.

Gurgaon and Mumbai are the success stories of turnaround brigade. Spurred by increase in employment opportunities both are on the pole position of commercial space mainly due to a shot in the arm of residential segment. The speculators and gold diggers are snapping at the heels of a 25 to 30 percent correction and hastened to make hay while the sun was down. NOIDA, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkotta all found themselves lined up way behind the numero uno duo. While infrastructure is lacking in the most, all but Bangalore have also suffered from oversupply. The renewed presence of developers of high quality and Metro connectivity has spring boarded Gurgaon's cause. While relative affordability in suburban markets like eastern suburbs has given Navi Mumbai and Mumbai the big push.

In what would appear to be as the mother of all turnaround deals a GTC plot has been bought at a whopping 591 crores. The area of land in question is a little over 14 acres. The big tiicket deal is possibly the largest in last two years. It definitely overshadows the Wadhwa group and HCL deal of 18.18 acres at 571 crores. The players are Sheth developers and Golden Tobacco Company, Other than yet another indicator of changing times it shows the mammoth value of land starved Mumbai and the developers appetite to go over the moon to stomach just that !

Tired of complaining about that almost makeshift DDA shanty, there is hope yet. Get ready for a makeover at the aegis of non other than Lieutenant Governor Mr Tejinder Khanna also DDA chairman. The state owned body now finds itself being ordered to take care of infrastructure and repair requirements of especially the old buildings. All of three lakh flats built since 1968 at a cost of 68 crore. At least 800 to 1000 flats of not so well to do segment have been earmarked for repairs. To send the spirits of owners soaring there might be a JV for lifts with upper storey owners on the anvil.

Property rates are driven upwards by inflation and rising costs of material, this has resulted in a 10 to 35 percent hike in the cost of materials. While about 300,000 affordable homes had been launched, very few have seen the ground being broken towards real implementation. It would appear that the launches were not for real, because even after 15 to 18 months in some cases, no deliveries seem to be on the horizon. It was probably more of a debt repayment exercise than any higher intention.

Increased Allocation for infrastructure to the tune of 1.73 lakh crores and within that  road development of the order of 20000 crores.

Revision in Personal Income Tax rates would increase repayment capacity of home buyers.

A budgetary allocation of 700 crores for interest subvention - 1% for 10 lakh loan provided cost of property is less than 20 lakhs.

Rajiv Awaz Yojna for slum development  - 1270 crores.

Indira Awaz Yojna for rural development - 66000 crores.

Tax holiday under Section 80B extended to March 2013, developers to get another year for project completion.

Warehousing sector to benefit with FCI scheme to hire warehouses for a guaranteed period of 7 years.

External Commercial borrowings to be available for development of cold storages.

 CREDAI ( Confideration of Real Estate Developers Association of India) is up in arms over the proposed Service Tax on Realty constructions. In fact it just stops short of calling the Budget 'Step Motherly' towards Realty. It instead quips that it is a case of 'Status Quo'. Citing the huge shortage of housing units of the order of 24.7 million and the yawning gaps in infrastructure and growth, Credai feels that some incentives were in order for housing. A service tax would result in an across the board escalation in costs and would be detrimental to the turnaround industry. Further opining on the legal tenacity it said that Registration and Stamp duty coupled with the Service Tax amounted to double taxation of the property. Project costs may shoot up by 4 to 5% and indirect costs may rise even further. The crisp and clear message to FM on tax is 'Roll Back to stop Back Roll' in Real.

 Competition Commission of India has taken exception to the practice of borrowers being penalised for foreclosing their loans. Some banks charge a hefty 3 to 4 percent on remaining credit in such cases to discourage long term borrowers from frequent shifting of loans. CCI feels that this is a violation of competition laws and in capacity of watchdog of monopoly and trade practices has sent a show cause notice to at least 15 banks. CCI is not in agreement of any rationale that the Indian Bankers Association might have .It is likely to fine the offending banks or prevail upon them to stop charging penal interest in case of foreclosure prepayment.

 If buying a house figures anywhere in your 'to do' list then don't keep waiting. Come July, there is likely to be a double whammy - firstly the service tax of 3.3 % is likely to be effected and the home loan interest rates will be northward bound at least by 25 to 50 basis point. So it is stop time to ponder and go time to act. It is but natural the Realtors are likely to pass on the burden to clients. Having said that a DLF led brigade is all set to knock at FM's doors once again for the rollback of the proposed hike. All the best to everybody !

The personal taxation regime has been given a bonanza by the FM. Depending upon the earnings bracket there is a dole of an extra 20,000 to 50,000 sandwiched within the budgetary proposals. The extra disposable incomes may well get translated to a higher repayment capacity of EMIs and stimulate home buying for those on the brink. Although reintroduction of service tax is a bit of a dampner, yet the extra liquidity may well prove that 'Budget Surplus is for Real'.

STPI - Software Technology Parks of India stands curtailed. SEZs may become favourite of IT firms as an alternative for tax sops.Whereas, STPI is not going to be continued beyond March 2011, SEZ tax regimen is likely to have a shelf life of at least another 15 years. Incidentally almost more than 60 percent of SEZs are already in IT sector. So its but logical that IT may continue to flock SEZs a safe haven for taxes especially for new investments.

Although the banking regulator has not raised key policy rates but banks have decided to call off the teaser fixed cum floating home loan rates. Special home loan schemes from ICICI, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra have been withdrawn. The catalyst was of course the two phased 75 basis point hike in CRR announced by RBI in January. It would appear that it is a simple case of allignment of lending rates with deposit rates. April onwards once the cost of savings money becomes deared this mantra of adjustment of lending rates in accordance may well come into its own. RBI monetary policy due in end of April, which is expected to be anit inlationary is likely to take a further toll on loan rates. All told even as future unfolds, for now 'Teaser Rates' have definitely been shown the door.

Service Tax has opened up a debate of the order of a can of worms. The views are diverse and at times two strikingly different sides of the same coin. Developers feel that Service Tax could hike up rates by as much as ten percent especially for tier II and III cities. However, ministerial view is aroound the fact that there is a built in 67 percent abatment. which boils down to 3.3 percent given only 33 percent will be taxed at 10 ! Incidentally its another fact of the matter that prices have seen a 10 to 20 percent hike on an average since last 9 months.

 Last year DLF had launched and sold Capital Greens I and II respectively at Rs 5500 and Rs 7000 per sq feet respectively. In one sweeping endorsement of the turnaround in the making DLF Capital Greens III to be launched next month is being speculated at an aggressive Rs 12000 per sq feet. Recently DLF had indicated that the demand for luxury homes is back ! The booking of 550 apartments of the segment in NCR amounting to 2 million sq feet is perhaps all the encouraging signal required.

The developers may have got it right afterall instead of 'bubblegum bursts' and downright 'Dubai speculation' the process is getting rationalized with deeper feasibility studies replacing mindless expansion. It is realised that unresponsible work ethics like aggressive land buying, long gestation periods and forays in unrelated sectors like logistics and warehousing may have contributed to the 2009 downfall so to speak of the initial six months. So informed decision making is being invested in by means of project studies, strategic tie ups in material and labour to keep the belt tight and outsourcing construction to make good the delivery schedule. Such measures have been alien to an almost feudalistic family run work culture and are bound to inspire end user confidence. It is realized that the guiding aim for wooing customers should be one home per family.

Budget sops brought a windfall for Realty stocks. Even while the opposition was at the door for petro hike, the bonanza for Realty was well and trully in place. The major stocks zoomed up by as much as six percent and on an average the industry benefitted by four percent. DLF the omni-leader rocketed with HDIL, Anant Raj and Omaxe vying for top honours. The announcement that existing projects could be completed in five years instead of four was well received as were the provisions of relaxing norms for built up areas and shops in commercial complexes. The relaxation would result in more amenities for end users.

The FDI norms were liberalised by the government in 2005 with a slew of measures. 100 percent FDI is allowed through automatic route in construction development and allied. Undaunted by a global meltdown foreign investors have remained bullish on Indian Realty especially over the last two years. An almost four times rise has been witnessed to a staggering $ 5.6 Billion in the last three quarters of the current fiscal. Clearly despite an odd confliction FDI in construction continues to be an ongoing success story.

 Close on the heels of Indian recovery, US the mother of subprime mortgage crisis has also started rebounding. The levels reached their highest in the past six months in January. Compared to January last the starts recorded an upsurge of 2.11%, incidentally the highest since April 2004. Similary single family homes registered a rise of 1.5 percent after declining 3 percent in December. Whereas, the multifamily segment swung up by close to 10 %. Though demands for home loans remains lethargic but the industry seems to be showing a turnaround from a three year slump. 'Once India shines US is bound to follow'.

 Budget is always seen as a time for revamping the beleagured and flagging industries. Realty too has a wish list from the annual exercise and waits expectantly. Some of the salient ones would be to raise the home loan IT exemption limit. Concessions for developing affordable housing segment and special incentives for slum development projects. Specific tax incentives and a rationalised stamp duty registration structure would lead to further investment in affordable housing sector.Fiscal incentives for green buildings and tax holiday of the kind available before 2009 for low and middle income housing projects could serve to sweeten the offer. On the affordable front, it is time that it was delienated and defined in specific terms.

 The interested rates may be poised for a rise but the prices may still remain firm or grow because of renewed demands for housing sector. The guiding hand comes from the increased opportunity and activity at the job sector. It is the job creation and confidence which fuels the demand and in turn boosts the prices. However, the extended suburbs like Greater Noida, Navi Mumbai and Manesar to name a few my take time not just because of over supply and lack of connectivity but due to the paucity of jobs as on today. Yet the long term growth continues to remain secular.

