Analysis, Insights, News & More...
A ‘wild child’ in corporate governance norms, the realty sector’s performance, of late, has not been quite up to the mark. What has triggered the correction is a surge in borrowing costs and higher prices. The alleged involvement of some of the companies in a wave of scams has only fed to the negative sentiment. [...]
Posted under News
Zamanzar.com, among the top 10 Indian real estate portals according to Alexa traffic rank, just reached 400,000 active property listings online just before turning 3 years old on November 8th, 2010. The portal is seeing tremendous year on year growth in all real estate sectors - residential, commercial, sale, and rental. Monthly online visitors and [...]
Posted under Indian Real Estate, Zamanzar
Unitech Ltd, the second-largest real estate developer in the country, is looking to de-merge its non-core businesses in order to focus only on real estate, a source familiar with the development said. The company’s non-realty businesses include construction, special economic zones (SEZs), power, telecom and hotels. The company plans to unlock value through private equity [...]
Posted under News
Indian Real Estate companies together have an exposure of $2 billion to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a big chunk of it in Dubai. Almost half the exposure is of real estate developers based in Mumbai.
The Mumbai companies’ total investments in the UAE are between $500 million and $1 billion; those from Bangalore and [...]
Posted under News
Bangalore / New Delhi: Four years ago, when developer Niranjan Hiranandani and his son Darshan announced the 23 Marina skyscraper project in Dubai, the emirate was the place to be in.
The city had turned into a construction site, its skyline was dotted with yellow cranes, and Indian developers and investors were lining up for a [...]
Posted under News
Mumbai: The much-heralded revival in home-building could come to nothing as property developers may have raised prices too much too soon, data from realty research company Liases Foras shows.
The country’s largest mortgage lender has a word of caution for real estate companies looking to cash in on the increase in demand.
“Developers have to be careful [...]
Posted under News
The Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has proposed further relaxation of the foreign direct investment (FDI) norms for the real estate sector.
The department has proposed the removal of the lock-in of three years on original investment made into integrated township development and other construction development projects.
Currently, [...]
Posted under News
Property prices are unlikely to rise sharply during the festive season as buyers have become very price sensitive and are not ready to pay premium on flats. Talking to Hindustan Times, Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) said, “Developers have realised that they can no longer increase the prices at [...]
Posted under News
The demand fundamentals of India are now focused around cities that have sufficient economic activity, be it industrial, service sector-driven or incentive-driven programs by the State Government. In Gujarat, which has seen considerable industrial progress, cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara come readily to mind.
Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and Pantnagar and Rudrapur in Uttaranchal attracted [...]
Posted under News
Real estate in India has always been the playing field for entrepreneurs. This industry has witnessed unprecedented highs and frightening lows over the years. One is often left dyspnoeic with the continuous shifts in this sector. Due to rise in demand in the IT/ITeS sector and significant increase in FDI, the commercial and retail real [...]
Posted under News
It’s a classic case of infrastructural development boosting real estate prices. The Bandra-Worli Sea Link seems to be doing more than just easing the traffic flow from north and south Mumbai. Experts in the country’s financial capital say that there could be an increase of 10-15 per cent in property rates in surrounding areas. “The [...]
Posted under News
The Supreme Court today came down heavily on economically affluent people, bureaucrary and civic body officials for mushrooming illegal real estate construction in the country and ruled file notings by ministers or officials do not have any legal validity. “Economically affluent people and those having support of the political and executive apparatus of the state [...]
Posted under News
Realty major Puravankara Projects is in talks for an alliance with Homex, a Mexican company that specialises in affordable housing. The idea is to give a boost to its affordable housing subsidiary Provident Housing. Ashish Puravankara, director, Puravankara Projects, said, “We are holding discussions with Homex as they have build a large number of affordable [...]
Posted under News
When the going was good in the real estate sector a few years back, retail was seen as a lucrative avenue to park one’s funds. But given that the current scenario creates scepticism on the return on investment, is retail still seen as a profitable option?
Take the case of businessman Manoj Shah who had invested [...]
Posted under News
DLF, India’s largest real estate developer, has emerged as the sole bidder for the 350.71-acre land parcel in Gurgaon put up for auction by HSIIDC. With a reserve price of Rs 1,700 crore, it’s said to be one of the largest land deals in India in terms of value.
Mega land deals, however, are not new [...]
