Investment in a second home

According to a study conducted by Kapston.com, a Bangalore based e-business consulting firm, the sales of ’second homes’ in India increased by 50

per cent from 2002 to 2007, before the slump in the market brought the figures down to negligible. “Although the concept of second homes was accepted by the Indian audience, as the figures show, everything crashed during the downturn . In the last one year, there have hardly been any takers for this segment .

The market is stagnant as of now,” says Raminder Grover, CEO, Homebay Residential, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.

There are two types of buyers, in the second home market, explains Grover. The first category consists of the affluent buyers who purely look at luxury and the second category is the middle and upper class, which looks at second homes as an investment option. “The first category has started showing interest, in the last coupe of months, but the second category of buyers is still playing the waiting game,” he adds.

As the demand for second homes dropped, even developers put their projects on hold and only now, are builders completing their pending projects. This trend, says Grover, is not surprising, as projects within the city are the ones that give developers immediate returns and so, most developers concentrated on completing these first. “With DLF launching their luxury home segment in Goa, other players, I believe, will soon join the fray,” he expects.

“The industry is still at a nascent stage and those who are planning for second homes, should look at it purely as an instrument of ‘value appreciation’ . Investors should look at it, in terms of growth, over the next two to five years,” says Hemant Shah, chairman , Ackruti City. Investment in the right property will always appreciate in value and with the younger generation earning well and investing intelligently , the second home market has good scope in India, says Abhishek Lodha, director, Lodha Develoers.

Second homes are sought, primarily as a means for a getaway from the city. However, for the larger Indian market, it is also an investment for post-retirement days. Real estate is always an asset and today’s generation wants the option of having a home by a hill or a riverside and this is why places like Devnahalli in Bangalore, Coimbatore, Ooty and Kasauli, are springing with second homes. “There is a lot of demand for properties between Pune and Panvel. Even the four main metros and its peripheral areas are in demand, for second homes,” reveals Tushar Khatri, GM (sales and marketing), Arihant Universal .

Apart from these, the other hotspots for second homes are hubs in Noida, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kerala, and Gurgaon. Mumbai is also one of the preferred locations, with Royal Palms being the only second home provider within city limits. The 240-acre Royal Palms Estate is situated in the midst of Mumbai’s only green belt and surrounded by a further 20,000 acres of the Borivali Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/realty-trends/Investment-in-a-second-home/articleshow/5198311.cms

Tata Housing progresses into Phase II of Raisina Residency, launches Victoria in Gurgaon

Delhi: Tata Housing Development Company, recently awarded the title of ‘Promising Future Company – Real Estate, 2009′ by GIREM, today announced the launch of ‘Victoria’, phase II of its premium and exclusive residential complex, Raisina Residency built on the theme of art and culture at Sector 59, Gurgaon. A total of 71 units comprising 3BHK apartments would be available under the new tower.

Raisina Residency offers amenities for an unmatched lifestyle. Three BHK air-conditioned apartments, 100% power backup, a beautifully designed entrance lobby with premium marble flooring, an air-conditioned ground floor lobby, a well-designed and furnished waiting lounge with reception area, two high-speed passenger lifts in each tower, earthquake-resistant structure as per relevant IS codes, split air-conditioner in all rooms, imported marble flooring in living/dining room and in family lounge, real wooden flooring in master bedroom, natural teak veneered flush door for the main entrance and modular kitchens make the property a luxurious haven.

Speaking on the launch of Victoria, Brotin Banerjee, CEO and MD, Tata Housing, said, “With the overwhelming response received from our consumers for phase I of Raisina Residency launched in August 2008, we are happy to announce the launch of Victoria, phase II of Raisina Residency, which again is designed by one of the best international architects. With improved market conditions, we are confident of Victoria generating a favourable response from consumers. Tata Housing’s philosophy of maintaining transparency coupled with credibility and reliability of delivering projects on / before schedule has resulted in complete support from both public and private financial institutions.”

Raisina Residency has pre-certified Green Homes under the guidance of Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The key features of a ‘Green Building’ have been taken into account while designing the layout of the complex. As a mandatory part of Green Building development and to ensure a healthy environment for customers, Raisina Residency is designed to provide excellent natural ventilation. Also, Raisina Residency comes with 86% open area surrounding the towers.

Tata Housing’s award-winning property has also been awarded the prestigious 5-star and 4-star awards in the Best Development Marketing (Residential category) and Best Architectural Design (Residential category) at the CNBC Asia Pacific Property Awards, 2009.

Source:http://www.equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=63307

Builders revive stalled commercial projects on early signs of recovery

Bangalore: Realty firms, encouraged by early signs of a revival in the market, are dusting off shelved or deferred projects and testing their financial viability to gauge which of these can be resurrected.

Solid foundation: A commercial complex under construction at DLF Cybercity, Gurgaon. Developers who had shifted focus from commercial projects to residential sales during the slowdown are restarting them. Rajkumar / Mint

DLF Ltd and Unitech Ltd, India’s top two developers by market value, which had suspended most of their commercial projects earlier this year, said they are in the process of redeveloping them because of a return in demand.

Unitech, which is more upbeat about the potential of commercial development, said on Monday that it has started developing many projects which had been suspended before. DLF, however, plans to remain cautious and wants to launch only in selective markets such as New Delhi and Hyderabad that it thinks have revived faster than others, a senior DLF official said on condition of anonymity.

Large developers such as Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), Orbit Corp. Ltd, Ozonegroup and Prestige Estates Projects Pvt. Ltd are also launching or firming up plans to build offices and shopping malls.

“This is a good time because most of us have repaired balance sheets and can afford to start construction and can hold on if needed,” said Hari Pandey, vice-president of finance and investor relations at HDIL. “We are also observing a rise in interest from healthcare, financial services and IT (information technology) companies.”

HDIL, the country’s third largest developer by market value, in September and October launched 3.5 million sq. ft of commercial and retail development projects in two Mumbai suburbs that were initially scheduled for a 2010 launch. HDIL’s capital outlay for these projects is Rs600-700 crore over the next four years.

Improved cash flows from sales and a rise in the so-called transfer of development rights (TDR) rates, too, propelled the company’s decision to start building these projects. Slum TDR is a tradable paper issued by state governments in exchange for free development of slums by builders. They, in turn, use the paper to develop other sites.

Analysts, however, remain sceptical and say the commercial and retail segments, unlike residential housing, may be far from a turnaround. Real estate consultancy Cushman and Wakefield said in a 27 October report that the estimated absorption of office space in the first three quarters of 2009 was 4 million sq. ft and is expected to be 5 million sq. ft for the entire year—a 50% drop from the 10.36 million sq. ft sold in 2008.

Developers had shifted their focus from commercial, retail and hospitality projects to residential sales during the slowdown. DLF and Unitech led the way, saying they would concentrate on mid-income homes, and suspended other projects. While a Unitech official said on condition of anonymity that the company has changed its stand and gotten back to commercial development, DLF is also developing about 2.5-3 million sq. ft of commercial space.

Overall, DLF is trying to clean up whatever commercial space was launched by beginning construction as well as delivering what was promised, said a DLF official, who also did not want to be identified.

“The revival of the commercial sector will be a slow process, and the initial trends emerging after the lull include the gradual return of demand from non-IT companies as well as from investors,” said Anshuman Magazine, managing director at property advisory CB Richard Ellis.

Bangalore-based Ozonegroup is back at the drawing board, deliberating the format of its Urbana project—a 162-acre sprawl in Bangalore. The company, which had earlier considered building an IT special economic zone (SEZ) here, may instead build a large IT park with retail spaces.

Similarly, Orbit, after turning its premium commercial projects into residential formats, plans to launch two commercial projects in the coming months in the Bandra-Kurla Complex and Andheri, both Mumbai suburbs.

“The launches are in anticipation of demand picking up as companies begin to expand again,” said Pujit Aggarwal, managing director of Orbit.

India’s retail property market has recorded the highest correction in the world, according to a 22 September report by Cushman and Wakefield. The biggest fall in rentals globally was in Colaba Causeway, a high street in Mumbai, where rentals fell by 63.5%.

In the past couple of months, many mall developers have restarted projects they had given up on.

A Bangalore-based developer, requesting anonymity, said he is redesigning a 2 million sq. ft mall off Bellary Road in north Bangalore, which he had shelved late last year. “We had even dissolved our entire retail team but now we are again at it, though we have to rethink our mix of retailers, etc.,” he said.

From the complete silence that reigned in the retail sector in the past two quarters, sign-ups have started though retailers are more demanding this time, said two retail analysts.

“The current set of mall developers are long-term players and are more cautious because retailers want to see that construction has begun, unlike earlier,” said Susil Dungarwal, founder of Beyond Squarefeet Advisory Pvt. Ltd, a mall advisory.

Retail investors, too, are hopeful of seeing more movement in an otherwise dull sector. Ivanhoe Cambridge Investment Advisory (India) Pvt. Ltd, a Canadian retail-focused fund, is close to signing a joint venture with a leading developer, almost a year-and-a-half after it announced its India plans.

“We see India as a long-term strategy, and the recent economic downturn has not impacted our interest in investing in quality shopping centre projects with competent local partners,” said Phil McArthur, senior vice-president, India, Ivanhoe Cambridge.

Source:http://www.livemint.com/2009/11/02214640/Builders-revive-stalled-commer.html

DLF plans to make affordable homes

New Delhi: India’s largest developer by market value, DLF Ltd, will now build apartments worth Rs30-50 lakh, a senior official said.

The realtor plans to launch 3-4 million sq. ft of what it called value housing in the current fiscal to March, Saurabh Chawla, senior vice-president, finance, told analysts on a conference call on Friday.

The projects will be located in Chandigarh, Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi and on the fringes of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.

“Pricing will depend on the location and city, but we are largely looking at this price band (Rs30-50 lakh),” the company executive said on condition of anonymity. “You can’t compete in the market if your products cater only to a certain segment,” the official said, referring to DLF’s product portfolio that largely comprises houses in the Rs50 lakh plus range.

“Value housing will offer a smaller sized unit at prices lower than the premium segment of housing,” said its vice-chairman Rajiv Singh. “It is a lower extension of premium housing… We expect reasonably good money from this segment even when compared with premium housing.”

DLF’s rival Unitech Ltd recently launched a new brand, Uni Homes, which will offer homes in the Rs10-15 lakh range. Other developers such as Puravankara Projects Ltd also have separate brands for so-called low-cost housing.

DLF expects to make a margin of 25-30% from value housing, compared with 30-40% from its other projects.

“Some of the larger developers, who are sitting on land bought at an historical cost, have a competitive edge in the market, which offers them the flexibility to develop products according to the market needs,” said Anshuman Magazine, managing director of real estate consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis.

DLF expects to launch 12 million sq. ft of residential space, including lower priced housing in the second half of this fiscal. In the first half, the firm had launched around 5 million sq. ft of homes.

According to a presentation available on its website, DLF’s net debt has increased from Rs11,686 crore in the three months to June to Rs12,135 crore. In the September quarter, DLF repaid Rs394 crore and borrowed Rs183 crore. The firm added Rs165 crore of debt due to consolidation of land.

DLF Assets Ltd, which buys and holds completed commercial assets of the developer, still owes around Rs2,500 crore to DLF, Chawla said. In the second quarter, DLF Assets would have contributed around 10% to DLF’s revenue, he added. Till December last year, DLF Assets was contributing around 40% of the firm’s revenue.

Source:http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/30223329/DLF-plans-to-make-affordable-h.html?h=B

Choice Hotels India Expands Hotel Presence in Delhi NCR

Gurgaon, Haryana, October 29, 2009 /India PRwire/ — Choice Hotels India has recently launched two additional properties in Delhi NCR as part of its rapidly expanding portfolio. They are Quality Inn Bliss in Gurgaon and Quality Hotel Sewa Grand in Faridabad.