Maharashtra Government has embarked upon a unique way to solve the power crisis. It has been declared that there would be a 0.5 incentive on FSI (floor space index) for all the projects more than 100 acres on outskirts of cities who generate their own power. The means would of course have to be renewable sources of energy. The Government hopes to make a dent in the power demand supply mismatch which is otherwise proving to be a tall order. The project is likely to benefit cities and developers alike with potential of being able to construct on even more of plot areas. The authorities it seems are all 'powered up' to make a difference.

Is Delhi NCR real estate recovery just a hype ? For a deep study of property index has some revealing statistics to its credit. Property prices escalation saw Mumbai head and shoulders above every other city - a whopping 25 percent almost. While Delhi didn't do too badly, registered a rise of just around 9. Hyderabad and Bangalore in fact registered a fall of about 8 and 2 percent respectively. While Pune managed to keep its head above water and pipped Delhi NCR to the post on the podium. The biggest reason is of course the development of peripheral areas. The nation wide price rise is an encouraging Australian lucky number of around 13 percent. Delhi it is believed has unique challenges of three different states with as many policies and possibly an oversupply of residential and commercial real estate.

Bankers have taken the easy way out of teaser rates debate. The issue has been settled in favour of bottom lines. RBI's suggestion has been found to be impracticable because they might then get affected. RBI felt that cheaper rates must be extended to existing customers as well. It may be recalled that SBI with its initial two year 8% plan had taken a start and a lead which reduced stragglers to catch up and cry foul - HDFC went on record to initially dismiss it as a gimmick and then imbibe it themselves. RBI commented on the discrimanatory approach and ICICI played it safe by making 'transparency' as the key issue.

Twice in the last 30 days RBI has made its concerns clear about the teaser rates being offered by some of the banks including major ones. Plainspeak would define these as rates which are initially low and destined to allign with market forces after the initial euphoria of couple of years. The seed for RBI's doubts lies in the mother of all realty crisis namely US subprime mortgage. On their part the banks defend themselves by voicing that allocation is strictly based on overall capacity to repay not just the initial period. Message from RBI is clear and loud -'Don't please to tease'

Small offices has always been a loosely organized sector on which nobody has bothered to collate any data. However, indications are that things are on the mend. Such is the growing demand that it has got even the big developers interested. Demand for Commercial space may have stagnated but that for small offices operating from homes and industrial sheds is making the waves. The rise in requirement especially in Metros is begging for attention and ameneties. Clearly its time that Small made it Big.

Allaying fears about changed tax regimen government is all set to clarify that SEZs will continue to enjoy the same benefits even after the direct tax code is implemented. This is a follow up of the uncertainity about the issue as perceived and projected by the Commerce department. Due to this apprehension there is hesitancy and indecision amongst the developers about promoting SEZ investment in the same fervour. However an announcement contigous with the budget in which these will be tabled will go a long way in keeping SEZs as special as they deserve to be.

A hike of 15 to 20 percent in Average Price Realisation seems to be in the offing for Large developers. Lodha group and Parsvanath both engaged in projects from 3000 to 70000 per sq ft in Residential as well as Commercial sector are confident about this. The guiding force being as always the demand and supply situation. Realty Consultants JLLM seem to reflect this significant demand generation and the first signs of pick up in the month of January also seem to indicate the same.

Studies have revealed the major chunk of property investments at Dubai are on account of Indians, almost a quarter of a sales have an Indian in the loop. This puts UK investors on a distant second. Interestingly, the investor interest has been motivated by high quality products, with innovation and proferring a great lifestyle. Further that on schedule delivery does not figure as a prime criteria. Close to two thousand projects are still ongoing at an approximately whopping USD 700 Billion.

L&T has its order book full and running. Lately orders worth 1100 crores have come its way. The salient one being 'The Address' residential towers at Ghatopkar accounting for almost half the amount. Another 305 crores at Khurja for projects ranging from warehouses to allied infrastructure from Arshiya International. The rest is made up of impressive and diverse orders like that of a mall in Kolkota and that of a factory in Samalkha, Haryana. Spread across the length and breadth of the nation the L&T order book is an apt indicator of its reputation as a construction leader.

Developers are planning to cash on the concept of Continuing Care Retirement Community. Modelled on lines of more progressive societies of Developed Nations they would have around 300 units only for more than 60 years old. A decade later they could be moving into 'assisted living quarters' providing them housekeeping and food and finally to old age segment which looks into nursing and medical support. It appears a niche area hitherto unexplored and may just catch on enough to cash on.

IT is back with plans for augmented hiring, expansion and growth. TCS for instance has shifted gears not only on existing facilities at Ahmedabad, Chennai & Mumbai but is looking at newer ones at Pune and Kolkata. Enquiries in 25-30000 sq ft commercial space are on the rise and  big players like Network Appliances and QA Infotech are not shy of prospecting for double and even quadraple in terms of space. The Real Estate is witnessing a turnaround in tandem too being the prime mover for prime requirement - commercial space. Developers are optimistic and positive on the opening up of the demands.

The Real Estate sector, as an engine of the nation’s growth, can be gauged from the fact that it is the second largest employer next only to agriculture and its size is close to US $ 12 billion and grows at about 30% per annum. Five per cent of the country’s GDP is contributed by the housing sector. The Real Estate Industry has significant linkages with several other sectors of the economy and over 250 associated industries. India has an urban ratio of 26% as against 40 percent in the developed countries and about 550 million Indians are below the age of 25, a 10% yearly growth is expected in the 12th plan. With the increasing urbanization, Indian real estate industry has to meet numerous challenges in the time to come. 
 
Liberalization measures in the FDI policy has resulted in a surge in the inflows into construction and real estate sectors in India as there are myriad options available to foreign players in these sectors. The Union Government, through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, has announced a Model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) to regulate, control and promote planned and healthy development and construction, sale, transfer and management of colonies and residential apartments.

IPO of DB Realty, a Mumbai based developer. received a very good response by the market, It has in fact got oversubscribed more than twice over just on the second day of the offer. Further close to 45 % of offer has been bidded for by FFI in Janus Capital. Given the fact that firstly Indian Capital Fund has bidded for 5% and that the private equity investors have chosen not to exit during IPO gives a fair indication of market sentiment being supportive and anticipating a fair earning. The corpus raised is targetted at utilization for construction and development related expenditure.

Mr KP Singh, Chairman of DLF earned a feather in his cap when he was awarded with Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Realty. But the bang in the buck came from Crisil rating DLF a cool A+ and revising its outlook of the firms finances to 'stable' from negative. The operating cash flow situation is bound to improve in the medium term seems to be the latent message. Plus, definitely the blatant one is that DLF is well and away on its road to recovery in the near term.

DHFL ( Dewan Housing Finance Limited) came out with a nouveau product this quarter. A 25 year home loan scheme to finance the needs of Lower and Middle Income (LMI) groups. The results speak for themselves a 72.95 percent increase in net profits from aroudn 23 crores to as much as 40 crores in the corresponding quarters of this and last fiscal. Naturally there has been an increase of 42 percent in net income too for the period. A nearly 98% growth in loan sanctions and almost 80% in loan disbursement make the picture perfect complete.

NHAI has taken up widening of 17 highways countrywide. Though belated the initiative augurs well for all sectors in the swath especially realty in both commercial, industrial and residential. The die has been cast by inviting bids for over 1350 kms of highways at an estimated cost of Rs 14000 crores.There were five projects with two bidders, one project with three and one with four bidders. Three projects attracted five bidders, another three had six, and two projects attracted nine bidders. For now the bids have been accepted but the contracts are yet to be awarded. Widening of prospects through highway route.

Fitch ratings forecast a stable outlook in Realty for year 2010.

The analysis is based upon following anticipations :

Firstly, governmental support as is increasingly becoming visible in Affordable Housing Sector, Capex, Stable margins due to stability in prices of key inputs,increasing new orders and the trend to move to projects with price escalations factored in. New projects in 2009 found ready absorption albeit at a 25 percent discount on an average.

The only negativity is possibly an increase in asset ownership by build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) way.

Dubai economy had a face off with meltdown primarily triggered by Realty crisis. The genesis being that the sector was handled like a trading sector piggy back on foreigners indiscriminate speculation. In a hurry to convert black money to white, the launches were sold out within hours with total disregard to fundamentals of location, potential, project and indifference to the credentials of the developer. The situation was all charged up the balloon getting hyperinflated for a burst and it happened. Today there are many a empty plots of land without supporting escrow accounts ! The pumped up market in fact wiped out the end user, which it must be understood are the building blocks of demand supply equation. India would do well to imbibe the lessons.

CIDCO's affordable housing project has been a resounding success. So much so that they have launched yet another one with grandiose and anticipation. This time they go public with an offering of 1344 flats housed in ground and seven storeys of these about five hundred will measure about 450 sq ft and the rest about 325 sq ft. Likely to be priced at Rs 2100 per sq ft the flats are likely to be ready for possession by end of 2011.

An exhibition of lifestyle and affordable housing is simultaneously taking place at Ghatopkar and Kandivili . Organised under the aegis of MCHI (Mahrashtra Chambers of Housing Industry) the focus would be on Western and Central suburbs. The exhibitions would be launched on 05 Feb. Almost two scores developes and a host of banks would be particiapting. The experiment is directed to attract the end users by Upgrades and 'Within wallet reach' charm.

If one were to look at the demand supply gap in low cost affordable housing segment in India, one would be face to face with a crater the size of moon. We are way behing and with the rapid urbanization falling further.Unfortunately, a little introspection would reveal that it has much to do with Developer's greed and focus on premium class higher return housing. To that end the slowdown has come with a blessing in disguise. Increased job insecurity and conservatism the order of spending the inquiries for thecreamy segment have been wiped out. The omnipresent and perrenial affordable housing demand has shaped into the catalyst for the revival of the sector. That notwithstanding the connectivity to the remote locations that they are generally cited in have their own set of challanges.For the supply to take routes government has to address these in terms of infrastructure which means even more spending and a thrust to the sector.

