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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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New Delhi / Bangalore: Nitesh Shetty, a developer of high-end properties in Bangalore, has no qualms over dropping the premium tag—and prices—in some of his projects as demand for affordable housing picks up pace in India.
“Demand lies here and we need (to) adapt accordingly,” said Shetty, founder and managing director of unlisted realty company Nitesh [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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The prime reason behind project delays in Delhi-NCR has been the diversion of funds by all the major developers. During the boom time, they had over-booked their projects and then failed to deliver their commitments. In fact, the immediate impact of the global slowdown on the Indian residential real estate market was most visible during [...]

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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, [...]

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The government’s decision to extend the time limit for claiming tax exemption on profit earned from projects may not give the desired benefits to real estate developers. Instead of giving benefits to ongoing projects, the government chose to extend a tax waiver to ‘affordable’ housing projects that were approved till March 31, 2008.
“A change in [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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The government is bringing an amendment that would prevent you and your closest kin from buying more than one flat in the same building in affordable home projects. This is applicable for buildings approved for construction of smaller flats of less than 1000 square feet of built-up area targeted at low and middle income households [...]

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The property prices are expected to remain stable over the next six months even as the real estate market has shown signs of improvement since March in terms of sales, an expert said.
“Since March, we have seen movement in the market. Before that, the confidence and sentiments were very low in the real estate market [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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NEW DELHI: Home sales have picked up in select Indian markets over the past couple of months, but analysts warn that prices may not have bottomed out yet as developers are sitting on a huge inventory.
Markets such as Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), including Delhi and surrounding areas such as Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad, [...]

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The global financial meltdown and its concomitant effect on India’s real estate industry had forced developers to defer supply of mall space in 2008. However, in what could be seen as early signs of revival of retail real estate, as many as 100 malls, spread over 30 million sq ft, are expected to come up [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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DUBAI - Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, or MCHI, will be showcasing properties of major builders from India at the 12th India Realty Expo 2009, to be held in Dubai from June 4 to 6 at the Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel and Towers.
The expo will be held under the aegis of MCHI, a member of [...]

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“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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Investors and analysts have begun re-rating the realty sector on optimism that the worst may be over, as the efforts of recent months and a stable global environment will help developers attract funds and boost earnings. Developers in the past year have restructured debt, sold non-core assets and tweaked product mix, helping to push up [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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At a time when property prices have been moving southwards and experts are predicting a tough period ahead, private equity firm ASK Investment Holdings has launched its Rs 500-crore real estate fund. ASK’s management thinks that the real estate advisory business will complement its existing wealth management business, apart from growth opportunities existing in the [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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DLF, the nation’s biggest real estate developer, has raised Rs 720 crore from selling bonds to insurance companies as part of its plan to raise Rs 5,000 crore from such sales.
DLF on February 24 raised the funds through issue of non-convertible debentures maturing in five years which offered as much as 14 per cent interest, [...]

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