Quality Inn Bliss is conveniently located in the heart of Gurgaon amidst multinational companies and premier establishments. The hotel offers 39 well appointed guestrooms with modern facilities in an ambience of unmatched comfort. “Fusion” the Multicuisine Restaurant with a show kitchen is perfect for a working lunch or an exuberant dinner. “Celsius” the Lounge Bar offers imaginative quaint cocktails and housing some of the best wines & malt whiskeys of the world. “Viceroy” state-of-the-art Board room is ideal for small meetings and ?‘Ritz I & II’ are the fully equipped banquet & conference halls.

Quality Hotel Sewa Grand Faridabad is ideally situated at Mathura Road on the highway leading from Delhi to Agra. 82 spacious rooms and suites are elegantly and tastefully decorated to suit all modern needs.. ‘Cafe Pacific’ the all day dining Multicuisine Restaurant offers an extensive selection of mouth watering delicacies to tingle your taste buds. ‘Atlantis Bar’ is a great relaxing place to unwind and choose from a fine selection of spirits and cocktails. Fully equipped banquet & conference halls ‘Royal Ball Room’ and ‘Senate’ can accommodate upto 350 guests.

Apart from these two hotels, CHI has Comfort Inn The President and Clarion Collection in New Delhi. Designed to meet the needs of today’s traveller, all these hotels ensures exceptional value, courteous service and comfortable accommodation. They are in the most convenient location for both business and pleasure.

Mr. Vilas Pawar, CEO, Choice Hotels India, said, “Choice Hotels India now has four properties in Delhi NCR. We are also coming up with 160 rooms Clarion in Greater Noida to be operational by next year. In addition to this, CHI has also signed one more property under Sleep Inn brand in Delhi. Our multiple presence in Delhi NCR speaks out the success and phenomenal growth.”

Notes to Editor

Choice Hotels India

Choice Hotels India is part of Choice Hotels International, one of the largest and most widespread lodging franchisors of the world with over 5000 hotels across the globe. Today Choice Hotels India is one of the fastest and finest growing hotel chains with 29 properties over 21 destinations in India and another 14 properties under different stages of development. These hotels are in various destinations including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kodaikanal, Lucknow, Faridabad, Amritsar, Shimla, Manali, Corbett, Pune, Nashik, Haldwani, Chiplun, Tuticorin and Vijayawada. Its presence in all the gateway cities proves that the chain is widely accepted by business as well as leisure travelers who recognize and trust the brand.

Choice Hotels International

Choice Hotels International is one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world. Built on the foundation of the venerable Quality Inn? brand a pioneer in consistent mid-priced lodging, Choice Hotels today is the worldwide franchisor of Cambria Suites TM, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn brand hotels.

source:http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/leisure-travel/2009102936519.htm#at

Park View Spa Next

Gurgaon, a modern suburb of Delhi, is witnessing a flurry of activities in real estate sector. Well-known realty majors are developing a large number of projects to meet the growing demands in the commercial and residential sectors. Bestech Group, a twenty-year-old company with construction background and a prominent name in north India, is owned, managed and led by Dharmendra Bhandari and Sunil Satija. The group has a portfolio that boasts of real estate development, hospitality and construction.

Bestech Group is developing commercial and IT projects over an area of approximately 2.5 million sq ft, 50% of which will be delivered within the next 6-9 months. A few of its landmark commercial projects are Bestech Cyber Park, Park View Business Tower, Bestech Chambers, and Orient Bestech Business Tower.

In residential arena, it has already developed and handed over 1,000 dwelling units at Park View City and Park View City-2. Another 700 flats in Park View Residency are ready for possession. Approximately, 1,200 flats are under construction in Park View Spa, Park View Delight and Park View Spa Next.

The overwhelming response to the Park View Spa resulted in the sale of the entire project in 45 days flat. It inspired Bestech to launch a new residential project — Park View Spa Next, an affordable luxury apartment located in Sector 67 Gurgaon.

Park View Spa Next

Billed as ‘Dreams to Desire, Everything Fulfilled’, Park View Spa Next “gives another chance to those who have earlier missed the opportunity to own a marvel home at affordable price”, its developers claim. Park View Spa Next is spread over 11 acres, comprising 440 units of 3 B/R, 4B/R and 4 B/R plus family lounge. These apartments are priced between Rs 65 lakhs to Rs 95 lakhs. Bestech has designed this project keeping in mind modern-day requirements of end users.

Each apartment is airconditioned with imported marble flooring in living and dining area, complemented with modular kitchens, wooden flooring and wall-hung WC’s in all bathrooms. “Park View Spa Next is all this and much more and definitely meant for those with distinctly refined taste,” says the developers’ catalogue.

Strategically located in Gurgaon’s Sector 67, Park View Spa Next has direct access from Golf Course extension road. It is on a 6-minute drive from NH-8 and is only 3 minutes from the proposed Metro station. Other highlights of Park View Spa Next include central lush green landscapes, a fully-equipped gym, swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts, power backup, children’s play area, 3-tier security and ample parking space to accommodate a fleet of cars for every apartment owner. Daily necessities can be acquired from the shopping store inside the complex. “Park View Spa Next is a model of living at its best,” the developers say.

An official of the company says they have started new projects based on “exciting new concepts of modern lifestyle” – and in keeping with it, “Bestech Group is further launching a project in the heart of Mohali. The project ‘Bestech Square’ consists of a residential group housing, a mall and a commercial office building. It is spreads over 13 acres of land and is strategically located next to the residential Phase XI of Mohali. The group housing consists of 2 B/R and 3 B/R apartments, starting from Rs 25 lakh onwards.”

The hospitality divisions of Bestech Group have two 4-star hotels that are fully operational – ‘Park Plaza’ Noida with 88 rooms with two specialty restaurants, and ‘Radisson Suites’ at Gurgaon. Further, two 5-star hotels – ‘Radisson Indore’ and ‘Radisson Nagpur’ – each comprising more than 200 rooms are soon heading for completion.

The group is in the process of developing new and exciting projects targeting a different set of customers. An official of Bestech says, “The company is forging new methodologies and technological backups for building a new and better tomorrow. The landmark projects initiated by the group, independently, are symbols of perfection and precision and the result of concerted efforts of its professionals, engineers, design specialists and suppliers. Bestech is steaming ahead with innovation and commitment, striving relentlessly to better its previous performance. Bestech Group is building more than trust.”

Source:http://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/12493c2f56b21b46

Ireo launches Grand Arch in Gurgaon

New Delhi: Ireo, the leading FDI from a private equity fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector and a fully integrated real estate development company, has announced the commencement of its first signature property – The Grand Arch — in the Ireo City, Gurgaon. Ireo City is the first mega project of the company in North India, and the planned capital outlay for the development is Rs 10,000 crore.

Spread over 500 acres, Ireo City, the integrated township, will offer a unique mix of features such as an elevated walk way connecting the entire township, art centers, theatres etc. Ireo City development will also include schools, hospital, parks, luxury hotels, shopping malls, service apartments and office complexes.
The Grand Arch, spread over 20 acres, is designed to be Gurgaon’s new landmark residential complex. It will have world-class architecture with apartments open on all 4 sides, 10 foot high ceiling improving room aesthetics, two bedroom duplex apartment with double height ceiling over the lounge and dining area, double glazed windows and apartments equipped with VRV air conditioning, offering the best of temperature controlled and energy efficiency.

On the occasion of the launch of Ireo City, Lalit Goyal, vice chairman & managing director, Ireo, said, “The Grand Arch marks the launch of the Ireo City — the beginning of a new era in the Indian real estate sector with a planned launch of 10 million square feet area of its 3000 acres owned land in next twelve months across NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The unique facility of Ireo City – ‘Skywalk Network’ will integrate all developments within the township by providing safe and easy connectivity to the pedestrians.”

The Grand Arch will have an iconic 22 stories The Arch – East & West wing, four towers up to 29 stories and four mid-rise towers which will have duplex apartments. It will have a wide range of apartments, including duplex and pent houses offering views of the Aravali Hills. The size of the apartments will be between 1375 sq.ft and 9897 sq.ft.

The Grand Arch will have a total of 842 apartments and penthouses. The project is likely to be completed by the end of 2012.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/property-/-cstruction/Ireo-launches-Grand-Arch-in-Gurgaon/articleshow/5077240.cms

Emerald Estate Project Gurgaon

MGF Development Limited of India and Emaar Properties, a Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC) of Dubai have made a joint venture and have developed a company in the name of ‘Emaar MGF Land Limited’ to make it one of India’s leading real estate company. Emaar MGF Land Limited started real estate activities in India in 2005. Emaar MGF has developed many projects in residential, commercial and hospitality sector across lengths and breadths of the country. Company’s vision is to be India’s leading and most admired real estate company. Their mission is to develop and deliver unique lifestyle and work place environments in India through world-class quality, integrated infrastructure and master-planned development.

‘Emerald Estate’ project is being developed by Emaar MGF Land Limited in Sector 65 Urban Estate Gurgaon. The project is ideally located in proximity of National Capital. Emerald Estate Gurgaon is a part of the larger master planned gated community of Emerald Hills, Emerald Estate, a 25-acre mid-rise group-housing development. In the project area, clean crisp air, clubhouse, state-of-the-art security, centralized piped cooking gas system, wide internal roads and shopping make it a great place to live in.

We, Shri Aditya Estate, are one of the leading real estate consultants, established in Delhi and working successfully for more than a decade. We have developed well-embellished websites viz. www.zameen-zaidad.com, www.propertycafeteria.com with a clear concept to showcase all kinds of properties of our patrons for wider publicity of their products for sale/purchase, leasing and renting purposes. Our website – www.zameen-zaidad.com – is displaying the details of project of Emerald Estate Gurgaon. Homes for sale are available in Emerald Estate Gurgaon. For best and transparent deals for apartments in Emerald Estate Gurgaon, our experienced marketing executives can be contacted at mob no 91-9650398925, 9810445860, 9911158601, 011-42470622 or email at : info@zameen-zaidad.com. Our company is on the approved list of leading banks/financial institutions for grant of home loans. We have got an experienced team to process home loan applications.

Source:http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/7529-1254296014-emerald-estate-project-gurgaon.html

IREO to spend Rs 10,000 crore on Gurgaon Township Project

REO, a leading global investment fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector, has revealed its plan to spend Rs 10,000 crore over the next 7 to 8 years, to develop an integrated township with about 20,000 flats in Gurgaon.

Sources reported that IREO has plans to launch 10 million sq ft of projects over the 12 months in the northern region of the country.

The company intends to construct about 20,000 residential units within the township, which include hotels, educational institutes, medical facilities and commercial spaces.

Today, the company has launched a residential complex — Grand Arch — inside the township.

The complex would house 842 apartments and penthouses, schedule to be completed by 2012.

Source:http://www.topnews.in/ireo-spend-rs-10000-crore-gurgaon-township-project-2218496

Ireo Kicks Off Its First Integrated Development of 800 Acre at Gurgaon

Launches the landmark property “The Grand Arch – Luxury of Location” at Ireo City. Poised to launch 10 million Sq ft in next 12 months. Marks the beginning of its Pan India presence – wholly owned 3000 acre land bank for Residential Development, Commercial IT Parks & SEZ. Ireo city to host India’s first network of elevated walkways. Skywalk within the private township.

New Delhi, India, September 27, 2009 –(PR.com)– Ireo, the first and the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from a Private Equity fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector and a fully integrated real estate development company, today announced the commencement of its first signature property – The Grand Arch in the Ireo City, Gurgaon. Ireo city is the first mega project of the company in North India, and the planned capital outlay for the development is Rs 10000 crores (Ten Thousand crores).