Mumbai builders had sunk in huge amount of money to buy into what they felf was premium land, much to their chagrin the whole thing got messed up in an environmental tangle as the land got classified as forest land later. Now the courts have cleared the way for the land to be utlized albeit with a couple of riders. Firstly after payment of a hefly Net Payable Value and inevitablly the constructions would be subject to clearance of Ministry of Environment and Forest. Temporary relief with all crossed for it may well be the case of from fat to the fire.

The last 10 years have been the highway to growth. There have been developments and in every field and a close to 9 percent growth rate. The rising income levels of the middle class and increased purchasing powers are the obivious spin offs. The housing has been demand, so has been the office space and the leisure, pleasure, shopping  and allied have not lagged behind. There is a demand supply gap in luxury segment but in the affordable segment the gap is burgeoning. With diminished interest rates and cheaper steel and cement the time is just right to cast off for a Realty driven turnaround and that is exactly what in the offing.

Apartment prices at Planet Godrej, a residential property scheme at Mahalaxmi Mumbai were down to 17K last year, they are pushing 30K now just short of 32K in 2007-08 the peak period.

Jaypee Group sold 600 plots on Greater Noida Expressway within 3 days of launch at 36K per square yard, they are already priced at 39K and 42K is on the foreseeable horizon.

Stand up and welcome the era of mind boggling spiralling prices of the yore.

Analysts see a clear pattern as the stock markets recover the investors are coming back and on the same vane the acid test would lie in March when pent up demand is on the wane and NRIs are indifferent. If stock markets sustain so shall the demand otherwise it is anybody's guess.

But for now, let the Prices speak for themselves.

This year there could be as many as four highway projects totalling a cool 1000 km on the anvil. What is hidden behing the miles are the acres & hectares of virgin land waiting to be developed. The tow lines are Mumbai - Vadodra, Bengaluru - Chennai , Kolkotta - Dhanbad & Delhi - Meerut. All of the big four getting more than a look in. But what the prudent investor needs is a set of maps and a magnifying glass for a 'HIGH WAY' to affluency.

Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited has decided to get into slum rehabilitation in South Mumbai in the coming six months. It has been announced by the company spokesman that this will remain the company core project in the coming two years. Incidentally the rental housing project at Virar. The firm is looking to raise 1400 to 1500 crores for its airport land balance of repayments to finance its commercial project and as seed money for its rental project at Virar.

The latest Realty trend is offerings of luxurious, eco friendly, plush, fully furnished studio apartments of manageable size in religious places. They come packaged with 85 percent landscaping, yoga, club, sauna, pool, meditation centres and all that will take you closer to Almighty in body and spirit. These serve to be excellent holiday homes for all who feel the need of paying obeisance regularly and eventually turn out to excellent retirement homes. The need has been identified by the developers and such studio apartments or cottages are being put together in gated communities in places like Hardwar, Govardhan Parvat, Rishikesh to name a few. The cost is value for money for instance a 760 sq ft studio apartment costs around 25 lacs complete with LCD TVs, Air Conditioners, Refrigerators, Draperies, furnishings and the works. So say your prayers and remember it pays to move closer to God.

Special Economic Zones will be required to earmark space for Small Scale Industrial Units within them. With this instruction meant for government and private SEZs alike, the Developers will have to show more involvement as with increased number of SSIs the process may well become more demanding. But for SSIs it is a welcome move as it is directed to ensure that they remain a part of the benefits of SEZs. Incidentally the defining parameter of SSIs would be an output of less than 5 crores.

Ernst & Young seem to have authenticated the revival of realty though the pace is a bit of a crawl in their esteemed opinion. As per them end-users are the one heralding the revival, also the developers and institutional investors are focussed. The price rise may not be significant but it is just a corrolary of the deep crisis that hit the realty due to the global economic slowdown. The investor confidence in the sector had been jolted dut to the sub prime crisis. But as of now there seems to be an endeavour towards revival, earnest and honest.

Global downturn is passe as far as residential markets are concerned. Most have stabilised, many have even shown a recovery. Economic factors shall definitely adjudicate but the vision of developers especially in terms of quality of products can well be contributory in the upliftment of the sector. An analysis around various significant parameters in revealing in terms of Top 8. These could be from affordability to absorption capacities and momentums. From commercial developments to  even migration trends. For a plethora of reasons the bouquet would appear something like as follows :

Gurgaon

Mumbai

NOIDA

Pune

Bangalore

Chennai

Hyderabad

Kolkota

Mumbaikars can breathe a sigh of relief. Recently Municipal Corporation had announced a weekly  shutdown of water supply on an experimental basis for the three city zones. However an additional arrangement to allocate around 29 million litres of water from Bhatsa and Vaitarna dams should water down the crisis. They will still have to bear the overall 15% percent cut, but the taps won't go dry. It maybe ironical that Mumbai surrounded by Arabian sea should go thirsty, 'water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink'. About time that MCGM embraced desalination for a more than 'water down' solution.

Unitech is hopeful of tripling its sales by redeveloping Mumbai slums into luxury segment. Approximately 100 acres of land near
Santacruz the city airport is under the dozer as the plastic, brick, asbestos and mortar tenements give way to luxury high rises in the immediate future. Slum dwellers will be resettled in seperate buildings built on a part of the same land. It may be pertinent to note that the population of the said slums is estimated to be more than that of Switzerland.

Innovation has always been the key to worm out of many a testing situations. Developers too have put on their thinking caps and come out with some innovative thinking. Believe it or not , DLF has managed to sell apartments worth a whopping Rs 1000 crores in the luxury and semi luxury segment in the month of December. 76 Magnolias worth 5 Crores each themselves netted  Rs 400 crores. Apart from the general economic recovery, other factors like property being about 30 percent off peak and markets doing well are the confidence builders of premium shoppers. 'If you don't get bread,eat cakes!'

According to CREDAI, Confederation for Real Estate Developers Association of India, 2010 could herald a unique phase of Realty propulsion. The heart of the matter is the frenetic pace and expanse of Infrastructure development. Whilst Metros always hold the centre stage, there are some significant drivers in especially 'Affordable Housing' for Tier II and Tier III cities. The 'housing for all' being the mantra the government is working overtime to realise the vision. On its part CREDAI is continuing to push for affordable housing by well deliberated  fiscal incentives in terms of direct and indirect tax concessions. An increase in deduction of interest paid for housing loans is yet another of such measures to attract interest in housing for home buyers.

The Real Estate companies  feel that Government can provide a fillip to Realty Sector by having a relook at taxation on rental income. It is felt that the rate of taxation should be lower and same across the board.  In the pre budget recommendations the realtors have mooted a flat rate of 10% for taxation in case of incomes from property rentals and a depreciation allowance of the order of 50% on investments directed at employee housing. The wish list includes a cent percent depreciaton in case of housing less than 500 sq ft in area.

If SBI had started it HDFC joined it and now ICICI and Kotak just prolonged it. Miffed by SBI easy loan offer at 8% for first two years and similar for next three HDFC first criticised it as not viable and then almost did one better by replicating it give a basis point here and there. Not to be left  behind ICICI and Kotak just joined the bandwagon. In the ensuing imbroglio the customer with the ring side view is laughing all the way to the bank.

The affordable housing segment had been launched with lot of fanfare in May 2009 and saw some Developers flaunting 'Sold Out' signs at the launch. However, with too many rushing into the bandwagon with too little research - Supply has far outstripped the Demand. The fall out being an excess capacity in sub 30 lakh segments with as much absorption rates varying from as little as 35% in Hyderabad to a an off case 80% in NOIDA. This translates to two out of every three apartments unsold in Hyderabad to a market average of one out of every two gathering dust in upmarket localities like Gurgaon. With the exception of NOIDA nobody can boast of a flying colour effort. In essence this is the Grounded Realty !

The Metro has given a fillip to Realty rates in the sectors it services. It has also been instrumental in flattening the differential curves between prime locales and suburbs in many cases. The effect has been especially pronounced in commercial areas which have seen a rise of almost 20% as against about 12% in case of residential. It has been noticed that the effect is significant within 500 meters of the Metro station and tends to peter out somewhat at distances more than this. So it is not just the commuters that the Metro carries it chugs along the real estate valuations too.

Delhi enjoys the undisputed most favoured destination amongst the property developers. The market is mature, stable and not given to undue fluctuations. There is more than a good reason for that too.

The fast track upgradation of infrastructure being the prime one. There has been a slew of measures such as an ever expanding and extremely functional Metro. Modernisation of airport and improvement in road width, condition and blockages. In addition the attention to details such as pedestrian kerbs, modern design buses, integrated townships and world class hotels promote Delhi as much as the Commonwealth games merit.

The Business Index has been further uplifted b y Gurgaon and Noida emerging as preferred destinations for office space for some leading MNCs.

The next quarter should lend a northward outlook of around 20% to the real estates. The experts opine that a plethora of factors to be could influence this. Largely it would be on account of hike in land costs, infrastructure costs and the rise in demand across the cities. The trigger could well be the hike in RBI interest rates by 25 to 50 basis points which will precipitate the leapfrogging of realty prices.

After two consecutinve years of slump in commercial space requirement things appear to be on the mend albeit at relatively lower rates. Samsung has leased 1.7 lakh square feet of top office space at Gurgaon and Noida. Similary, DLF too has leased 2.1 lakh square feet across the country. The projected supply likely to be available in 2010 is 57 million square feet.

FICCI opines a graded recovery of Real Estate market over the next year. However talk about housing and especially the affordable variety and the revival is just round the corner, in fact end of 2009 which is round the bend of the sprint.Number crunching is interesting with 34 percent,26,12 and 6 being the figures for 5-15 lakhs, 15-25, 25-50 and >50 respectively. The commercial and retail maybe lagging but on a 'slow and steady' regime  indicating a full blown recovery by third quarter of 2010. What is known in the market circles could definitely do with FICCI's official stamp of approval.