Posted under News
Govt has offered 1% subsidy on loans up to Rs 10 lakh & doled out tax sops for developers. But this will mainly boost affordable housing projects in Tier II & III cities. Metros will be missing from the list.
At a time when low cost is the clearly the buzzword in the real estate sector, [...]
Posted under News
New Delhi Bogged down by the economic slowdown, the real estate sector is going all out to woo would-be buyers. Builders and realtors from across the country, thus, went all out to promote their upcoming projects at the three-day Property Expo, which concluded at Pragati Maidan on Monday.
In an attempt to get some of their [...]
Posted under News
Is it a good time to buy or sell in the real estate market right now? Chances are that as a prospective buyer or a property owner, you may be facing a serious dilemma. Industry players feel that while it may be a good decision to buy in certain locations, a sell off needs to [...]
Posted under News
The Government has announced that it is considering a model legislation on regulating real estate in Delhi.
In reply to a written question in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for urban development Saugata Roy said that the Delhi Real Estate Management (Regulation and Control) Bill can also serve as a reference for other states.
The minister, [...]
Posted under News
SALES slowdown, stagnating capital values and a need to manage resources better are pushing Indian realty firms to invest in technology that will help them achieve optimum productivity, information access and regulatory compliance.End-to-end enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, that manage diverse projects across different locations, are slowly finding favour. ERP vendors are seeing increased enquiries [...]
Posted under News
The Central government said on Thursday it is considering a model legislation on regulating real estate in Delhi.In reply to a written question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy said “the Delhi Real Estate Management (Regulation and Control) Bill” could serve as reference for other states.
The minister, however, ruled [...]
Posted under News
The real estate sector leaders believe that no additional burden of taxes and duties in the Union Budget is good news for them as input costs will remain the same. “No negative news for the sector which is seeing signs of revival now is by itself good news. We are happy with the structural directions [...]
Posted under News
New Delhi, July 1 Real estate players on Wednesday hailed the Government’s decision to open the external commercial borrowing (ECB) window for special economic zone (SEZ) developers, although some players felt that the move may not offer immediate gains given the global economic downturn.
Reacting to the latest changes in ECB policy, real estate major Unitech [...]
Posted under News
Having been hit the hardest by the economic downturn, embattled realty majors are betting big on the forthcoming Budget, to be presented on July 6, in a bid to revive the sector’s fortunes. Experts say the sector needs government support as well as further stimulus to get out of the current slump.
While the government with [...]
Posted under News
MUMBAI: Mumbai seems to be the next destination for India’s biggest realty companies, Unitech and DLF, to try and restart some of their projects Realty which were put on the backburner. Both these companies have been in the midst of overcoming some serious liquidity problems that they were confronted with.
Unitech, which recently raised $325 million [...]
Posted under News
Hot on the heels of hastening the planning permission mechanism for small buildings, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has initiated steps to put the approval process for multistoreyed buildings (MSB) also on fast track in the Chennai metropolitan area. Only recently, the regulatory agency had done away with the necessity to obtain seven out of [...]
Posted under News
Spurred by price corrections, new launches, lowering of interest rates, increase in sales inquiries and, more importantly, the new found mantra of ‘affordable housing’, the real estate industry has started showing signs of recovery. Industry body Assocham has gone to the extent of saying that the real estate recovery is possible in the coming three [...]
Posted under News
In order to revive the demand in the real estate sector, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy today favoured cheaper loans for buying houses. “Real estate is facing a slowdown. So, we should make an arrangement for giving loans at 6.5 per cent for houses in the below Rs 5-lakh category to the poor,” he said [...]
Posted under News
Although, Indian economy as a whole has largely been insulated against the global economic slowdown, the Indian real estate sector has been severely been affected keeping in sync with the fortunes of the global real estate sector. Demand dynamics of one large industry decide the fortune of its ancillary industries. The ups and downs of [...]
Posted under News
The 12th India Realty Expo 2009 held in Dubai saw 106 flats worth Rs 65.33 crore being booked, a senior real estate industry official said. “106 flats worth Rs 65.33 crore were booked (during the expo),” Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), CEO, Zubin Mehta, said in a press release issued here. “Around 86 flats [...]