Spread over sprawling 500 acres, Ireo City, the integrated township will offer a unique mix of features such as an elevated walk way connecting the entire township, art centers, theatres etc. Ireo City development will also include schools, a hospital, parks, luxury hotels, shopping malls, service apartments and office complexes. Situated at the junction of Golf Course road with Sector 58, Gurgaon, ‘Ireo City’ is extremely well located and complements natural surrounding of the Aravali Hills. Ireo City will offer its residents immediate access to NH-8, Delhi Metro and fast exit routes to Delhi & NCR. The Grand Arch launched today will be a part of this well planned township.

The Grand Arch spread over 20 acres, is designed to be the Gurgaon’s new landmark residential complex. The Grand Arch redefines the ‘Next Level of living’ through the Multiplier Package – a unique combination of convenience, comfort and safety. The Grand Arch will host several unique features that are yet to be experienced by the Indian consumers, most important of these being the stunning architecture with apartments open on all 4 sides for all round natural sunlight and thorough ventilation, 10 foot high ceiling improving room aesthetics, two bedroom duplex apartment with double height ceiling over the lounge and dining area, double glazed windows and apartments equipped with VRV air conditioning offering the best of temperature controlled and energy efficiency.

On the occasion of the launch of Ireo City, Lalit Goyal, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Ireo said, “The Grand Arch marks the launch of the Ireo City – the beginning of a new era in the Indian real estate sector with a planned launch of 10 million square feet area of its 3000 acres owned land in next twelve months across NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The unique facility of Ireo City – ‘Skywalk Network’ will integrate all developments within the township by providing safe and easy connectivity to the pedestrians.”

Speaking about The Grand Arch, Varun Khanna, Director, Ireo, said “The Grand Arch promises to achieve the next level of living. The large open spaces, abundant greenery and wide choice of apartments will redefine taste of its residents. The apartments at ‘The Grand Arch’ will not only excel in design and comfort features, but will be energy efficient and environment friendly homes in India. The VRV air conditioning will enhance the energy efficiency and waste water treatment plant will use membrane technology for water purification.”

The Grand Arch will have an iconic 22 stories The Arch – East & West wing, four towers up to 29 stories and four mid rise towers which will have duplex apartments. The Grand Arch will have a wide range of apartments, including duplex and pent houses offering stunning views of the Aravali Hills. The size of the apartments will be between 1375 sq.ft to 9897 sq.ft.

The Grand Arch will have total 842 apartments and penthouses.
The total saleable area of The Grand Arch is 1.68 million sq fts.
The project is likely to be completed by end of 2012.
Multiplying features of The Grand Arch

About Ireo
Ireo, is the first and the largest Private Equity Fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector. The company has a pan India footprint of projects in prime locations across NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra under various stages of development and implementation.

Ireo has been present in India since 2004 and has evolved as a fully integrated real estate organization that is both the financer and developer of its projects.
Ireo’s team consists of internationally experienced and accomplished Indian and expatriate professionals from diverse backgrounds to lead initiatives and to deliver best in class products and services to our customers.

Ireo’s investor base consists of blue chips and globally renowned financial institutions.

Source:http://www.pr.com/press-release/181485

VATIKA GROUP OPENING A NEW WESTIN IN GURGAON IN MARCH 2010

Vatika Group today announced that it will open the Westin Hotel in Gurgaon by March 2010, seven months before the commencement of the Commonwealth Games in October 2010. The opening of the Westin Hotel will help to meet the hotel room needs for the mega event next year as the city is already facing an acute shortage of over 10,000 rooms.

The new Westin Hotel is strategically located at the emerging central business district of Gurgaon and will provide travelers easy access to key convention and commercial offices which have started to shift towards Gurgaon area due to lack of sufficient land for development of sizeable projects in New Delhi. The hotel will feature 311 rooms, five dining outlets, 17,500 square feet of meeting and function space, an approximately 16,000 square feet health and spa center, as well as retail outlets.

Mr. Gaurav Bhalla, Deputy Managing Director – Vatika Hospitality, said “We have kept our commitment of completing the Westin Hotel in Gurgaon before the commencement of the Commonwealth Games by announcing its opening in March 2010. Vatika has been diligent and focused to achieve and respond to the city’s increased need for lodging due to the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the City.”

The decision to venture into the hospitality business was merely an extension of group’s aim to transform all aspects of human Endeavour. Therefore we launched various brands of specialty restaurants namely the Fox, Coriander Leaf, 56 and Jing apart from the Westin tie up.

The Vatika Group has a portfolio of projects that span office spaces, retail, residential, hotels, resorts, specialty restaurants, and business centers. The group has 3 major township projects spread over total of approximately 1800 acres namely Vatika Infotech City in Jaipur, Vatika India Next in Gurgaon and Vatika City Central in Ambala.

The Group has also completed 90% of its first residential project called Vatika City in Gurgaon and houses 500 families. The group’s commercial projects are spread across Gurgaon and Jaipur. Gurgaon has 5 operational projects with clients like SAP, Starwood, HDFC, Xerox, Etisalat, Lenovo, Glaxo Smithkline, MSD pharma etc.

About Vatika:

The Vatika Group of companies, incorporated in 1986, has its business interests in Commercial and Residential Real Estate development, Business Centers, Farmland Development, Facilities Management, Shopping Malls, Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants. Today the Group has developed some of the finest projects in commercial real estate and hospitality and is renowned for its excellence in the real estate and hospitality business. For more information, please visit www.vatikagroup.com.

About Westin Hotels & Resorts:

Westin Hotels & Resorts, with more than 155 hotels and resorts in more than 31 countries and territories, is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT). Starwood Hotels & Resorts is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 850 properties in more than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties.. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/vatika-group-openingnew-westin-in-gurgaon-in-march-2010/371352/

Sarovar Hotels to have 60 properties in India by end of next year

With an aim to expand its hotel portfolio in the country, Sarovar Hotels plans to have 60 hotels by end of 2010. The hotel chain currently operates 36 properties across 29 destinations in the country. Plans are in the pipeline to open five properties by end of 2009.

Though the hotel chain has franchise rights to develop Carlson Hotels Worldwide’s Park Inn and Park Plaza brand in India, it is currently focusing on developing its own brands. “Of the 31 properties currently under development, we have nine properties branded as either Park Plaza or Park Inn. The rest will be under the Sarovar Premier, Portico or Hometel brands,” informed Anil Madhok, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels Pvt. Ltd.

In the first three quarters of 2009, the chain launched 50-room Renaissance Sarovar Portico, Hosur (Bengaluru); 70-room Pak Inn, Jaipur; 50-room Park Inn, Gurgaon (Civil Lines) and 50-room Peerless Sarovar Portico, Port Blair. By March 2010, the hotel will launch 49-room Sarovar Portico in Ludhiana; 65-room Sarovar Premiere in Siliguri; 118-room Hometel in Chandigarh; 134-room Ole Sereni in Nairobi; 80-room Sarovar Premiere in Gurgaon; 90-room Park Plaza in Ahmedabad; 70-room Sarovar Portico in Faridabad; 60-room Park Inn in Shahdara (Delhi); and 85-room Hometel in Hari Nagar (Delhi).

Talking about the marketing strategy of the company, Ajay Bakaya, Executive Director, Sarovar Hotels Pvt. Ltd. informed “Our marketing strategy is hotel and brand specific. This is continuously evolving in view of the prevailing market conditions locally, across India, and globally. We will continue to design and adapt strategies to the changing requirements.”

Source:http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/sarovar-hotels-to-have-60-properties-in-india-by-end-of-next-year-8361

NCR Developers Expecting High Sales during Navratri

After a lull of almost six months, real estate developers are once again launching residential projects aggressively to cash on the Navratri festival, considered auspicious for property buying. The festival of Navratri comes after the Shraadh period, considered inauspicious in the Hindu religious calendar, when property buyers do not book houses. The interest from developers was so much that over a dozen residential projects by companies such as Parsvnath, BPTP and Emaar MGF were launched in the National Capital Region in the past week. DLF, the country’s largest developer, is launching the second phase of its Capital Greens in West Delhi on Tuesday. DLF sold 1,356 apartments under its first phase of the project in a single day in April this year, due to competitive pricing.

Emaar MGF, a Delhi-based developer, launched Emerald Floors Premier on Monday after it sold off Emerald Floors and Emerald Estate in the Emerald Hills integrated gated community project in Gurgaon. The same company launched plots and villa floors at Jaipur Greens on September 19, where it has sold 120 plots so far, while Parsvnath Developers also launched Parsvnath City at Saharanpur in UP last Sunday. According to property consultants, this year the new launches were double the number of last year’s Navratri launches, when the property market was in a bad shape. Home sales had fallen by over 50 per cent from the beginning of the year, and developers were offering freebies and discounts to sell their existing projects.

Though on a lower scale, Mumbai also witnessed a couple of launches of luxury projects in South Central Mumbai by companies such as Indiabulls Real Estate and Orbit Corporation last week. “Every day, we are seeing one or two launches and every developer is launching projects. Last year, most of them were selling old products due to the downturn. This year, we have a seen a slew of new projects during Navratri,”said Raminder Grover, chief executive of Homebay Residential, a unit of property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj. Consultants say the increased activity in home sales is giving confidence to developers to launch new projects. Residential prices have gone up by 15 to 20 per cent in the past six months or so, as developers sold projects which were aggressively priced and marketed.

“The last few months were indeed good for the residential market. There is an increased activity due to good launches and better pricing by developers,’’ says Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director of CB Richard Ellis, South Asia. Grover says that unlike last Navratri, developers are not giving any freebies and discounts, as they were confident of selling their products without any added attraction. Magazine adds that developers are selling homes with better amenities and designs to prospective buyers. “Though developers are marketing their products aggressively, buyers have a high level of awareness on the available projects. It is certainly a buyers’ market now,’’ said Magazine.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-developers/ncr-developers-expecting-high-sales-during-navratri.html

TOI Organises Houses ‘N’ Homes to Help Buyers

For those worried about how to buy their dream house in times of recession, Houses ‘N’ Homes organised by The Times of India in association with JK White Cement at Lajpat Bhawan lawn on Friday proved to be the perfect solution. The two-day fair was inaugurated by Union minister for Coal and Energy, Sriprakash Jaiswal, who was of the view that organising such an event would be beneficial both for the participants and the customers. With as many as 16 stalls ranging from real estate developers, housing consultancy, interiors, housing schemes and vastu consultation, the fair offered a complete solution to the housing problems. Be it design solutions on how to do up your dream home or attractive schemes on white goods to vastu consultation and interior counselling, Houses ‘N’ Homes provided a chance to explore the best housing options like never before.

Eldeco Housing and Industries Ltd, who have earned a name for their work in developing townships in Lucknow, Panipat, Ludhiana and Gurgaon, had much more on offer for Kanpurites through this fair. They presented their scheme of developing duplex houses for the residents. Sunil, marketing head of Raghunath Builders — already a known name in the city after developing the NRI city wit integrated villas — said, “Metros and A-grade cities have reached saturation in terms of townships and integrated societies and hence the group has turned towards Kanpur, it being viewed as a potential market for investment.”

When asked about the effect of recession on the real estate industry, Anshuman Singh, senior marketing manager Eldeco said, “Unlike metros, Kanpur still has got a lot to prove in real estate. Recession has not affected the tier II cities and is thus attracting more and more housing and township developers.” JK White Cement, one of the most promising brands of the city in white goods attracted architects, officials of military engineering services (MES) along with the individuals, who arrived with house and wall-related problems. “The products being economical and durable speak about the brand value and thus attract majority of the locals when it comes to trusting the brand,” said Ajay Jain, area manager of a project by JK White Cement.