HDFC Top 100 Fund has increased its exposure to IT, auto, consumer non-durable, tobacco, metal, oil & gas, pharma and media space. However, it decreased its weightage to banking, engineering, cement, telecom and real estate sectors. (View - What is HDFC Top 100 Fund buying / selling?)In the IT space, the scheme bought 1.18 lakh shares of TCS, 1.55 lakh shares of Infosys Technologies and introduced Satyam Computer Services.It has introduced Tata Motors, Hero Honda Motors and purchased over 2 lakh shares of Maruti Suzuki in the auto space.In the consumer non- durable pack, it bought 11.94 lakh shares of Hindustan Unilever, in the tobacco pack, it introduced ITC and in the metal pack it bought 1.21 lakh shares of Hindustan Zinc.The scheme has purchased GAIL India, Reliance Industries, and ONGC but sold Cairn India and 2.41 lakh shares of IOC in the oil & gas pack.In the pharma sector, it has introduced Ranbaxy Laboratories and bought GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Glenmark Pharma. However, it sold Cipla and Dr Reddys Laboratories.In the media pack, it bought Zee Entertainment Enterprises and sold Sun TV Network.The scheme sold SBI, HDFC Bank, HDFC and exited Reliance Capital, ICICI Bank, Bank Of India and Power Finance Corporation in the banking sector. However, it introduced Bajaj Holdings & Investment, Kotak Mahindra Bank and bought 1 lakh shares of Punjab National Bank and 2.61 lakh shares of Axis Bank.In the engineering pack, it sold BHEL and exited L&T, Suzlon Energy but it purchased ABB and 4.75 lakh shares of Crompton Greaves.In the cement space, it exited Jaiprakash Associates. It sold Bharti Airtel and 3.65 lakh shares of Idea Cellular in the telecom pack. It also exited DLF in the real estate lot and sold Tata Power Company in the utilities pack.HUL, Infosys and Bharti Airtel were the top stocks held by the scheme in August. Banking (10.61%), Technology (10.36%) and Pharma (9.42%%) were the top invested sectors in the scheme's portfolio. (Check out - Top stocks held by HDFC Top 100 Fund).The equity exposure of the scheme has increased from 74.68% to 75.04%. The cash has increased to 9.27% from 8.79%. The total assets managed by the scheme were Rs 999.66 crore as on August 31, 2008.

Over the last one-year, HDFC Top 100 Fund has yielded 1% returns as against -6.47% yielded by its benchmark BSE 100 as on September 12, 2008.

The National Highway Development Programme has identified land acquisition as a major stumbling block in its road to progress. Therefore Mr Kamalnath Minister of Surface Transport has hit open an ubiquitous measure to speed up the process. As many as 170 SLAUs ( Special Land Acquisition Units) are being set up with a defined and focused task of Land Acquisiton. It is envisaged that with a slew of dedicated efforts the task which averages 18 months will be brought down to just 8. Talk about 'Full SPEED aheda on highways'.

According to a C&W report in the coming five years the demand for housing in India is set to rocket to 75 lakhs unit. The commercial space on the other hand may see an escalation in demand of 195 million sq ft. There is a more than fair indication that this year the demand may be of the order of 12 lakh units and see an as much as 55 percent rise in the coming year- 2010. The commercial trends are similar with the high light being that almost 40 percent may be in Tier I and Tier II cities.

Government has finally formalised the measure to give impetus to affordable housing. In a much awaited decision, starting 01 Oct 09 and till 30 Sep 10, all houses costing less than 20 lakhs will see a subsidy of one percent on home loans. It is likely to cost Rs 1000 Crores and encourage developers, builders and investors alike to jump into the low cost housing fray. The proposal mooted during the budget by FM is finally REAL.

Picture this night temperatures of 12 to 15 the year round except for brief winter chills. A healthy green lung at just 200 km away from Mumbai, Pune and Surat alike. High speed road connectivity with all under development or already in existence. Peaceful environs making it a befitting city of shrines and vineyards of high quality fast replacing France and South Africa as a major producer of wines. Put it in a cauldron and it is not surprising that you have a major rush of builders to develop the residential market as never before as far as the recluse is considered. A develpment of SEZ at Sinnar serves as fat to fire.Projects in 16 to 20 lakhs range are in great demand as apart from having its own signature tune, Nasik is seen as an emerging alternate to the activities to the places it proximates. Second home investors are thus not to be left behind. The prices are stable at 2500-4000 range and are likely to take off just like the airport which due congestion at Mumbai is seen as the parking space for major handlers. An apt case of Realty Shine alongwith rare combination of wine, dine and shrine.

DLF have taken a leaf out of Ussain Bolts book by taking just under two hours to achieve almost what they did over two days this April - a sale of 1250 apartments, that too at a hefty price rise. As against Rs 4500 per sqft, this time the going rate was Rs 6750/7500/8000 for two/three/four bhk respectively. Effectively an average increase of over 26 percent due to Rs 500 discount and an 8.5 percent reduction in case of downpayments. Considering that the apartment price is close to 2 Crores it is Going ! Going ! Gone for the recessionary trend.

Picture this noveau tune from DLF 'Come September'. It has been decided to fix the rate of Capital Greens II based on a poll amongst the brokers. But the grapevine has it that according to a conservative estimate there might be a hike of as much as 56%, from Rs 4500 per sft in April to as much as a whopping Rs 7000 per sft this time ! Incidentally DLF had sold over 1350 apartments a in a single day in April.

All big names be it Unitech, Omaxe, Parsvanath or HDIL had cut their rates by as much as 25 to 30 percent but now are back with a bang. With the demands returning back the hike is there to stay if Lodha of Mumbai is any example with an across the board rise of 12 to 14 percent.

Hay is being made as the sun on realty reshines.

Banks are trying to flock potential reality investors by continuing to lower the rate of interest on housing loans. The latest offerings are as follows:-

Bank of India, Star HOme Loan, 8.5% for upto 50 lakhs before 31 Dec and 9.25% for second year. From 50 Lakshs to 1.5 Crores, 9.5% for first year and 10.5% for second. Floating rate third year onwards for either of the cases.

Union Bank of India is offering upto 50 Lakhs loan at 8.5% for first three years and floating thereafter.

ICICI is offering at 8.75% for upto 20 lakhs, 9.25% for between 20 and 50 lakhs and 9.75% for above 50 lakhs. This is a part of special offer till 31 October.

Talk about slashing interest to attract interest !

Six months and DLF is leading the way by hiking their sequel to Capital Greens residential apartment scheme almost by one-third. Just this April the phase one was launched in a modest way at a modest price of Rs 5000 per sqft.  Not any more the newly launched second phase will have the minimum price of Rs6500 per sqft and a plethora of options to choose from two bedroom to four, yet none would be lesser than 80 lakhs, four times the cost of dearest of affordable housing sectors. If this is not a clincher of turnaround for Realty wonder what will be. So one third way up some more to go ?!

INDIA'S largest real estate developer DLF intends to spend 15 % of its revenue on an ongoing basis to purchase additional land. DLF has carved out a land replenishment fund, wherein 15% of the sale value of its real estate development is credited. DLF CFO Ramesh Sanka says the company's land replenishment fund will not be a fund "in a conventional sense". "As a matter of discipline, we will credit 15% of the sales towards land purchases on an ongoing basis, so that we have at any point of time enough cash for a good opportunity." He says DLF is "not desperate" for new land purchases, but should be ready to bid for attractive projects, as and when they come up. Incidentally, the company claims it has enough land bank to last for ten years. DLF increased its land bank from 574 million sqft to 751 million sqft in 2007-08. The company fully owns 92 % of its current land bank while, the rest is held in joint ventures with others. According to the company, 85% of its land resource is located in top seven cities. DLF is putting in place a geographical information system to keep track of its huge land bank. The new system is intended to keep track of acquired lands as well as prospective lands for acquisition. Analysts and investors had put a premium on companies holding large land banks last year as many realty firms, including DLF, went public. But with slowdown setting in the real estate sector this year, land banks have lost their sheen in the eyes of the investors, with actual sales and execution capability of developers gaining currency. A sluggish realty market has hit cashflows of realty firms as sales declined and credit became expensive. These factors, combined with rising cost of construction, have dissuaded many developers from acquiring more land, ending the mad rush to build huge landbanks. Many realty firms, including Unitech, Parsvnath and Omaxe, have said they were not rushing in to acquire additional land in the short term and were rather focusing on executing existing projects. Meanwhile, with buyers fading away from the market, land prices too have stagnated at several places.

Reality Industry is seeing a turnaround on the renewed investor interest. With signs of bottoming out, softening of interest rates and launch of affordable housing as a segment, investors are flocking back to support the beleagured industry. It is evident that 20 to 40 lakhs segment is seeing a lot of interest. While indications are that there might be some booking of profits at Diwali there is sufficient number of mid and long term investors too willing to sit it out and ride the waves with the troughs in search of meaningful evaluations. The discerning financial analysts also attribute it to lack of investment opportunities in contemporary sectors. That notwithstanding, realtors will take it and the reason to rejoice lies in the ends which herald a breakout of real estate once again.

Affordable housing needs to be sustained and subsidized, both seem to be two sides of the same coin, feel private developers.

The land availability especially at affordable rates has to be created by policy mechanisms and are understandably hard to come by own their own. Hence instead of chopping changing rules a holistic look needs to be taken towards facilitation. Affordable housing finance systems should be regarded as natural corollaries to the theorem. On the technical side, innovative solutions for standardised, low cost housing need to be invented and made commercially viable.

Development of satellite townships integrated with hubs through road-rail networking can infuse fresh lease of life to affordable reality !