Posted under News
After the President of India, Dr Pratibha Patil, mentioned affordable housing in her joint Parliamentary address a week ago, real estate sector has high expectations that this segment will get a leg-up in the Budget. Housing Min may get Rs 5000-10000 cr in Budget. Kumar Gera of Gera Developers and President of realty body Confederation [...]
Posted under News
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 capitalisation, 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 [...]
Posted under News
MUMBAI — Homes sales in India are trickling back in some sections of the market, but industry watchers say a rebound is months away as buyers in the world’s second-most populous country await further price corrections.
Builders have begun new projects after a year-long hiatus, and are also swapping older premium project proposals for cheaper ones [...]
Posted under News
After being launched in cities like New Delhi, Bangalore and Pune, service apartments will soon be a reality in Tier II and III cities. Considering the growing number of corporate honchos visiting the tri-city, Ludhiana and Amritsar, real estate developers will soon introduce service apartments in these cities. Another reason that has evoked developers’ interest [...]
Posted under News
With rentals dropping sharply, large retailers such as Aditya Birla Retail, Reliance Retail and Shoppers Stop, and food chains such as McDonald’s are looking at metros and mini-metros for expansion. Aditya Birla Retail and Reliance Retail had started their operations two years ago in Pune and Hyderabad, respectively, as realty costs were too high in [...]
Posted under News
Anticipating strong policy measures for real estate in forthcoming Budget, embattled realty majors see positive signs of recovery taking place, within next Three months as affordable housing rev up demand and improved cash flows address their liquidity concerns, according to The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The ASSOCHAM Business Barometer (ABB) Survey [...]
Posted under News
“Land monopoly is not only monopoly, but it is by far the greatest of monopolies; it is a perpetual monopoly, and it is the mother of all other
forms of monopoly.”
Said former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and that’s the sense of power felt by those who hold land. The thinking of Indian developers is no [...]
Posted under News
Mumbai: Keen on matching supply with demand, real estate developers may spring up more than a hundred malls spread over 30 million sq ft in the country by end-2010, a report says.
“Between now and 2010, an additional 31,846,504-square feet of mall space will be created across India through just over 100 new shopping centres,” findings [...]
Posted under News
The private sector real estate players must reset their priorities so as to provide low-cost housing to the middle class and the poor. S Jaipal Reddey made the pint clear while taking charge of the urban ministry for the second consecutive term here on Friday.
“The private sector, which is a major player in the housing [...]
Posted under News
TRIL has hired Sanjay G. Ubale, a former IAS officer to head its real estate and infrastructure foray. Tata Realty & Infrastructure Limited (TRIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, has unleashed it mega investment plans for the sector. The company, part of a $62.5 billion Tata group, has said that it plans to develop [...]
Posted under News
New Delhi: India’s realtors believe the sector will see signs of recovery in the next three months, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). A survey report by the industry lobby said 88 percent of chief executives of real estate firms see a quick revival within the next three months [...]
Posted under News
New Delhi: Real estate developer TDI Infrastructure Ltd has announced the launch of Tuscan City in Kundli. Designed around the theme of Italy, this is an affordable housing project, which claims to bring to India for the first time the look and feel of Italian lifestyle, known for its panache, design and architecture.
Says Kamal Taneja, [...]
Posted under News
The election of a stable government at the Centre could bring a bottom to the real estate market and may help in turning it around, as improved economic sentiment and rallying stock markets bring back confidence into the battered sector, industry experts say. The real estate sector has seen a steep fall in prices in [...]
Posted under News
Home loans are not all about low interest rates. The most important factor of a home loan is serviceability of the equated monthly instalment (EMI). Lenders too realise this. For the convenience of the customers, many banks have come up with products that can suit individuals needs. State Bank of India (SBI) markets this products [...]
Posted under News
Real estate rates have fallen drastically in the past year. Prices in central Mumbai’s Worli and Lower Parel are down to Rs 12,000-18,000 per square foot as compared to Rs 35,000 per square foot a year ago. In Bandra, rates have fallen 20% to about Rs 15,000-25,000 per square foot.
Pujit Aggarwal, Managaing Director, Orbit Corporation, [...]
Posted under News
Investment begins at home. Though the real estate sector has seen a deep correction, a house is probably one of the best investment avenues one can seek today. Despite the global economic slump, which has hit the property prices too, real estate still remains a prized possession.
If falling interest rates and cooling off property prices [...]