Briefing about the trends in the development of housing societies and townships, Nivedita Gupta, sales executive of Dolphin Developers said, “With majority of the cities turning into a concrete jungle, the thrust now is on the outskirts away from the cramped environment of high-rises.” The event is being managed by Good Show Events and Promotions, and the participants in the fair include Raghunath Builders, Rimjhim ISPAT, Eldeco Townships and Housing Ltd, Anand Builders, Agarwal Group, Premier Group, TATA TISCO, Lubi Pumps and Motors, Kutchina, Srishti BS Structures, Corfom Mattresses and Resinova among others.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/toi-organises-houses-n-homes-to-help-buyers.html

DLF may exit Amanresorts; to focus on residential, office properties

NEW DELHI: India’s largest property firm, DLF, that scaled down ambitions in the hotel business, following an economic downturn, to focus on core  areas of building homes, offices and shops, is planning various options to fully or partly exit from the international luxury hotel chain Amanresorts that the developer had purchased at the peak of the economic boom in 2007 end. The company has also held preliminary talks with at least two Indian hotel chains, but a huge gap between the buyer and seller’s expectations has played spoilsport for concrete deal discussions.

Founded by Indonesian hotelier Adrian Zecha, Amanresorts is a super luxury chain of resorts usually built with small inventory of rooms to offer exclusivity. The company is known to charge one of the highest average daily room rates that sometimes cross $600. The hotel company owns and manages 23 small luxury resorts worldwide and will open a new resort in Utah, USA, in October, as per the company’s website. It operates three resorts in India – one in New Delhi and two in Rajasthan.

In 2007, Adrian Zecha, announced that he has formed an equal partnership with DLF, which has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in the Aman Resorts group. DLF, currently, holds 50% in Aman and as per the agreement, would acquire controlling stake in due time.

As per two executives in the hotel industry and one at DLF, the Indian real estate developer’s interest in carrying Aman in its portfolio has whittled given the economic downturn that has substantially pared occupancy levels as well as room rates across the hotel industry. As per industry estimates, Indian hotels together lost Rs 4,000 crore in revenues due to the economic slowdown and after the Mumbai terror attacks in the last financial year. Following this, few tourists visited India or stayed in five-star hotels and room rates dropped by at least 20-30%.

A senior DLF executive, who asked not to be named, said: “There is surely an interest among potential buyers. They have spoken to us. But it’s just been talks, little else, as their offer price is too low compared with the price we had paid for Aman in 2007.” He did not name the companies that has shown interest in Aman.

But the DLF spokesman denied the company was planning to dilute equity or sell any property of Amanresorts. In the past, while announcing the company’s falling interest in the hotel business, DLF vice-chairman Rajiv Singh had said the company would want to retain Aman as it was a boutique brand. As per two hotel industry executives, who did not wish to be named, DLF has held some preliminary talks with ITC Hotels. But the ITC spokesman said: “We have made no move” to acquire stake in Amanresorts. But hotel consultants said it makes sense for an Indian hotel company like ITC to bid for Aman since they have no presence in that segment.

Another senior hotel industry executive said DLF could consider an option to hive off Aman properties in Alwar, Rajasthan, and two loss-making properties in Sri Lanka to some investors or hotel chain without the Aman brand. It is speculated that the realty major spent $200-250 million with plans to get into full-fledged hotel business. It planned to build around 75 hotels in a joint venture with foreign hotel chain Hilton in India. But following Hilton’s takeover by private equity player Blackstone, Hilton’s interest in hotels with DLF waned. Meanwhile, DLF, too, had started facing cashflow pressures. The two partners scaled down their ambition to just four properties.

In early 2008, the stock market started seeing turbulence and the entire economy took a nosedive following the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers later that year. As demand for homes, offices and shops dried up, property firms were faced with cash crunch. Realtors reprioritised their plans in order to ease cashflow pressure. DLF decided to sell assets and shift focus from capital-intensive businesses such as hotels to those like homes where revenue could easily be generated. DLF plans to raise Rs 5,500 crore through sale of assets and exit from some businesses such as windpower and township projects in Dankuni, West Bengal and Bidadi, Karnataka. DLF has already sold its small hotel project in Saket, Delhi. It has put on block over 10 hotel plots across the country, including in Gurgaon and Mumbai. The company has since been able to successfully sell some of its assets.

As per reports, Amanresorts was adversely impacted after 2002, due to the tourism downturn in south-east Asia, following the Bali bombing and other disaster since a large chunk of its resorts are in Asia. The current economic slowdown, which significantly reduced business and leisure travel, has hurt all luxury and five star hotels.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News-by-Industry/DLF-may-exit-Amanresorts/articleshow/5035334.cms

Best time to look for a value deal in real estate

It’s perhaps the best time to look around for a value buy in real estate. With lower price points in locations which were not earlier within your Land as investment

wallet’s reach, buyers are scouting for good ‘value’ bargains at this time. And with developers going big on affordable home launches, the timing may just be one of the best for buyers seeking a steal deal.

Anshuman Magazine, CMD of global real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) says that value buying is happening mostly in suburban locations as that is where the current supply is. “Certain pockets in Gurgaon and Noida, where the price earlier used to be Rs 65 lakh-Rs 1.5 cr, today have deals to offer anywhere between Rs 35 lakh to Rs 50 lakh! Developers have reduced the total ticket sizes, adjusted area, price and given amenities. This has got people back and is making them hunt for value deals right now.”

Locations such as Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida in Delhi NCR and Navi Mumbai and Thane in Mumbai are some of the good locations for value buying, feels Navin M Raheja, chairman and managing director of Raheja Developers. “Anything which is available between Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500 per sq ft is the right price depending, of course, upon the location and infrastructural facilities available in the vicinity with specifications offered.” The developer is soon going to launch a housing project, ‘Raheja Shilas’ near IGI airport wherein the price would range between Rs 2,575 to Rs 2,875 per sq ft.

Raheja further adds that there are three kinds of value buying that are taking place in the real estate market right now. Ready to move in residential property in and around metros and their suburbs, ready to move in commercial property which is already leased or generating income and low income and middle-income housing ranging from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 40 lakh are the primary types of value purchases in his opinion.

Many of those who were holding out have also decided to make a purchase now as prices have bottomed out. Plus with many affordable housing launches by developers, the view is that prices are more pocket friendly at this time. “Prices have reached the bottom and in these prices you are bound to get good appreciation in future. So if you are buying a particular property now, one is definitely going to feel later that they grabbed a good deal,” says Vijay Jindal , CMD, SVP Group.

Jindal’s view is shared by many others in the market as well. Smaller investment opportunities with a starting price bracket of Rs 35 lakh-Rs 40 lakh have fuelled the demand. “Earlier the prime focus was on high-end purchases, but today, the conversions are happening mostly for smaller properties. At least 50-60% conversions are there in the market today for properties priced between Rs 30 lakh – Rs 80 lakh, 20-25% are for the expensive ones priced between Rs 90 lakh – Rs 2.5 cr and a miniscule number is for the ones above Rs 5 cr,” says Pankaj Jain, executive director of Realistic Realtors, a North Indian real estate consulting firm.

But are people also looking at Tier II and Tier III cities right now, which were prime investment hubs in the good times? “People are not primarily Land as investment

seeing these locations for investment at this time. Value buys here are mostly end-user driven,” adds Magazine.

However it’s best not to overlook the pros and cons before deciding on such value buys. Though the pricing and the product may both look highly appealing, it’s best to read the fineprint carefully. This will hold in good stead for the future. Rajeev Rai, vice president, corporate, Assotech, advises about key strategies that should be followed. “One shouldn’t get carried away by sops or discounts offered and one must also not ignore the sold stock status of such a project. As far as the dos are concerned, one must set their priority of the price, location, size etc. A due diligence about the supply and demand of such projects is necessary. Lastly, one must check the developer’s profile, delivery schedule and legality of the project.” Assotech has projects such as The Nest in Crossings Republik at Rs 2,300 per sq ft and Metropolis in Rudrapur at Rs 1,850 per sq ft.

So if you have been thinking of investing your money in a home, it’s the right time to go deal hunting. Negotiate a bargain, go for value and close the deal.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/the-sunday-et/property/Best-time-to-look-for-a-value-deal-in-real-estate/articleshow/5032421.cms

One-stop solution to housing problems

KANPUR: For those worried about how to buy their dream house in times of recession, Houses ‘N’ Homes organised by The Times of India in association  with JK White Cement at Lajpat Bhawan lawn on Friday proved to be the perfect solution.

The two-day fair was inaugurated by Union minister for Coal and Energy, Sriprakash Jaiswal, who was of the view that organising such an event would be beneficial both for the participants and the customers.

With as many as 16 stalls ranging from real estate developers, housing consultancy, interiors, housing schemes and vastu consultation, the fair offered a complete solution to the housing problems. Be it design solutions on how to do up your dream home or attractive schemes on white goods to vastu consultation and interior counselling, Houses ‘N’ Homes provided a chance to explore the best housing options like never before.

Eldeco Housing and Industries Ltd, who have earned a name for their work in developing townships in Lucknow, Panipat, Ludhiana and Gurgaon, had much more on offer for Kanpurites through this fair. They presented their scheme of developing duplex houses for the residents.

Sunil, marketing head of Raghunath Builders — already a known name in the city after developing the NRI city with
integrated villas — said, “Metros and A-grade cities have reached saturation in terms of townships and integrated societies and hence the group has turned towards Kanpur, it being viewed as a potential market for investment.”

When asked about the effect of recession on the real estate industry, Anshuman Singh, senior marketing manager Eldeco said, “Unlike metros, Kanpur still has got a lot to prove in real estate. Recession has not affected the tier II cities and is thus attracting more and more housing and township developers.”

JK White Cement, one of the most promising brands of the city in white goods attracted architects, officials of military engineering services (MES) along with the individuals, who arrived with house and wall-related problems. “The products being economical and durable speak about the brand value and thus attract majority of the locals when it comes to trusting the brand,” said Ajay Jain, area manager of a project by JK White Cement.

Briefing about the trends in the development of housing societies and townships, Nivedita Gupta, sales executive of
Dolphin Developers said, “With majority of the cities turning into a concrete jungle, the thrust now is on the outskirts away from the cramped environment of high-rises.”

The event is being managed by Good Show Events and Promotions, and the participants in the fair include Raghunath Builders, Rimjhim ISPAT, Eldeco Townships and Housing Ltd, Anand Builders, Agarwal Group, Premier Group, TATA TISCO, Lubi Pumps and Motors, Kutchina, Srishti BS Structures, Corfom Mattresses and Resinova among others.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/kanpur/One-stop-solution-to-housing-problems/articleshow/5031518.cms

Housing sector is shining again

Last August, Gurgaon real-estate broker S Karan was planning to move out of his tiny basement office in a small building to a fancy new one in one of the tall steel-and-glass buildings that have become the signature of this booming Delhi suburb.

Then, Lehman Brothers, one of the Big Four investment banks in the US, collapsed on September 15, sparking off a global recession, an Indian economic slowdown, and a slump in the once booming real-estate sector.

Karan (34) then thought his dreams would remain still-born — till the first signs of a recovery in the first quarter of 2009-10.  “Usually, we seal 70 per cent of our deals around Diwali. Last year, that figure dropped to 30 per cent.”
There were many reasons for the death of his dream.

The global recession took the Indian stock markets down with it. The BSE Sensex fell from 14,001 on September 12, the last trading day before the Lehman collapse, to a low of 8,198 on March 5, this year.