With the recession receding and more job security, low cost initiatives and favourable interest rates, the residential sector is looking up once again. The end user and salaried class is also back as investors. It is expected that this festival season should see a 10-15 percent rise in valuations of premium residential space. The locations which had almost bottomed out like major cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Pune could be the beneficiaries. The housing loan has come down from almost 13 percent last year to close to 8 percent now thus indicating the best time to avail it. In a nutshell, residential spaces seem to be finally looking up !

Yet another story of the speculative rout,....black is out ! In yesteryears reality was dominated by the unaccountable money of dubious speculators. Today the changed government policies on basing and the rush for low cost housing has attracted the genuine buyers as never before. The segment majorly consists of salaried individuals with white money to offer. The result almost 80% of the invested money is from white collared individuals. The NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai all have seen the benign effect of the changing buyer profile.

Brokers are back to get bang for their buck at NCR, property prices which had been discounted by as much as 25 percent and Brokers failing to market the pre-launch grabs till possibly the first quarter this year are on a turnaround. Gurgaon is again upping 3600 per sft and Noida and Faridabad are looking good on evaluations too. Brokers are backing the new launches with a big heart and bigger wallets. For instance Unitech claims to have sold almost three and a half thousand properties in NCR since April. A synergy between end users, investors and the Brokers seems to be the prime mover for Developers this season. The trend of underwriting though seems to be biased towards low cost housing the noveau flavour of the Reality Bite !

There are some distinct features which seperate Low Cost Houses from the rest.

Firstly, there is a smaller, further approach to floor area and siting respectively. Typically they are 700-1000 Sq ft as compared to conventional contemporaries and are often located beyond 25 km from city centre due lower land costs.

The plumbing and wiring is undertaken in a manners so as to minimize the point to point distance and incur savings.

Finally,the construction techniques themselves have come off age. Certain builders in fact develop a pre-fab mould and simply place it in the designated areas. It is understood that this can save more than a quarter of construction cost while giving a new dimension to the quality.

While the contemporary sectors may have looked at cutting the foot to fit the size, Cement Industry is growing by leaps and bounds and in fact has doubled its investment this year as compared to last. The notable ommision which buck the trend are Aditya Birla groups Grasim and Ultratech Industries. Otherwise players such as Ambuja and ACC have notched a niche 150 percent growth. The significant capacity expansion is being fuelled by renewed and sustained interest in Reality, Infrastructure and Highway projects.

Mutual Fund houses are the latest to join the bandwagon of Bulls chasing Reality ! The investment is close to 1500 crores and counting till July. This is more than eight times over thatn the funds parked till last December.

The past six months, have seen mutual funds take the plunge and  rocket their exposure to real estate stocks, Value Research said. Over 25000 crores have been mobilised through stock sales in an otherwise cash strapped sector.

Although there are still jelly-bellies over the highly speculative sector but led by FIIs investors are warming up and swarming back. The indications are encouraging for the sector and for the economy at large, Developers are wearing a smile and seem to be having the queries to back them up !

The experts feel that Premium Housing is ripe for an upswing this coming festival season. Indications are favourable especially with the end users returning back to the market. The forecast is that Q4 is likely to be a bonanza for the premium segment, as against last year there is likely to to be a rise of 15 to 25 percent in the prices. Connaught Place in Delhi and Worli in Mumbai can expect 1,00,000 to 1,25,ooo per sft as against prevailing 70 to 80K. The frenzy though is localised to residential apartments in upmarket and prime areas.

The Government cheered up the middle class consumers of Reality industry by two timely announcements

a) Loans of the value of 10 lakhs for a house value of 20 lakhs to be subsidised.

DLF-IL&FS consortium are on rail for the 6 Km Metro link project from Gurgaon to Sikandrapur. It would involve an investment of 900 crores and a time frame of 30 months for completion. The money would be raised in the coming six month. There is a possibility of the six station project being extended to a 20 km one at the cost of 2000 + crores. The project is on build to operate basis and the revenue sharing would be of the order of 5% for the first five years with HUDA to be scaled at 1% every year to reach a figure of ten by as many years.

The investment from outsiders may have dropped but the 'feel good factor' has got rejevunated riding on the back of sops like revamped SBI home loans and of course hard facts. As per CREDAI from among 150 projects handled by the 32 developer- members , about 2,500 flats will be ready to receive occupancy certificates by March 2010.18,000, of the rest will be ready over a period of two years, he said.

IREO has invested close to $1.5 Billion in India, and according to Mr Lalit Goyal, vice-chairman and managing director IREO is in a position and intent to push in another $ 500 Million. This will be targeted at various infrastructure projects in India over a period of seven years. This will also make the company one of the largest real estate investor in the country. Currently there are close to 13 projects in hand and is in the process of constructing an IT SEZ in Pune. The expanse of this would be close to five million square feet and a three million square feet housing project to go with it.

The government is trying to give a fresh lease of life into the real estate and banking segments, which are struggling withl effects of a realty market crash and global recession. One of the possible ways the government could opt to do this is by including a recommendation for increasing the tax slab for home loans in the upcoming Budget announcement slated for July 6, 2009. This will be good for the person opting for a new home loan and will specifically be for the tax concessions on the interest rate.

Currently, taxpayers opting for housing loans get income tax exemption on interest payment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh (Rs 150,000) per year. Sources indicate that the income tax exemption limit for interest payment of home loans is likely to be increased to Rs 2.5 lakh (Rs 250,000) for the upcoming year.

A slew of innovative measures and falling interests have had the desired effect on the intrerest level of investors. This year has seen a steady gain in housing sector due to the proactivsm of players. INterest rates have been slashed, prices dropped to realistic levels and affordable housing has become the buzz word. There is more than a confirmation that this has seen the query level go northwords and has made a difference in the cash registers too. The last three months have especially seen a momentum with some sectors saying that the sales are up by as much as 25-30%. Incidentally, the first quarted saw a growth of 10-15%Activity levels are gaining traction in the near moribund housing market as a flurry of interest rate cuts, price drops and the building industry’s focus on affordable housing start to lure buyers back into the market. A cross section of banks, property developers and real estate consultancies confirmed that the rise in activity levels since the start of the year had picked up momentum in the last three months, with some in the sector saying that sales were up by as much as 25-30% since April, after witnessing a growth of 10-15% .

 One of the leading bankers in SBI have slashed home loan rates virtually on the eve of the budget. The guiding force is the performance of Residential sector in last 3 months. Projects have been launched afresh especially in affordable housing sector to take advantage of what is being widely acclaimed as bottoming out of the sector. Fresh interest and queries have been the natural fall out and lowering of rates the mantra or strategy for revival. The rates have been lowered to as much as 8% for the first year and a marginal rise for next two years before being determined by market driven foreces. This should surely bring a cheer to home buyers, reality investors and developers alike.

DLF and Unitech are about to make Mumbai their next target of Reality upgradation. In a concerted move these two high end developers are about to make renewed efforts to jump start some of there plans otherwise put on hold. Its going to be Dadar and Chembur for Unitech whereas Lower Parel is likely to benefit from the change of heart of DLF. In fact Unitech is already well into the pre sale processes of its projects and seems to have Central Mumbai where it enjoys significant land holding. Whereas NTC mills seem to be the focus area of DLF. Shape of better things to come on Mumbai horizon.

State Bank of India, has lowered its benchmark lending rate by half a percentage point to 11.75 per cent this is likely to benefit customers looking for homes and cars among others.

 It is evident that this round of interest rate slashin has been at the behest of FM himself. Mr Pranab Mukherjee  had recently in a meeting with heads of government-owned banks requested to cut lending rates to provide impetus to the economic growth. The decision by the leading bank is likely to be followed and bettered by others thereby in fact providing yet another stimulus to the economy.

Tatas have undertaken an audit to identify land surpluses amongst it subsidaries such as Tata Motors, Tata Tea, Tata Steel and TCS, among others. A subset of this would be locate approximately 1000 acre contigous land packets. In a major marketing strategy this could then be utlized the Realty way through development by Tata Housing or Tata Realty. The capital for the project may be raised by means of a public issue. It is understood that a major percentage of the land could be at prime locations spread across the length and breadth of the country. The project may get kick started by the end of the year.

After a hiatus of almost two long years, Reality market is looking up again. Buoyed by the success of innovative, cost effective home solutions in middle income groups, the developers are encouraged enough to raise the prices marginally. A minor increase may not be much in terms of valuations but definitely is an indicator that the worst is well and trully a relic of the past.

The Residency and Uniworld Garden-II in April and May, under the affordable home category, with unit areas of around 1,000 sq ft.  by Unitech, a major property developer, has already seen an upside of  Rs 50 a sq ft to Rs 3,000 a sq ft. Similarly BPTP another develepor of repute and standing may give a shot in the arm by raising the price of its 1500 sq ft township project. Though promoters may be wary that it is a marketing strategy but its tangible 'feel good' factor would generate momentum and stimulate the skyscraper industry to even higher heights.

In a 'go-green' measure Ministry of Commerce and Industry is mulling an innovative regulation for SEZs. The proposal is to make generation of Electricity through renewable sources of energy mandatory. This would offset the drain on non-renewable sources and serve to be a much needed environment conservation measure.

The mechanics would involve 1 Kilo Watt for every hectare of SEZ land. It would be pertinent to consider that there are as many as 300 notified SEZs in the country. Given the backdrop a 10,000 KW target proclaimed by Mr DK Mittal, additional secretary in the ministry of commerce and industry, would appear to be achievable.

During the seminar, organised by Export Promotion Council for EoUs and SEZs (EPCES), Mr Gupta the secretary addresed the major developers on the issue and also urged upon them to ensure that the buildings are constructed on energy saving and eco-friendly designs.More than 35 SEZ developers, including DLF Ltd, Unitech, Reliance Industries, Rehejas, Paharpur Business, Mahindra World Jaipur were in attendance.