Posted under News
So said the famous playwright Mark Twain, and it holds true till date. Land values are known to appreciate more than 40-50 times, though, over a long period.
However, investors get bogged down by the procedure and legal formalities involved in the buying a plot of land. ET Intelligence Group takes you through some of the [...]
Posted under News
Despite the cut in interest rates, we do not see much pick-up in real estate demand. Everybody said that interest rates were high and hence there was no demand. But the demand did not pick up despite a cut in home loan rates. Prices should be brought down to a level where people come back [...]
Posted under News
Will real estate prices fall further? Do builders have the financial muscle to complete ongoing projects? Should I hold my stocks in real estate companies or sell? These are the questions on everybody’s minds. And answers are unfortunately hard to come by. As a buyer, one would want to save the last penny. But [...]
Posted under News
Notwithstanding the slowdown, city-based developer Ambuja Realty plans to unveil three new real estate projects in West Bengal this year, a top company official says. The projects comprise a 150-room hotel, a mall and an IT park at Rajarhat on the northeastern fringes of the city. “We will invest Rs.250 crore (Rs.2.5 billion) for building [...]
Posted under News
DLF plans to invest around INR 3,500 crore in various residential and commercial projects in and around Chennai and in Hyderabad. The projects will be developed through a SPV, which will have equity capital from DLF, JV partners. The balance fund requirement would be met through internal accruals. DLF Commercial Developers have proposed to set [...]
Posted under News
New Delhi: Property brokers are taking advantage of the slowdown in the residential real estate market by increasing the commission they charge from developers. As house and apartment sales sag, brokers, who typically charged 2-5% of the value of the property as commission, are demanding as much as 8-9%.
“The slump in sales is so dramatic [...]
Posted under News
“The worst is over” for the Indian real estate market, a leading developer has claimed, pointing to lower interest rates.
Sanjay Rastogi, director of Saviour Builders, said real estate schemes were now becoming more attractive investments after government measures.
Saviour is behind the planned GreenIsle housing project, Ghaziabad, which the developer has dubbed as an eco-friendly scheme.
Mr. [...]
Posted under News
R K Mittal, CMD, CHD Developers believes that the overall scenario in the real estate sector is moving towards favourable times and demands will soon start to pick up. CHD Developers, a public limited company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) since 1995, is developing several projects across the country.
Excerpts from a conversation with [...]
Posted under News
MUMBAI: It’s not the best of times for real estate funds. Given the slowdown in the sector, realty funds are going slow on raising money from their investors - a process that is referred to as the draw down option. Lack of investment opportunity is cited as the prime reason.
Typically, a real estate fund works [...]
Posted under News
CHENNAI: With the economic slowdown, the real estate market will undergo a sea change and both residential and commercial markets will get corrected. This will lead to stabilized market for real estate across the country.
As far as residential space is concerned, the market for affordable housing has been on the increase. In the last few [...]
Posted under News
New Delhi: The slump in the Indian real-estate industry has forced one of the country’s largest real-estate developers to introduce a scheme that would have sounded incredible yesterday.
The company, which is listed in India, told The Indian Express it would pioneer a ‘price protection’ scheme soon for customers buying homes in the Rs 20 lakh-to-Rs [...]
Posted under News
Is this a good time to buy property in India? A lot of people would be interested in knowing the answer after watching realty prices in India grow like there is no tomorrow for last 2-3 years. Some of them must have missed the bus, and would love to buy low now and be part [...]
Posted under Buying Property, Indian Real Estate, Indian economy
The recent crisis in the banking system of US is bound to impact markets and economies all over the world. But the extent and nuances would be different for every sector and every country.
How would this impact the Indian real estate market? The stock prices of Indian realty giants like DLF and Unitech have already [...]
Posted under Indian Real Estate, Indian economy
Here are some useful questions to ask yourself before buying a property in India.
The issues such as price of the property are pretty obvious, and you would surely consider them. But there are a lot of intricacies that are not so obvious in first look.
If it’s a resale property -
What is the cash component? - [...]
Posted under Buying Property, Indian Real Estate
Zamanzar is a real estate advisory firm headquartered in New Delhi, India. We offer online search tools to find property and offline services to help complete the transaction. Our services cater to real estate buyers, renters, and sellers.
This is a blog that we intend to make our corporate blog, as well as an informative real [...]
Posted under Zamanzar