So, the supply of speculative money that had mainly fuelled the 2005-08 real estate boom, in which house prices doubled and rentals soared more than 75 per cent, stopped.

Rising inflation also forced the Reserve Bank of India to hike interest rates. Result: interest rates on housing loans rose from 7-8 per cent levels at the end of 2007 to 12 per cent a year later.

Housing was no longer attractive for speculators, and out of reach of the middle class.

The bubble had burst.

Between October last year and March this year, housing sales dropped from 10,000-12,000 units per month in the National Capital Region to less than a third of that number.

“Earlier (prior to the Lehman collapse), I used to conduct two to three transactions in the resale category and three to four original bookings every month. After October, that number fell by half,” says Karan.

Transaction values also fell as realtors, who had got used to net profit margins of more than 50 per cent, cut prices to lure buyers back.

But the double whammy of lower prices and plunging sales took its toll. DLF, India’s largest real estate company, saw its January-March 2009 sales and profits plunge 96.6 per cent and 95.3 per cent, respectively, to Rs 55.5 crore and Rs 29.8 crore.

Unitech, India’s second-largest real estate developer, and a host of other biggies like Omaxe, Parasvnath, Prestige, Puravankara, etc., also suffered similar setbacks.

Then the tide began to turn in the first quarter of 2009-10. The global recession brought down crude oil and commodity prices worldwide.

The wholesale price-based inflation rate began to ease – and even entered negative territory for a while. Interest rates started falling once again.

Realtors cut prices, by up to 30 per cent, and launched a slew of affordable housing projects (priced at Rs 15-50 lakh per apartment).

And the release of arrears to government employees, following the Sixth Pay Commission Report, thus, putting massive sums of money in the hands of government employees, provided the icing on the cake.

Buyers returned to the market.

Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra says the company booked nearly 4,000 housing units in the first two-and-a-half months of 2009-10.

The number of registration agreements signed has also seen a healthy improvement. In Mumbai and Pune, registrations increased 24 per cent and 21 per cent month on month, respectively, said a June 2009 report, On the road to recovery, by Religare, Hitchens Harrison.

“The residential property market has been driving this recovery,” says Aditi Vijayakar, director, residential services, Cushman & Wakefield India, a large real estate consultant. The commercial and retail segments, though, have not yet picked up.

“The worst is over,” says Kumar Gera, chairman of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, the apex body of realtors in India.

So, Karan can probably breathe easier now, even though his dream office may still be out of reach.

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/Housing-sector-is-shining-again/H1-Article1-455508.aspx

Leela Aims to Unseat Rivals as Top Luxury Hotel Chain in India

In a country where information technology is the largest industry, the Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts organization aspires  to become the best-known brand  in India’s growing hotel corridor.

Leela’s newest property is the Leela Kempinski Gurgaon in the fast-growing suburb of Delhi. Since its soft opening in April, the hotel has posted occupancy rates in the low 70s.

Leela Kempinski Gurgaon Hotel
Between July 14 and July 24, the hotel was sold out, according to hotel officials. They say guest demand in India is for 100,000 to 150,000 new hotel rooms, particularly at business-oriented properties.

A 15-minute drive from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, the Leela Kempinski Gurgaon offers 322 guestrooms and suites and 90 residences in one-, two- and three-bedroom options.

Built next to the Ambience Mall, reputedly Asia’s largest, it targets the international business traveler. It’s the first entry into northern India for Leela, the Mumbai-based luxury brand Capt. C.K. Krishnan Nair founded in the mid-’80s.

A center of business process outsourcing, Gurgaon is expected to house branches of 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies by next year, according to HotelNewsNow.com.

American Express, Microsoft, General Electric and IBM already have offices there. There’s no off-season. Rates start at 7,000 rupees (about US$145) for double occupancy.  The Leela is strategically located on the Gurgaon-Delhi border.

In Gurgaon, 90 percent of hotel business is corporate. There are 700 international business offices in Gurgaon, a brand-new city of 1.5 million on the southeastern border of Delhi, a much older city of 14.5 million.

There are 1.1 billion people in India, so the country will never be short on a work force, industry analysts point out.

Leela plans to open another five properties by 2012 in India’s destination cities, including the academic center of Pune, and Agra, a tourist magnet that features the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.

“India is a giant engine starting to roll,” says Sanjoy Pasricha, Leela VP of sales and marketing, noting 65 percent of the Indian population is less than 25 years old.

Pasricha says that by blending traditional Indian styles based on the country’s royal past with state-of-the-art technology, Leela, the newcomer, hopes to edge out competitors, such as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts and Trident Hotels.

Leela encompasses business hotels in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore. It also has leisure properties in Goa, Kerala and Udaipur.

However, Leela has no plans to expand beyond India–at least for now. Kempinski is its international marketing representative, a business partner that will help it realize its phased plans, Pasricha says. Leela also belongs to the Global Hotel Alliance and Preferred Hotels & Resorts.

A distinctive  Indian ambience separates Leela from its competitors, says Onno Poortier, Leela’s president. The company thoroughly researches  its locale before it builds, Poortier adds.

“The other key difference is going to be that our business hotels are newly built palace hotels reflecting the royal tradition of India,”  says Pasricha, the sales and marketing executive.

“This is true of Bangalore (where the 357-room Leela Palace Kempinski Bangalore evokes the Mysore Palace) and will be true for Chennai (the Detroit of India, where the 397-unit Leela Palace Kempinski Chennai will open next year) and New Delhi as well,” Pasricha says.

The 260-room Leela Palace New Delhi will open next fall in the city’s diplomatic enclave. Construction cost will be about US $1 million a room, including more than US $500,000 per room in land costs alone.

Source : http://www.realestatechannel.com/international-markets/vacation-leisure-real-estate/leela-palaces-hotels-resorts-leela-kempinski-gurgaon-taj-palaces-oberoi-hotels-resorts-trident-krishnan-nair-onno-poortier-leela-palace-kempinski-bangalore-1384.php

Demand up for NCR budget houses

NEW DELHI: Even as the economic recession is running its course, there is one area where the shadow of gloom has not fallen. The demand for affordable houses in the NCR has, in fact, gone up as more and more people are coming forward to buy their dream house.

According to reports by leading property consultant agencies, there’s good news on the residential segment more and more people are coming forward to buy their dream house, albeit with minor adjustments. Affordable housing is the buzzword as the real estate market is limping back to normal.

Pramod Thakur, a broker in Gurgaon, said, “Its not that people have stopped wanting to buy a house. Prices were too high for most projects. However, in the past couple of months, a number of low or medium budget housing projects have been launched in the NCR, and the response has been good.”

It’s a trend that consulting agencies, too, have noticed. A recent report (for the second quarter of 2009) by Colliers International notes that residential projects launched 25-30% below prevailing market rates have received good response. A market report by Cushman & Wakefield added, “In the mid segment, Gurgaon and Noida witnessed noticeable correction (of prices) over the year due to competitive prices offered by the developers.”

A senior executive of a leading developer said, “Luxury housing, with world class amenities, is restricted to high end users who constitute only 5% of the population. It was time for the developers to look at the large middle class population which requires affordable housing.”

That developers have realized it is obvious from their behaviour in the past few months. Even as new projects were launched in Gurgaon and Noida in the low to mid range Rs 30-45 lakh other big projects that had already been launched saw addition of smaller flats in high-end projects. For instance, Tulip Orange, The Residences, Vatika Bellevue and IRIS-Emilia-Primrose apartments were launched by builders like Tulip, Unitech and the Vatika Group in the affordable segment some months ago even as reports of DLF changing its housing designs in Gurgaon to squeeze in more two-bedroom units, along with four-bedroom homes, makes the rounds of the real estate circle.

That there’s a world of difference between the high end projects and the affordable housing is obvious. For instance, most of these new projects have reduced floor areas, with some even having reduced floor heights to cut costs. However, the fact that the prices are within budget and there’s support from banks most have slashed rates with SBI offering housing loans
at 8% interest in the first year has prompted many to opt for buying a house in the prevailing downturn.

Incidentally, the affordable housing market in India that is increasingly being targeted by developers is worth at least Rs 3 trillion and will see demand for 2.06 million homes by 2011, said a survey conducted by property consultant Knight Frank India.

source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/delhi/Demand-up-for-NCR-budget-houses/articleshow/4996638.cms

Coming Soon Raheja Shilas gurgaon,Raheja Shillas Gurgaon

Raheja Shilas Gurgaon
Find recluse from the hustle-bustle of the city atRaheja Shilas gurgaon – an Eco-Friendly haven next to the Delhi-Gurgaon border. Within 5 to 7 minutes drive from IGI Airport & Dwarka Housings and within 2 to 5 minutes drive from 150 m Ring Road of Gurgaon, Palam Vihar
Raheja Shilas
Coming soon, Homes @ Happy Prices and excellently planned with efficient layout plans
1300 sq.ft. (approx) ———-2575/sqft (approx)
Three Bedroom Apartments. Excellent Opportunity.
Raheja Shilas
Coming soon, Homes @ Happy Prices and excellently planned with efficient layout plans Builders Floors in Sector 109 Gurgaon
Raheja Shilas Location:
Raheja Shilas Located in a sector 109, adjoining the New Super Expressway of Gurgaon, which will be connecting Dwarka with Gurgaon. This Super Expressway is going to be double the size of the existing National Highway -8. Which will enable a zip drive between the Airport to the Reliance SEZ and Manesar.

About Raheja Developer:

Raheja Developers Pvt Ltd was founded in the year 1989 by the visionary Shri Navin M Raheja. Today, the company enjoys a strong presence in Haryana and has made its position as one of the largest companies in the Real Estate Industry today with projects all over India. Over the past 15 years, they have been acknowledged for quality, commitments, integrity and timely execution, innovative technology upgradation and brand equity & value addition all through for all projects.
Source : http://www.bignews.biz/?id=812584&keys=raheja-shilas-gurgaon-builders

Supreme Infra to develop Rs 236 cr project

Supreme Infrastructure India today said it has bagged an order for Rs 236.31 crore project from a realty developer for the construction of buildings.
The total cost of the project is Rs 236.31 crore, Supreme Infra said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
“The company has been awarded work orders from Ramprashta Promoters & Developers for construction of multi-storied towers in Gurgaon,” it said.
Under the project, which would be completed in 36 months, the company will construct 15 towers.
Shares of Supreme Infra surged 10 per cent to hit its upper trading limit of Rs 96.30 in the afternoon trade on the BSE.
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/supreme-infra-to-develop-rs-236-cr-project/72232/on

Commercial overreach

Already having a huge land bank, DLF, the country’s largest real estate developer, is once again on a land buying spree. Last week, the developer bought 350 acres in Gurgaon at an outlay of Rs 1,703 crore. Market experts severely criticised the move because of its high valuation and for buying at a time when several of the liquidity-squeezed developer’s projects have been delayed, put on hold temporarily, or terminated.

Many of the company’s projects, both residential and commercial, have been stalled due to lack of demand and owing to the liquidity crunch. Earlier, the company had announced halting of construction work on nearly 16 million sq ft of office and retail mall space out of the 62 million sq ft it had planned. In the office space, the developer has stalled construction on nearly 12 million sq ft out of the 36 million sq ft planned. According to DLF’s chairman KP Singh, the projects would remain suspended until its finances improve and demand revived.

Company officials maintain that seeking denotification of SEZs has nothing do with the liquidity crunch. “Due to the slowdown, we do not see any value proposition in going ahead with these projects. However, all our commercial projects, where construction work is on, will be completed in one year. Space in these projects have already been pre-leased,” an official, who did not wish to be quoted, said.