Unitech is all set to do an encore over the last years public issue and hope to raise a sizeable amount of 8500 crore by issuing a billion shares according to a conservative assesment.

In addition, the company is also likely to tap the market for another Rs 1,150 crore through a preferential issue of convertible warrants to promoters at Rs 50 each. It is expected that each of the warrants would fetch one equity share for the investor.

Accoding to Mr Sanjay Chandra, MD Unitech, the bottoming out of the reality market is fuelling renewed investor interest and it is this segment that the company hopes to attract via this route.

     In order to give a much needed shot in the arm, the ministry for Home and Urban Development has approached the Finance Ministry for a stimulus in shape of enhanced limit on tax exemptions. It is reliably learnt that the exemptions on the interest payment of home loans are likely to be increased to 2.5 lakh rupees in place of the earlier limit of 1.5, in tangilble terms it would mean an additional tax saving of almost Rupees 31,000. The measure is bound to go well with the middle class aspirants in reality sector. The suggestion is likely to be implented in the forthcoming Budget.

The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday allotted 750 acres of land to the NTPC-BHEL joint venture for setting up a power project equipment marketing facility at Mannavaram village in Chittoor district while NTPC is the largest power utility, BHEL is the largest engineering and power equipment manufacturer in the country.
Both the public sector unit had partnered last year to form NTPC BHEL Power Projects (NBPPL). The land is provided to them at Rs. 100 per acre. The green field project would come up at an investment of Rs. 6,000 Crore.
This is the second largest investment by public sector unit after the Vishakapatnam Steel plant, said J Geetha Reddy, Public Relation Minister. An investment of this scale has come to the state after about two and a half decades. The joint venture selected Andra Pradesh after considering other state like West Bengal, Maharasthra and Rajasthan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to lay the foundation stone for the unit, according to Ms Reddy.
The facility will provide direct employment to 6,000 people and indirect employment to over 25,000 people. It will also provide for other required facilities like roads, power and water supply under the industrial Investment Promotion Policy for Mega projects.
The plant will manufacturer power equipment for coal based thermal, super critical and hydro based power station up to 1,000 mw capacity. Matching generator and boilers will also be manufactured at the Unit. It is scheduled to roll out the first batch of equipment by 2014. Traditional Andra is power starved state. While the demand is over 200 million units, supply is close to around 175 million units.

                                                                                   12 June, 2009..........The Economics Times

The iconic $ 31-billion Scandinavian home products giant, IKEA, has put on hold its plans to set up 25 showrooms across the country for an investment of around $ 1 billion. In an internal communication this week, IKEA told its stakeholders that Indian investment rules do not encourage it to go ahead with its investment plans — at least not in the near future. The country’s norms on foreign investments in retail stipulate that the foreign company can hold no more than a 51% stake and must have an Indian partner. As IKEA’s distinctive showrooms are like sprawling malls, with flat pack furniture, accessories, bathroom and kitchen items, they require high investment. And IKEA has so far been unable to find an Indian partner with not just deep pockets but readiness to invest a matching amount in a joint venture.

                                                                                          11 June, 2009..........Indianrealtynews.

Realty companies are resorting to discounts to sell commercial properties in order to improve cash flows and reduce mounting debts. DLF, the country’s biggest real estate firm by market capitalization, has recently sold its 66% stake in a special purpose vehicle that owns eight acres at Prabhadevi in Mumbai for Rs 310 crore, which analysts feel was at a discount. It is also eyeing to rise around Rs 2,000 crore by selling two commercial properties in the city. Unlisted firm K Raheja Universal recently sold a plot in Santa Cruz in north Mumbai for around Rs 60 crore.

                                                                                          9 June, 2009.......... Indianrealtynews.

Praising Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for having safer home loan norms, American economist Duglas J Young said India does not have much impact of economic slowdown because of RBI’s safer home loan norms. Economic slowdown’s impact in India is less and banks are survived only because of RBI’s norms in housing loan, Young said while addressing city’s businessmen and professionals at a seminar last night. Indian banks give housing loan 80 per cent which help them to survive dispite discreaing property rates.

                                                                                          8 June, 2009..........indianrealtynews.

After a bad year for the property market sales for affordable houses finally seem to be picking up in Delhi-NCR and right pricing and location seems to be doing the trick. Two housing projects in Delhi-NCR have been fully booked within days of launch. According to data available, 3300 flats in Jaypee Greens new project ‘Aman’ on Noida-Greater Noida expressway were booked on day 1. These flats were priced at Rs 2100 per square feet. Last year Jaypee had launched flats in the range of Rs 4500-6000 per square feet along the same expressway. Also, 1000 independent floors in BPTP’s project Park Elite in Faridabad were over subscribed. BPTP received 3700 bookings worth Rs 80 crore for the project. Analysts say that builders have finally come around to target middle class customers with more liquidity being made available and interest rates going down further.
Santosh Kumar, CEO of operations at JLLM, said, “Prices are realistic, which is basically the developer making a 25-40 per cent margin. Secondly the new government is focusing on infrastructure, so there’s also an indication that interest rates may go down again.” However, it’s not only end users who have started queuing up for affordable houses. Reports suggest atleast 30 per cent of these flats have been booked by investors and brokers. Anuj Sharma, a real estate analyst said, “Investors have made a lot of bookings and in future they will get a good premium out of it say 10-15 per cent.” Well, the apprehension that real estate prices have approached the bottom has finally seen demand picking up for affordable projects. But the big question is whether these projects will be completed on time.

                                                                                          4 June, 2009..........Indianrealtynews.

Riding on healthy double-digit volume growth, beverage and snacks food maker PepsiCo India on Monday said it has doubled its investment target in the beverages business to Rs. 1000 crore ($220 million) in current calendar year. This would be the biggest investment by the company in a single year in beverage.
At a press conference here, PepsiCo India chairmen & CEO Sanjeev Chadha said “The new investment will help beef up manufacturing capacity, market infrastructure, supply chain and R&D.”
Pepsi’s beverage arm has been clocking unit case volumes growth of 30%, with both carbonate and non-carbonate drinks position growth, he said.

HDIL (Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd.) and MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority)’s joint venture for rental housing A MEGA Infrastructure project in 525 acres.
Project Highlights:
Approx 90,000 units for sale by HDIL in Phase-4.
1^st Phase of 20,000 units (125 acres) for sale to launched by HDIL with in 60 days.
43,000 units of Rental Housing Scheme for MMRDA in phase-4.
Completion and Rehabilitation of the 1^st phase of 20,000 families within 6 months.

                                                                                       2 June, 2009.......... The Economic Times.

After a near 16 months hiatus, strategic investors are once again warming up to the real estate sector. A few foreign funds and local asset management companies have hit the road for raising money to be invested in real estate companies. In terestingly, even high net worth investors are flocking these funds, say industry watchers.
Mutual fund raising funds towards realty investments include ask Holdings, Milestone capital advisors, Birla sun life Asset Management Company and the Singapore based Morgan Stanley Investments. While ask Investment Holding has launched a Rs. 500-crore PMS fund (that will invest in to live realty project through an investment vehicle) Milestone Capital and Birla Sun Life AMC are planning to raise Rs. 600 crore and Rs. 2500 crore, respectively, for focused real estate investments. Almost all these funds are promising annualized returns in the range of 20-25%.

                                                                                     29 May, 2009.......... The Economics Times.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday promised a large dose of government spending on infrastructure and nudged banks to reduce interest rates to help Indian companies tide over the ripples of the global economic downturn.
“The government will have to focus on implementing and strengthening its infrastructure investments. These concerns will be addressed with a view to impart further momentum for an early return to the high growth path of recent years,”  Mukherjee said in his first formal news conference after taking charge.
The 73-year-old minister, who returned to the prized portfolio he held 25 years ago, said interest rates could come down in the near future, and reviving the growth momentum was a top priority for the new government.
“I will have a meeting with the bankers,” Mukherjee said.
“I expect that they will take advantage of the monetary policy, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced from time to time and I will have to see how the credit is made available quickly and to what extent it can be made cheap.”
The minister said the government intends to push for reforms in the financial sector and the “real economy” – a reference to physical goods and services. Financial reform options include allowing higher foreign investment in insurance companies.
“We have a broad plan of action in mind.  I will get additional inputs when I have my pre-budget consultations with different stakeholders. All this will be distilled into a concrete short-term and medium-term vision and strategy for India’s economic growth,” Mukherjee said.
He said the opportunity presented by the current economic circumstances needs to be seized to push long-pending reform measures. “These include measures in the area of financial sector and real economy to make the economy more competitive, regulatory and oversight system more efficient, quick and responsive to global developments,” he said.

                                                                                          28 May, 2009.......... hindustantimes

State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman O P Bhatt’s strategy of regaining market share has led to the bank decisively becoming the largest retail lender, overtaking ICICI Bank, which in the private sector had created a culture of mass retail banking over the past decade and held sway. ICICI Bank, the country’s second largest lender by assets, has now paused expansion of its loan book, particularly on the retail side, as it corrects its funding sources, leading to its retail loans being staggered over the last two years. ICICI Bank’s retail loans outstanding shrank to Rs 1,06,200 crore at the end of March 2009 from Rs 1,27,689 crore at the end of March 2007. SBI, the country’s largest lender, adopted an aggressive lending strategy while the rest of the industry froze on its tracks. It saw its retail loan portfolio grow past its immediate rival’s to Rs 1,06,950 crore.
A senior SBI official, who did not want to be identified, said “the lead now is marginal but we will continue to march ahead. We will continue to be an aggressive lender to individuals, particularly with the extension of our 8 per cent home loan scheme till September 2009.” SBI’s home loan portfolio at the end of March 2009 was Rs 54,063 crore. According to Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Bank, the bank would sustain a policy of capital conservation and raising of deposits while being moderate on loans. SBI has seen a significant increase in its deposits as depositors found safety in the largest bank, while taking in a shift of home loan borrowers away from costlier lenders as it dropped interest rates.

                                                                                          26 May, 2009.......... indianrealtynews.

Opening India’s retail sector to giant European corporations would threaten the livelihoods of 40 million Indians. The article ‘EU and India prepare for post-election free-trade talks’ (11 May, EuropeanVoice.com), appears to favor the opening up of sensitive sectors, including retail, to foreign direct investment. This bias even led to predicting the election results well before the last vote had been cast and announcing the pro-liberalization agenda of the next government. India is a land of retail democracy. Its streets are markets – lively, vibrant, safe and the source of livelihood for millions. In a country with a large number of people and high levels of poverty, the existing model of retail democracy is the most appropriate in terms of economic viability and ecological sustainability.

                                                                                          20 May, 2009.......... Indianrealtynews.

SUN Apollo Ventures, a joint venture company between the Delhi-based Khemka family and the US-based AREA Property Partners (formerly Apollo group), has picked up a 15 per cent stake in Mumbai-based developer Keystone Realtors for Rs 300 crore, making it the first private equity deal in the cash-strapped real estate space in 2009. The deal values Keystone at around Rs 2,000 crore. SUN-Apollo India Real Estate Fund, the $630-million offshore fund of Sun Apollo, will invest in existing foreign direct investment.

                                                                                          9 May, 2009.......... indianrealtynews.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) is planning to set up an aerospace park in Hyderabad, which would be spread over 250 acres, even though the aviation sector is going through turbulent times. The park, to be completed in 5-6 years, is coming up in the vicinity of the GHIAL’s new airport in Shamsabad, Hyderabad, where the company already has more than 5,400 acres and is expected to employ 8,000-10,000 people. “The park would be set up in the next 5-6 years. It will be spread over 250 acres,” a senior official of the company told PTI. He, however, declined to share the investment plans of the project. The land for the project has been designated as Special Economic Zone and will enjoy tax and other financial incentives.


                                                                                          7 May, 2009.......... Indianrealtynews.

Banks may be claiming that they are pruning their real estate exposure but data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) paints a completely different picture. According to RBI data, loans to the real estate sector grew 61 per cent on a year-on-year basis, with Rs 90,765 crore outstanding as on February 27, 2009. During the corresponding period in the previous year, the growth was 26.7 per cent. During the year up to February 2009, the growth for public sector banks was a 79.1 per cent. Credit deployment by foreign banks to real estate companies registered a 41 per cent growth for the 12 months up to February 27, 2009, compared with a 36 per cent decline last year.

                                                                                          7 May, 2009.......... Indianrealtynews.

Real estate major Unitech is likely to pull out of its proposed Rs 211 crore residential cum commercial complex which was to be developed over an area of 11 acres in one of the prime locations of the city. Sources familiar with the development said, “Unitech had sought an extension of about two years from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) for its proposed residential cum commercial complex in the city as its cash position was not comfortable. However, BDA turned down Unitech’s proposal as a result of which the real estate player was mulling to pull out of the project.”
It may be noted that DLF, India’s biggest real estate developer was also contemplating a pull-out of its proposed Rs 1,000 crore Info park project. Asked on the status of Unitech’s project, a senior BDA official said, the BDA is yet to take any decision on Unitech’s proposal for extension and a decision is expected to be taken after the elections. “Unitech which had paid Rs 52.7 crore in March 2008 for the plot had sought a period of three months for paying the balance amount as a lump sum. However, the company had defaulted in paying the requisite amount as its cash position was not favorable”, added sources.

                                                                                          29 April, 2009.......... indianreatynews.

The real estate sector has been bogged down by sliding prices and the tight liquidity situation. However, experts at a real estate summit in Mumbai believe that a revival will happen in the next six months. “There has been an increase in the velocity in sales, month on month,” said Kumar Gera of Gera Developers, also the president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), a realty body. “In terms of prices, I think we are very close to bottoming out,” Gera added. Pradeep Jain of Parsvnath Developers said the liquidity situation for the real estate industry had improved but mainly due to new sales and internal accruals. “Financial institutions are still not lending,” he said. Jain said he hoped the real estate sector will bounce back in six to 12 months as there were enough signs for that to happen.

                                                                                          29 April, 2009.......... indianrealtynews.

22 Apr 2009, 0038 hrs IST, Prabhakar Sinha, TNN

Your EMIs are set to drop further — as is the interest you receive from bank deposits —after the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday cut key rates by 25 basis points, sending out a strong signal to banks to follow suit. ( Watch )

After announcing a cut in repo rate — the rate at which RBI lends short term funds to banks, and reverse repo rate — the rate at which banks can park surplus funds with RBI —by 25 basis points each (1 percentage point is equal to 100 basis points), RBI governor D Subbarao on Tuesday clearly said, "Indeed, the further policy rate cuts effected as part of this policy should be a definitive signal for reducing lending rates."

He added that given the low rate of inflation, there was a need to reduce interest rates. According to the RBI's calculation, the prime lending rates of banks should be cut by at least two percentage points to 10% from the current level of 12% (for public sector banks), he said.

India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, immediately responded by cutting its floating reference rate and benchmark prime lending rate by 50 basis points each to 13.25% and 16.25% respectively. Interest rates on all floating rate home loans of existing borrowers will also come down by the same amount.

The Economic Times /5 Apr 2009, 1016 hrs IST

More and more Indians want to have homes in religious centres . Whether it is the peace of Vrindavan, the serenity of Haridwar or tranquility of Shirdi - devotees want to be very close to their place of worship.

But while developers seem gung-ho about buyer activity in these places, experts are of the view that religious hubs have been impacted by the slowdown. So is it really as good a time to buy in these destinations?

According to global real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), investments in religious locations have now taken a back seat because of an intense cash-conservation outlook. They however do mention some exceptions, such as a recent project in Brindavan near Dwarka, which saw a rather healthy response by buyers from the Iskcon movement.

Real Estate Firm Indiabulls Real Estate (IBREL) has sold 15,730 sq ft of area in its upcoming commercial complex at Lower Parle in central Mumbai for Rs 19,000 per sq ft to the British Council (BCI). The property firm has also signed leasing agreements with leading corporate houses such as Reliance Capital, Aditya Birla Group, IDFC and Indusind Bank for rents ranging between Rs 175 and Rs 225 per sq ft. “We have done an outright sale deal with British Council recently at Indiabulls Centre at Lower Parel for around Rs 30 crore. We feel that we received a decent valuation, given the current tight situation in the real estate market,“ Indiabulls Group spokesperson Gagan Banga told ET. He also confirmed signing of the lease rental agreements with a few corporate houses.
IBREL holds a 45% stake in Indiabulls Property Investment Trust (IPIT), a Singapore-listed entity, which owns two prime properties at Lower Parel — Indiabulls Centre and Elphistone Mills. Industry sources said IBFEL command high prices, vis-à-vis its peers in central Mumbai. “After Bandra-Kurla Complex, Lower Parel has emerged as the next commercial hub as rentals are hovering much lower than Nariman point, the main business district of the city,” a senior official of property consultant Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) said. According to a report on India office market by international property consultants CB Richard Ellis, tower I of the Indiabulls Centre (450,000 sq ft) is the only newly-constructed building, which is operational and ready for occupation in the Lower Parel area.

                                                                                  21 April, 2009.......... indianrealtynews.com

Business Standard/ Mumbai April 19, 2009, 11:02 IST

Unitech, promoted by Chandras, has entered into mid-income projects, sold its hotel asset, rolled over the debt apart from improving efficiencies to tackle the liquidity issues.

Mumbai-based Litolier Group, which opened a boutique hotel ‘RamadaPlaza’ here Friday, said it would enhance its presence in the hospitality sector by building two more five-star properties in next few years. The group will develop two hotels in Mumbai and Goa under a joint venture with a foreign hospitality major. “The Mumbai hotel will be on the Andheri-Kurla road near the airport,” Litolier Group director Ashok Mittal told reporters.
“We are in talks with several foreign five-star chains, but nothing is finalized yet. The land for the Goa property has already been acquired,” he added. The group plans to build both properties under an equal-partnership agreement. The 419-room Ramada plaza, built at a cost of over Rs.100 crore, stands where the erstwhile Ashok Yatri Niwas stood-once owned by India Tourism Development Corp (ITDC). The property was divested by the government in May 2002 and purchased by promoters of Litolier group for Rs.45 crore. The Ramada brand belongs to Wyndham Hotels, one of the world’s largest lodging franchiser.

                                                                                       20 April, 2009.........indianrealtynews.com

Property Prices are down but haven’t really crashed. Not yet and not at least in metros such as Delhi and Mumbai. But new properties on a city’s periphery are going relatively cheap — often by as much as 25-30% than the asking rate three months ago. Developers are throwing in sops other than lower prices to get buyers interested. Some are even offering the undertaking of another rebate if prices fall further. They say the fish is finally beginning to take the bait - buyers have started coming in the past couple of weeks.
So, can prices fall any further? Perhaps, by another 5-10%, but there’s no crash coming. At least, that’s what real estate consultants say. Anshuman Magazine, managing director of CB Richard Ellis, South Asia, says, ‘‘Actually, the property market could be bottoming out, particularly for new apartment projects”. But how are developers able to cut prices? Partly by cutting the fat profit margins that the real estate industry had got accustomed in the last four years and partly by sleight of hand. Market trends in the last couple of weeks suggest there is demand if developers sell their apartments for 25%-30% less than the going rate in the area.