PULLING BACK
DLF has failed to buy a 1,000-hectare land parcel from Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) along the Yamuna Expressway, which was earmarked as a special development zone (SDZ). It had shown interest by paying the earnest amount of Rs 1 crore along with the application last year. According to Lalit Srivastava, chairman of YEIDA, while the cost of land was Rs 800 crore, the entire project cost was estimated at Rs 8,000 crore to 10,000 crore. However, the company failed to buy the land citing financial constraints.

The mega convention centre to be developed in Dwarka, which was expected to be the biggest in the country, was scrapped as the company felt it could not undertake it without a foreign equity partner. Earlier, speaking at the Idea Exchange programme of the Indian Express Group, DLF chairman KP Singh had said, “We are ready to revisit the project if we are allowed to rope in foreign partners for funding, including private equity players.” The Delhi convention centre was one of the four state-of-the-art facilities announced in Union Budget 2007-08. Singh said that unless the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) allowed a special purpose vehicle that would include additional equity players, the project was unlikely to take off.

The developer also exited from a 4,840-acres township project, slated to be one of the world’s largest, to be developed at Dankuni in West Bengal. According to the developer, the state government failed to acquire land for the Rs 33,000 crore public-private partnership (PPP) township project.

PENDING PROJECTS
Gurgaon, which is the stronghold of the company, has a number delayed project namely — Park Place, Belaire, Magnolias, New Town Heights and Express Green. The developer has also delayed work at some of its biggest mid-income housing projects. The construction of DLF New Town Heights in Gurgaon Sector 90 and Express Greens in sector M1 in Manesar, both in Haryana, has been halted. These projects were launched in January and August 2008 respectively. Deepak Kumar, a Singapore-based NRI, who booked a flat in January 2008 in DLF’s New Town Heights coming up in Gurgaon, said that even after paying 42.5 per cent of the total cost of the flat, he found that the developer had not started construction work. According to the developer, the project has been held up sinc it has not received environment clearance.

In the commercial segment, the developer has held back several projects namely Digital Greens, Star Mall and South Point Mall in Gurgaon. Similarly, Star Towers, a complex meant for offices, though has been completely sold out the construction is yet to be resumed, which is on hold for three years now.

DLF’s vice chairman Rajiv Singh declined to respond to the mail sent by The Indian Express on the issue of delay of several of their projects.

BUYERS UNITING IN PROTEST
After waiting for over a year and paying over 42.5 per cent of the cost, when buyers were unable to see any progress in construction, around 400 of them formed an online group called New Town Heights Yahoo Group.

Kumar, the buyer who invested in DLF’s property, raises a question: “Under which account does the money paid so far for this project exist? Or has it been invested in some other project? If it is still in the bank, then how much interest is DLF earning on the money, since the money has not been utilised towards the delivery of the project?” Five months ago when Kumar had enquired about when the project would begin, he was told that it would start in two-three weeks and the status remains the same till date. “If environment approval required to start the project was not in place, then under what clause of the agreement does the deal remain valid?” he asks.

The developer faced a similar situation in Chennai’s Garden City project, where a large number of buyers had queued up to consider the exit offer made by the developer for its 3,493 apartments. While the group of buyers claims to have mobilised 600 exit letters, DLF authorities maintain that only between 150 and 200 members have asked for the exit option. To retain buyers, the company announced a revised value proposition with an ‘early bird’ offer of Rs 2,650 per sq ft. All other charges for preferential location, parking, etc. remained unchanged. However, a number of consumers preferred to opt out of the project, despite the fact that obtaining a refund from any developer is not easy.

FURTHER LAUNCHES
The developer has further planned to launch 16 million sq ft of residential space in the current fiscal, even as it continues to have a guarded outlook. It has reduced its debt by over Rs 2,000 crore and has received another Rs 2,000 crore from group company DLF Assets Limited (DAL) in the June quarter, indicating that the company’s cash condition is fair.

While announcing the last quarter’s result of the company, Rajiv Singh said: “We are more cautious than other players as we will launch not just for selling but for adding value and making reasonable profits.”

PLUNGING NET PROFIT
Having sold a stake of 10 per cent to a clutch of investors, the promoters are sitting on Rs 3,800 crore of cash. At the end of the June 2009 quarter, receivables from DLF Assets were down to Rs 2,600 crore from nearly Rs 5,000 crore at the end of the March 2009 quarter. That has brought down the company’s net debt to around Rs 11,700 crore and consequently, the debt-equity ratio is now lower at 0.5 times. The company’s operating profit margins, in the June 2009 quarter, was 45 per cent. However, net profits, which increased 150 per cent sequentially at Rs 395 crore, came in a bit below prospect. In fact, adjusted for a one-time price reset taken in the March quarter, profits were flat.

Witnessing the state of affairs of the country’s top developer, it has become clear that homebuyers have to be very cautious while investing in property. It is not just the middle rung and small developers that are feeling the heat of the economic downturn but even the top guns. Many of them over-extended themselves during the realty boom and are now unable to deliver on their commitments. This will further delay the revival of the sector as it hits buyers’ confidence levels and market sentiment. DLF, the market leader, is as guilty as the others.

Source : http://www.expressestates.in/full_story.php?content_id=93893

Bestech Group: Building more than trust

Gurgaon, a modern suburb of Delhi, is witnessing a flurry of activities in real estate sector. Well-known realty majors are developing a large number of projects to meet the growing demands in the commercial, residential and retail sectors in the area.

Bestech Group, a twenty-year-old company managed by professionals with construction background is prominent name in the northern part of the country. The group has a portfolio that boasts of real estate development, hospitality and construction, Bestech Group, is owned, managed and led by Dharmendra Bhandari and Sunil Satija.

Powered by a multi-disciplinary team of specialists and professionals, Bestech Group is constantly innovating and growing. With a total commitment to quality and meeting time schedules, the group always ensures the highest degree of professional handling at all levels.

Company has started new projects based on exciting new concepts of modern lifestyle. At present the Group has an impressive list of completed and under-construction projects in its kitty. These projects include residential and commercial complexes, integrated townships, shopping malls and IT parks.

Bestech has recently launched its Flagship project in Sector -47, Gurgaon. Park View Spa – Nothing More to Desire A prize project by Bestech, Park View Spa is spread over 13 acres and is a premium luxury apartment endeavor from Bestech. Park View consists of 390 units of 3 B/R & 4 B/R and also includes Penthouses with 5 B/R. Bestech has designed this project centered around a Spa to make everyday a rejuvenating experience for its owners. Each apartment is air-conditioned, floorings laid with imported marbles in living and dining area, modular kitchens, R.O. water purification unit and shower cubicle in all bathrooms. Park View Spa is all this and much, much more and definitely meant for those with distinctly refined taste.

But what sets this project apart is a luxurious spa complete with Jacuzzi in every apartment says MD Dharmendra Bhandari. The success of the Spa project shows the trust of customers in the Bestech Brand, he added. The 80% of the project sold in just 30 days, he said.

Strategically located in Gurgaon’s Sector 47, Park View Spa is about 1 km away from NH-8, 0.5 km from Medicity and 2 kms from the last Metro station. Other highlights of Park View Spa include lush green landscapes, a fully equipped gym, plunge pool, putting greens, Badminton/ Basketball/Tennis & Squash courts, meditation and contemplation center, children’s play area, 24-hour 3-tier security with monitoring systems and ample parking space to accommodate a fleet of cars for every apartment owner. The entire complex enjoys sufficient power back up. Daily necessities can be acquired from the shopping store inside the complex and there’s a ‘Facility Management Center’ to take care of all the bills and maintenance needs. The in house club of the Park View Spa has swimming pool, steam, sauna, beauty parlour and massage center. Park View Spa is an embodiment of finest living.

The sample flat of Park View Spa, with select marble and tiles is appreciated by one and all.

After the overwhelming response of Park View Spa, Bestech is shortly launching a project in Sector-67, Gurgaon Sohna Road, “Park View Spanext” (affordable luxury flats). The location and the specification of the project makes it unique, said MD of the company Sunil Satija. The accommodation available is of 3 B/R, 4 B/R and Penthouses.

The apartments are priced between Rs 60 to 90 lakhs.

Bestech Group is developing commercial and IT projects over an area of approx 2.5 million sqft, 50% of which shall be delivered within the next 6 months, and the remaining within the next 6-12 months. Few of the landmark commercial projects are Bestech Cyber Park, Park View Business Tower, Bestech Chambers, and Orient Bestech Business Tower. In residential arena, it has already developed over 2000 residential dwelling units at various group housing in Gurgaon and in a township in Dharuhera. Park View City, Park View City-2, Park View Residency, Park View Delight, and Park View Sapnext are few prestigious projects based in Gurgaon.

The hospitality divisions of Bestech Group have two 4 star hotels which are fully operational. ‘Park Plaza’ in Noida with 88 rooms and 2 specialty restaurants and ‘Radisson Suites’ Gurgaon. Further two 5 star hotels – ‘Radisson Indore’ and ‘Radisson Nagpur’, each comprising more than 200 rooms are heading for completion.

The group is in the process of developing new and exciting projects targeting different customers. It is forging new methodologies and technological back-ups for building a new and better tomorrow. The landmark projects initiated by the Group independently are symbols of perfection and precision and the result of concerted efforts of its professionals, engineers, design specialists and suppliers.

Bestech is steaming ahead with innovation and commitment, striving relentlessly to better its previous performance.

Source : http://content.magicbricks.com/bestech-group-building-more-than-trust

SAS Arcadia Independent floors, Independent floors in Gurgaon.

Affordable Independent floors in Gurgaon by SAS Arcadia. Independent floors in gurgaon starting from Rs 24 Lacs at sector- 83 & 84. Arcadia Independent floors in gurgaon +Arcadia Independent floors in grugaon

SAS Arcadia launches affordable Independent Floors with 2BHK & 3BHK at Sector 83, 84, Gurgaon.

Location:
With Metro connectivity ,Expressway and close proximity to the International and Domestic Airport, the location is a favoured destination due to its ease of commutation .With plethora of shopping centers ,clubs and themes parks in close proximity,life in the city is a bundle of joys.

Twin Advantages – Unmatched in NCR

LOCATED AT CONVERGENCE OF 2 METROLINES
1st – Proposed Gurgaon line from South Delhi
2nd – Proposed metro line from Dwarka

LOCATED AT THE JUNCTION OF 2 EXPRESSWAYS
1st – Existing eight lane expressway-NH-8
2nd – Proposed Dwarka 8 lane expressway with 150 meters wide northern periphery road.

Sizes and Prices

ARCADIA – PINE ( 240 Sq yds )

3 BR + KIDS BR – GF Ground Floor- 1128 sqft (Built up area) 1575 sqft (super area)  35.00 Lacs
3 BR + KIDS BR – FF First Floor -1128 sqft (Built up area) 1575  sqft (super area) 31.50 Lacs
2 BR + KIDS BR – SF Second Floor- 871  sqft (Built up area) 1214 sqft (super area) 24.50 Lacs

ARCADIA – EBONY ( 300 Sq yds )

4 BR -  GF Ground Floor- 1366 sqft (Built up area) 1907 sqft (super area) 45.00 Lacs
4 BR -  FF First Floor – 1323 sqft (Built up area) 1847 sqft (super area) 38.00 Lacs
3 BR -  SF Second Floor -1091 sqft (Built up area) 1522sqft (super area) 29.00 Lacs
* Unit Sizes may vary +/- 10 %
* The prices can be revised any time on the sole discretion of the management .
* The above cost is inclusive of one dedicated surface car parking , EDC/IDC (Existing ) .

For more details for the project, please click on following link:
http://www.propjunction.com/advcontactus.aspx?project=Ge …

SAS Group:
The vision that drives the SAS Group of companies is a dogged determination to build lasting businesses that create enduring value for all its stake-holders.This is perhaps the key to its continued success – a firm belief in building for the long-term, in every sense of the word, combined with the necessary patience and grit to work towards achieving the most challenging goals.

The SAS Group of companies has over twenty years of experience in conceptualizing, initiating and implementing, operating and then successfully sustaining continued growth, in the businesses they have undertaken.

SAS Group is now a conglomerate which has its diversified interest ranging from Hospitals, Hospitality, Telecom, Real Estate, Facility Management, Micro Finance Etc.

Source : http://www.prlog.org/10325272-sas-arcadia-independent-floors-independent-floors-in-gurgaon-call-9990444500-for-independent-floor.html

Residential prices creep up

Call it better home loan rates or just improved consumer confidence and market sentiment, demand in the residential category, particularly in the affordable segment, has picked up.

And, as bookings and enquiries pour in, developers, particularly in Mumbai, have gone back to the customary practice of hiking rates, which have risen 20-30 per cent since May and continue to go up by the day as bookings grow.

Sales improve

Of late, there has been a marked improvement in sales across metros. DLF reported bookings for 1,356 apartments, measuring 2 million sq.ft, for its project Capital Greens, on a single day.

Indiabulls Group, which launched an affordable home project in Gurgaon, has closed over 100 bookings of its launch of 200 in the first phase. The project is a cluster of 800 apartments.

In Mumbai, Kalpataru Group’s project in Thane saw 110 flats sold in 10 days at Rs 3,100 per sq.ft. Another of its project at LBS Marg logged a sale of 50 flats after the rate for a two-and-a-half BHK was reduced from Rs 98 lakh to Rs 82 lakh. At the distant western Mumbai suburb of Virar, a residential township project promoted by Rustomjee and Evershine on 217 acres registered sale of 174 apartments at Rs 1,700 a sq.ft.

“DB Realty project at Dahisar registered 1,400 bookings, even before construction began,” says Mr Suman Memani, Associate Vice-President, Religare Securities, who also points out that prices have since gone up, particularly in the Mumbai suburbs.

Prices go up

According to Mr Memani, HDIL’s Versova project launched at Rs 7,500 a sq.ft had since gone up to Rs 9,500. Similarly, DB Realty had raised prices at Dahisar to Rs 3,300, from Rs 2,700. The most recent instance is of the Harasiddhi Group, which launched its offering in Goregaon, near here, at Rs 10,000 a sq.ft (carpet area), raised the price to 10,300 a sq.ft.

In general, the price hike creeps in after 50-60 per cent of the project gets sold out. In some ways developers are testing the waters and gauging how much the market can absorb. In any case, after the major chunk is sold any developer can afford to wait for a better tiding, he says.

The price increase is only 5-8 per cent since May, says Mr Anand J. Gupta, General Secretary, Builders Association of India.

Justifying the increase, Mr Gupta says it is purely based on demand-supply dynamics. Builders, who were languishing for want of enquiries, now see a silver lining on the horizon, after they had lowered prices to the maximum to stimulate demand.

Mr Gupta points out that historically real estate had either gone up or come down. It had never been stagnant and in places where it had been constant, development was rather stunted such as in Baroda and Ahmedabad. For ages, the only reason for real estate remaining a choice asset class is because it appreciates, he says.

NO JUSTIFICATION

Mr Pawan Swamy, Managing Director – West India, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, sees little justification for escalation in rates at this point in time. The corrections that have taken place in overheated locations of cities such as Mumbai were required, since developers had priced themselves out of the market.

The fact that the slowdown forced them to rationalise their rates has been working to the developers’ advantage, and one would have assumed that the recent market dynamics had delivered a clear and unequivocal message.

However, Mr Swamy feels that there has been a resurgence of demand for residential property in many markets that are not seeing much supply. In such locations, a number of developers who have successfully sold a sizable component of their existing projects are now attempting to see what kind of price escalations the market will be able to accommodate.

This is, to a significant extent, a gamble that can backfire if the developer in question misjudges market dynamics.

However, this is not happening across the board, but rather in high demand-low supply locations and only among developers who have sufficient capital clout. Nevertheless, much depends on the buyer community — if such price escalations are pandered to, we may be looking at price bubbles building up in such locations.

Last month, Mr Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC, cautioned developers against raising prices, stating that such a move would stall recovery of the segment. He was also sceptical about the builder fraternity’s commitment to the affordable housing segment.

Source : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2009/08/30/stories/2009083051051500.htm

Developers witness revival of big ticket residential deals

The wealthy and elite across the country are scouting for good deals in the real estate sector. And in their kitty are a few crore of rupees to buy Land as investment the home of their choice. The concept of bigger, better and more luxurious has caught on. So is the demand in the Rs 5 crore plus housing seeing a revival?

Says Anuj Puri, chairman & country head of global real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), “Our Homebay residential agency has concluded several high-ticket residential transactions over the past three to four months, and we can vouch for a significant sea-change in how the luxury home market is being perceived. High networth individuals (HNIs) have begun to show renewed investment sense of purchasing luxury properties in prime locations of leading metros, realizing that supply in such locations is limited.”

But some feel that this demand is primarily coming from existing projects. Shveta Jain, national head, marketing & investment, residential, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) India, says there already are significant amount of existing projects in the luxury segment that have not been fully absorbed. The demand, thus, is not significant enough to warrant key new luxury project launches, she feels.

At a time when affordable is the buzz in the real estate sector, are developers looking at new luxury launches? Manu Goswami, head, business development and strategic planning, Jaypee Greens, says although they have not launch anything over the last 10 months, they do have plans of launching luxury projects in mid September.

“The demand has turned around over the last few months. But people are more choosy now.” The developer has Estate Homes in Greater Noida which are priced at an upwards of Rs 8 cr and about 50% of their inventory has already been sold.

During the boom time in 2007, real estate developers were mainly concentrating on luxury projects. The margin for a developer in luxury housing would be at least 15-20% higher than say an affordable housing project. So for many, this seemed as a more attractive proposition in earlier times. But developers defend this logic.

“The absolute margins may be higher for a luxury development but the profitability also accrues over a much longer period of time vis-a-vis affordable housing which gets sold much earlier,” adds Goswami.

However, there are some developers who are not launching any new projects in this category at the moment. BPTP, for instance, is focusing on the affordable housing segment. But they agree that activity has started happening in the luxury segment. “The elite who were earlier waiting for the right investment opportunity have now started buying property. There has been an increase in demand for luxury housing,” says a BPTP spokesperson.

Raheja Developers too has an upcoming project — Raheja Atlantis, a ready-to-move-in luxury housing project. Located on NH-8 in Sector 31, Gurgaon, villas and presidential suites are primarily available for sale. It’s priced at Rs 6,600 per sq ft.

Harinder Dhillon, GM, marketing, Raheja Developers, says the demand has been quite encouraging. “In Atlantis we have had over 30 bookings in the last three months at Rs 1.50 cr onwards per apartment. The demand for luxury housing is making a comeback, provided it is ready to move in and at a good location.”

Most of the demand in the apartments segment is being seen for ready-to-move-in apartments. “We are witnessing enhanced demand for completed Land as investment projects or those nearing completion,” says Rohtas Goel, chairman National Real Estate Development Council and CMD of Omaxe. He says developers across the board are noticing this trend and focusing on completing existing projects and speeding up delivery.

Puri of JLLM too seconds the view. “The highest demand is for ready-to-move luxury properties, since the ability of developers to complete projects is generally not being viewed with much enthusiasm at the current time.

However, there are serious purchase inquiries for under-construction projects by highly reputed developers, especially in locations where there is very little potential for future supply.”

Real estate investment advisers such as Ashok Kumar find that the bulk of revival in Delhi has been in the heart of the city in premium areas such as Defence Colony and Greater Kailash where the supply is limited. So deal hunters are now picking up plots for between Rs 12-19 crore to redevelop old properties. And the buyers? CEOs, professionals and HNIs.

Buyers today are willing to spend to get the home of their choice. But the last economic downturn has showed them that long-term investments are counter-productive. Projects are behind schedule by one to two years and there is no guarantee that buying at premium rates fetches you better returns. Therefore buying a near-complete apartment is seen as mitigating the risk.

Though developers too have started to build in the affordable segment in keeping with the thrust of the government and the incentives offered to developers as well as buyers, few have exited the luxury segment. But with an increased interest shown from buyers, it seems that luxury housing is ready for a grand comeback.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News-by-Industry/Realty-sees-revival-of-big-deals/articleshow/4949705.cms

Haryana eases building norms, makes room for cheaper homes

New Delhi:  Homebuyers can now look forward to buying homes for as low as Rs 4 lakh to Rs 16 lakh in Gurgaon, thanks to a recent policy initiative by the Haryana government. The state government’s new scheme caps the price of the homes built by developers in return for permission to builders to make more housing units of smaller sizes in the same area.

Developers say the scheme will help launch new projects and increase cashflow . “Projects under the scheme would give minimal margin. Nevertheless , developers would be encouraged to launch homes under the scheme, as there is a great demand for low-cost homes,” says Navin Raheja, chairman of Delhi-based Raheja Developers that plans to shortly launch some projects in Gurgaon under the scheme.

The incentives for developers include a relaxed density norm (from current 250 people per acre in Gurgaon to 600 people per acre) and higher ground coverage area from 35% to 50%. “The move to relax density norms will help us build smaller homes and thus make them more affordable ,” Unitech head of corporate planning R Nagraju said, adding that it was impossible to build homes of less than 1,500 sq ft on average under present density norms. Under the new scheme, a 10-acre plot will be able to house over 1,200 dwelling units as against 450 units at present, Mr Raheja estimates.
A larger ground coverage means concrete structure could occupy larger area on the ground thus lowering project costs. Construction cost is usually lower in low-rise buildings.

Under the scheme, which will be open for developers until November 20, the low-cost homes with a minimum carpet area of 25 sq mt (approx 350 sq ft) will have a maximum price tag of Rs 4 lakh all over the state. Dwelling units with a minimum 48 sq mt (approx 700 sq ft) carpet area, defined as affordable category by the government, will be sold for Rs 16 lakh in Gurgaon-Manesar urban complex, Rs 14 Lakh in Faridabad, Panchkula and Ballabhgarh complex and Rs 12.50 lakh for rest of the state.

Below poverty line (BPL) families as well as the class IV staff of the state government will be eligible for the Rs 4-lakh homes, which will be at least 15% of the total dwelling units built in a project. The allotment will be made through a draw of lots and allottees can’t sell their property before five years of possession.

Haryana government’s new scheme caps the price of the homes built by developers in return for permission to builders to make more housing units of smaller sizes in the same area

Incentives for developers include a relaxed density norm (from current 250 people per acre in Gurgaon to 600 people per acre) and higher ground coverage area from 35% to 50%

Under the new scheme, a 10-acre plot will be able to house over 1,200 dwelling units as against 450 units at present.

Source : http://content.magicbricks.com/haryana-changes-building-norms-to-make-room-for-cheaper-homes

Spire South Gurgaon, Sohna Road Gurgaon !! Spire South Sector 68 Gurgaon, Spire South

We are Rai Realtors, For further details of Spire South Gurgaon Call our exclusive Sales Lines +91 9990884141/ +91 9990885151/ +91 9990886161/ +91 9999913391 and we will be happy to assist/guide you right through.

Spire World is launching Spire South in Sector 68 on Sohna Road Gurgaon. Spire South Gurgaon is spread over a huge lush green garden of 18 acres and all Ground+9 Story Structure.