                                                                                    20 April, 2009...........indianrealtynews.com.

The real estate sector is finally showing signs of revival, on the back of an increasing investment in the residential segment. Property developers are of the view that there has been a significant improvement in demand in the last couple of months, and at lease one has increased prices in the last one month. Pradeep Chopra of PS Group said he had increased prices for one of its projects by Rs 200 per square feet to Rs 1,899 per square feet in the last one month. Several real estate developers are also planning to launch new projects, which they have been holding for the last six months, which could be seen as a manifestation of demand revival.


                                                                      16 April, 2009..........indianrealtynews.com

India's largest lender State Bank of India(SBI) has said it will not extend loans to any new realty project even though it counts many property developers among its clients. “It is a no to new real estate projects,” Chairman O.P. Bhatt said. “We have our existing customers and if they need additional help or restructuring, we will help.” “Having said that, we are not saying that we will not lend to real estate sector. The fact also is that not many proposals are coming these days,” he added. Bhatt said SBI expects earnings to grow at 25% in the fiscal year to March 2010 and plans to maintain its net interest margins in the range of 3%.

SBI said it requires Rs 60,000-70,000 crore in the next five years to fund growth and plans to raise Rs20,000 crore by the end of the year. It is targeting an aggressive 25% loan growth in the current fiscal year because its non-performing assets have declined in 2008-09 compared with the preceding financial year, Bhat said.


                                                                            16 April, 2009.........indianrealtynews.com

DLF Ltd has claimed that it sold more than 85 per cent of its West Delhi housing project in less than 24 hours of its launch. The project received a robust welcome by buyers as it was priced at least 24 per cent lower than the prevailing market price. Around 1,200 of the 1,400 units on offer at its Shivaji Marg (better known as Najafgarh Road) project were booked on the first day, say company officials. DLF had announced an inaugural price of Rs 5,000-6,000 per sq ft, with an additional discount of Rs 500 per sq ft for timely payment of future installments. The project will be a ground plus 18-floor structure with each apartment between 1,200 and 1,525 sq ft, with the final price in Rs 60-91.5 lakh range.


                                                                         09 April, 2009...........business-standard.com

At DLF New Town Heights project in Gurgaon, 600 buyers got together in an online group and in a recent poll 70% of them want DLF to refund payments, of up to Rs31 lakh in some cases. The firm has not begun construction on the project yet and as real estate prices dropped in the past six months, it has left people dissatisfied with the value proposition. Launched in March last year, the project is based in sectors 90, 91 and 86 of Gurgaon, with apartments selling in the Rs 45-75 lakh range. The project has around 3,000 apartments, of which around 85% have been sold, as per the company claims. DLF has already announced a price cut of 20% for apartments in the New Town Heights project for both existing as well as new customers. However, the catch is that the price cuts are subject to certain complicated terms and conditions that forbid the customers to exit at a future date.


                                                                           07 April, 2009..............Livemint.com

The tussle to woo and retain customers in the home loan market continues. After SBI and HDFC, now, ICICI Bank has come out with a scheme for its existing home loan customers. The bank is offering attractive home loan swaps under which if a customer has already taken a home loan from the bank at a higher rate of interest, he could now book himself at 9.75 per cent floating interest rate by paying 0.5 per cent as switching fee on the existing loan. The offer is limited till April 30, 2009. Earlier, State Bank of India (SBI) offered new home loans at 8 per cent interest (for the first year), while HDFC raised it’s switching fees to 3 per cent to prevent the exit of its customers.

                                                                       07 April, 2009................moneycontrol.com

The Lodha Group’s first ‘By Invitation Only’ project, Lodha Bellissimo has been featured among the 1000 top landscape in the world in the latest addition of 1000* Landscape Architecture published by Braun Publications Germany.

Nine year after the idea of making the busy Mukerba Chowk Intersection single-free was conceived, the Rs. 195 crore grade separators was recently inaugurated to ensure a smooth vehicular movement both for Delhi bound and outbound traffic, commuters as well as cargo. Amit Bhatt, Town Planner, points out that the Chowk is the gateway to Delhi and the first major intersection in the capital. It was planned with the aim of providing impetus to Rohini area as well as upcoming township such as Kundli. The idea to encourage residential movement to Kundli and commercial traffic to Delhi.

                                                                                          14 March, 2009.......... HT Property.

With a KMP expressway to be operational by 2010, the demand of where housing space would increase, especially in the Kundli area. Most of the warehouse supply is therefore, likely to come up with in close range of the KMP Expressway. Keeping this is mind TDI is planning to get into logistic and warehousing in a big way. The company claims it will establish a 200 acre logistics park at a cost of Rs. 350 crore.


                                                                                          14 March, 2009.......... HT Property.

The biggest infrastructure project in the area is the 135-km long Kundli-Maneshar-Palwal Expressway, the largest highway project in the country to be implemented on a Build-Operate-transfer (BOT) basis. Expected to be completed before the commonwealth Games 2010, it will transform Kundli in to a major logistic and warehousing of north India.

An important node coming up in the city will be the EducationCity. About 2007 acres of the 5000 acre project have already been acquired and 3000 acres are being called for acquisition to the government. There are a total of 40 plots, with areas ranging from 2.5 acres to 180 acres. Applications for only ten plots have been floated so far and 45 applications have been received. These are from IIM,   IIT and even Cambridge, claims a senior RGEC official.

GlobalEcoCity: It is a project that aims to usher in a new age in infrastructure development and a completely modern experience to its customers, according to the developers, Falcon Realty. The full layout of the township is along a well defined master plan for community development, with a slew of amenities ranging from the retail space to community grounds and extensive infrastructure for health services, knowledge parks, hotels, cultural parks, among other.

                                                                                          14 March, 2009.......... Times Property.

Real estate firm Unitech in talks with oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) to sell its officeBuilding in Saket, New Delhi, a top company executive said. If the deal materializes, it could fetch Unitech around Rs. 500 crore. The company is also simultaneously in talks with 7-8 wealthy individuals to sell floors in that office, in the event of a deal with OBC working out.

                                                                                       2 March, 2009.......... The Economic Times.

This is a good time to make property a part of your investment portfolio, says KAVITA SRIRAM.

You can raise funds by mortgaging your property.

Along with SBI, HDFC Bank has also reduced interest rates on personal loans and commercial vehicles from Monday. Car and commercial vehicle loans will become cheaper by 125 basis points and two-wheeler by 150 basis points. At present, the Bank charges 13.5-14% for car loans and 24-24.5% for two-wheelers loans. Personal loans will also become cheaper by 75-100 basis points from the existing 17-17.5%.

The realty sector is still going strong in Indirapuram. While the slump has also hit here, this bustling place has managed to with stand its onslaught says VIVEK SHUKLA.

                                                                                       21 February, 2009.......... Times property.

“SBI drops home loan rate to 8 %. Rate war expected,” screamed a Sunday morning headline. The detailed interview also mentioned that unlike the 9.25 % package announced in December 2008, home loans at the rate would be available to existing home loan customers of order banks shifting their loans to SBI.
 

The company’s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, will have a new MD & CEO in the corner office by May. Chanda Kochhar step into a rather formidable pair of shoes left behind by her predecessor K V Kamnath. But, she has been with the bank for over 25 years now and was part of the hand picked team that was instrumental in reformatting the bank’s genetic structure and imbuing it with a strong sense of competitive spirit. In an exclusive chat with TOI, Chanda Kochhar spoke about some of the challenges ahead and even provided a prescription for riding out the economic showdown.

No demolition of Faridabad Houses, Commercial Units in Green Zone for time being.

Realty market has shown a decent growth these past few years in Panipat with the number of residential and commercial project on an upward curve.

For middle class family, the decision to purchase a house involves spending one’s entire life savings. One, therefore, needs to be little more diligent and cautious while going in for a property ownership.
These properties can also prove be useful in times of need as these can be commercial exploited while securing an education loan for son/ daughter or as reverse mortgage for the elderly. But how does one start? The diligence should start the moment one zeroes on a property and before one enters into a written agreement to purchase the same.
Chain of title paper
 The prospective buyer is expected to ask for copies of the chain of title papers from the seller. By the chain of title papers, I mean documents of ownership of particular property from the date of its origin. There should not be any break in the same. Further, the documents/ instruments which form part of the chain should have been executed as per the procedure laid down by law. I have seen persons boasting of ownership on the basis of an unregistered general power of attorney or on the basis of an agreement to sell. The excitement of ownership should not bypass such flaws in the documents. Let me remind you that this irregularity cannot normally be rectified at a later stage and such occurrences predict a downward escalation in the value of such landed property.
 These documents also comment upon the entitlement and right of the seller to enter into any agreement related to his property. The buyer should always insist on verifying the originals of the title papers to avoid any prior equitable mortgages in favor in any financial institution. I would suggest carrying out a search exercise at the concerned offices of Registrar of Assurance to check any prior encumbrance. The buyer should make an effort verify dues, if any, at the revenue authorities. Sometimes, while you are checking out property, try and interact with people living nearby. See if they can reveal something that could be detrimental to the interest of the buyer. Moreover, the buyer while purchasing a flat/ apartment from a builder needs to be more vigilant. He/ she needs to verify whether the construction complies with the requirements laid down by the sanctioning authority. I have also often seen that the numbers of flats constructed are more than the number of the flats sanctioned.
Land Use
The other issue that needs to be checked is land use. In the normal course of business, builders instead of investing in the purchase of land, enter into an agreement with the land owners for its construction and development. Before buying any such flat, the buyer should study the development agreement and identify the rights of the builder to sell the flats. Lately, we have seen demolitions of such buildings and apartment complexes. Instead of lamenting one’s fate later and cursing the developer, one should be wise to do all the relevant first.

                                                                                    7th February, 2009.......Hindustan Times

The pre requisite for purchasing property in India in a safe and secure manner is to be completely aware of the foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). In order to receive firsthand information on this, The Reserve Bank of India notification under FEMA should be examined as it prescribes certain guidelines permitting NRIs to enter into property transaction.