Mera Ghar Meri Marzi Concept (Customized Option):
This concept is introduced in real estate first time. Every individual have different needs such as old age persons prefer security, bachelors have their own different needs or Married person have others. Therefore company has designed five options in a single segment for e.g. if anyone books 900 sq ft, company will offer him five different options to choose their dream house as per their own preference. This option is applicable for all different dimensions.
Green Building Concept Mainstream Green is a philosophy that first brings together the most lucrative residential factors- location, typology etc – and then infuses ‘Green Building’ features in the structure to reduce costs and maximize efficiency. It addresses current needs & future challenges, keeping in mind the available natural resources. It thus promotes an architecture that brings about the perfect confluence between the constructed & the natural environmental.

Flexible payment Plan:
Company is offering three different payment options i.e. Construction link plan, Development link plan & Combo Plan (which shall be described later)

Key Features & Amenities:
• Climate Proof controls, Insulated roofs, Open area covered by shrubs, trees, External electrification by solar panels, solar hot water system results 30% energy efficient.
• Mera Ghar Meri Marzi Spread over in 18 acres of land Located on three side sector road (250 ft wide roads each)Located on Sohna Road, Sector 68 Gurgaon .
• Excellent connectivity to Gurgaon- NCR through upcoming Metro
• Proximity to residential, retail & commercial development on Sohna road
• World Class Schools such as Shikshantar, The Shri Ram school, DPS, Amity International, Heritage, Pathways & GD Goenka within 20 minutes driving distance
• Leading hospitals such as Medicity, Artemis, Max, Fortis, Apollo, Sir Gangaram & Batra Hospital within 20 minutes driving distance.
• Ground + 9 storey structure

For further information about Booking process write to info@rairealtors.in or you may call on +91 9999913391 or +91 9711199708

Source : http://www.bignews.biz/?id=811074&keys=Spire-South-Gurgaon-Spiresouthsohnaroadgurgao

Gurgaon Rapidly Develops as One of the Most Modern Cities of India

Gurgaon has emerged as one of the most modern cities of India, with state-ofthe-art commercial buildings, posh residential condominiums and large malls. It has emerged as the first choice for a large number of multinational companies opening their offices in the country. The township has benefited hugely from its proximity to India’s capital and power centre at Delhi. In the last ten years, Gurgaon has had a number of MNCs opening their offices here. This has led to a rapid growth in real estate in the city, and today, it has emerged as a major residential, commercial and retail hub. Favorable government policies, good connectivity with Delhi, and its upcoming infrastructure has enabled Gurgaon to position itself as an industrial & IT/ITeS hub. A number of IT/ITeS companies, auto and auto ancillaries and garment export industries are operating out of this place.

The city’s proximity to the domestic and international airports, quality of real estate developments coupled with proactive government policies have helped it to grow faster than any other competing suburbs of Delhi, says Samir Jasuja of PropEquity, a real estate research firm. The commissioning of NH-8 (Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway) has further fuelled developments in Gurgaon. The Metro link, currently under construction, will further strengthen Gurgaon’s position in the NCR by providing muchneeded quality public transport connectivity. The city has also benefited from the government’s enhanced focus on a comprehensive infrastructure development plan for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the NCR. However, Gurgaon has still a long way to go in terms of social and physical infrastructure as it faces severe power shortages and traffic bottlenecks.

Jasuja says the city is all set to witness a fresh residential supply of 97.60 million sq ft during 2009-2011, 80% of which has already been sold. However, the slowdown in economy for the last one year has affected its rate of absorption. The slowdown in absorption or sale of residential units has led to a significant price drop, in the range of 30% to 45%, for projects getting completed in 2010-2011, and 20% to 30% for projects nearing completion in 2009, Jasuja says. The completed projects are also witnessing a price drop of 10% to 15%. On the other hand, drop in prices have led to an increase in real estate activities as residential sales have picked up due to this significant price correction since the first quarter of 2009. It has also lured developers to launches residential projects in the affordable price bracket.

The slowdown has also affected commercial office market, which witnessed a drop in demand with corporates deferring expansion plans owing to changed business environment. Commercial office market witnessed corrections in terms of capital values and lease rentals. According to a report of PropEquity, the city saw a supply of 7.3 million sq ft in 2008, of which only 63% was absorbed. The gap between demand and supply is expected to widen in the current year as a lot of projects that were scheduled to be operational by 2008, have been delayed and are now likely to get completed in 2009, resulting in an increased supply at 20.9 million sq ft of commercial space in 2009.

The retail market has been affected due to a decrease in consumer spending, as a result of the ongoing slowdown. The earlier expansion plans of retailers are likely to be revised. In fact, retailers are using the slowdown as an opportunity to renegotiate existing leases at lower rentals. With high vacancy levels, developers are evaluating revenue sharing models to attract retailers. But, with the correction in prices, construction activities are picking up. The new Gurgaon-Manesar Master Plan, in fact, is fuelling a boom in developments. It has brought in fresh areas under development and given a lease of life to the city.

The city, says Jasuja, is expected to grow along the southern peripheral area where Sohna Road and Golf Course Road extension are the major growth corridors. With the local civic body – Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) introducing the Gurgaon- Manesar Master Plan 2021, the availability of land for development and avenues for new growth corridors has opened up. Sector 8, 11, 12, 12A and Palam Vihar comprise the old section of Gurgaon. Sector 4, 5, 14, 15, 29, 56 and 57 are amongst the most developed HUDA sectors in Gurgaon. Areas like DLF Phase I-V, Sushant Lok I-III and Golf Course road are the prime residential areas commanding the highest real estate prices. Concentration of new development is mainly in the new sectors, Jasuja points out. Dharuhera, Sohna Road, Pataudi Road, DLF Phase V are the emerging growth corridors.

Total city-level supply by 2011, a report by PropEquity says, is 107.56 million sq ft, including a completed stock of 9.95 million sqft spread across 111 projects, comprising apartments and villas. As per the new master plan, 14,930 hectare of land has been allotted for residential use with an addition of 58 new sectors. 27 per cent of the proposed residential land is under the process of licensing.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/gurgaon-rapidly-develops-as-one-of-the-most-modern-cities-of-india.html

DLF Set to Finalise India’s Largest Land Deal

Real estate major DLF is set to bag India’s largest land deal. Haryana government sources said DLF has emerged as the sole bidder to qualify for 350.7 acres of prime land in Gurgaon close to South Delhi for development of a recreation and leisure project which will include an 18-hole golf course. Haryana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) disqualified the two other bidders on technical grounds. HSIIDC had fixed the minimum reserve price as Rs 1,700 crore for the land at Wazirabad village on Gurgaon-Faridabad road which includes part of Sectors 42, 53 and 54 as well as agricultural land for the project comprising commercial, residential, sports and golf course activities. A senior HSIIDC official said DLF’s bid was approximately Rs 1,750 crore.

If the deal goes through, it would be the largest single land deal in the country so far. Though BPTP had bagged a 95-acre plot in Noida last year for a whopping Rs 5,000 crore, the deal had to be called off after the realtor failed to make the complete payment. DLF had purchased a 38-acre plot in west Delhi from DCM Shriram Group for Rs 1,680 crore. “We did not open the financial bids of two others as they failed to meet the technical criteria. The sub-committee set up to take the final view on the bidding will submit its report to the government and then the decision would be taken,’’ the official added.

Bharti and Unitech were the two other bidders, officials said. “One of the lead partners in case of Bharti Realty could not meet the financial conditions. In case of Unitech, it did not have the experience of managing an 18-hole golf course for 10 years. Though it has developed one at Manesar, it still does not have the occupation certificate,’’ a HSIIDC official said. However, sources maintained that Unitech had quoted Rs 1950 crore and Bharti Realty Rs 2,500 crore for the project. Though the agency had floated tenders in January, it received only one bid from DLF. It then decided to retender the project with modifications.

In order to make the project viable, HSIIDC increased the FAR by 20%. This additional construction rights could be used by the developer to increase FAR in any of its projects in Gurgaon-Manesar plan. The new revised bid document also incorporated that the government would get environmental and defence clearances for the project. Earlier, these clearances were the responsibility of the developer. The authority also relaxed the payment plan. “These new incorporations are going to benefit DLF in a major way since it has several projects going on in the region,’’ said a market analyst.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/dlf-set-to-finalise-indias-largest-land-deal.html

Changing Real Estate Scenario in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities

The demand fundamentals of the India story are now focused around all 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, the key cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara come readily to mind. Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and Pantnagar and Rudrapur in Uttaranchal attracted a lot of residential developers that met with success, thanks to proactive Government policies. In the South, Coimbatore, Vizag and Kochi emerged, either thanks to a large investor segment or as the outcome of sufficient economic activity. Towards the West, Pune, Nasik and Nagpur are noteworthy in this context. In all cases, developers positioned their development close to industrial hubs, targeting a totally different price segment and making the most of it.

This said, every developer was inspired to create a national footprint three to four years back. While this was a worthy ambition, it was poorly conceived as a plan since many of them did not factor in State Government-level regulatory challenges such as local municipal laws. They also did not consider that they may not have had the requisite financial resources, organizational depth and knowledge of the local markets to manage and execute projects in Tier II and Tier III cities. Nor had they accurately gauged the demand fundamentals of these locations. Such developers proceeded to enter into land acquisition on their own equity and were caught short-footed, not realising that the property cycles were then at their peak, and that there was bound to be a correction – if not a fall.

Major players are now going to re-align their positions vis-à-vis unexplored territories. There is now a very clear realisation that it is extremely difficult to become a genuine Pan India player in every geography and real estate segment. Moreover, developers today have woken up to the fact that there is only limited capital available to real estate players today – capital that is earmarked for residential projects, construction funding against achieved leases and signed contracts, or for cities displaying sufficient demand even in subdued market conditions. In the current context, it makes sense for developers to re-strategize and focus on their core geographies. For example, if a certain developer is extremely accomplished as a residential player in the South, having high credibility and sufficient brand recall in this region, such a company would ask itself how wise it is to experiment in the North or the West, and whether it would not make more sense to expand in the South.

Likewise, developers accomplished in IT projects would now concentrate on geographies that feature a healthy IT component, and avoid branching out into cities that lack a sufficient volume of such activity. Such developers would see the virtue of focusing on IT-centric cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Pune, and re-think on plans to invest in cities that lack Information Technology activity. Tier II and Tier III cities still represent a great story, especially in terms of affordable housing for industrial workforces. However, this story may no longer be suitable for some of the larger developers. These are locations where the strength of regional players will come into play. There is at least one strong developer in every region. For instance, Panchshil Realty, Magarpatta, Paranjape Builders and Kumar Builders are very powerful local brands in Pune, with a company like Pharande Spaces practically spearheading the residential drive in Pune’s PCMC area. These brands have demonstrated that they understand their geographies better than any players who arrive from the outside to experiment on the Tier II / Tier III story.

The success of these local developers will inspire larger developers from beyond a region’s borders after the fundamentals of that area’s demand are captured sufficiently and the markets are sanitised in terms of municipal and financial market stabilisation. In the next one to two years, developers will have realigned their business strategies sufficiently to leverage the potential of Tier II / III cities that have sufficient market drivers or are witnessing considerable investor activity (such as Kochi, Surat, Mohali and Chandigarh).

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/changing-real-estate-scenario-in-tier-2-and-tier-3-cities.html

Realtors turn malls and office plans into homes

Mumbai: Residentials hot, commercial space not.

With developers forced to return to the drawing board to make projects financially viable, the landscape is, indeed, changing.

Look what TTK Prestige, the cooker-to-condom maker, said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange last week.

In 2007, the company had entered into a joint development agreement with Kolkata-based Salarpuria Group to develop a 6.3 acre site in Dooravani Nagar, Bangalore.

The initial plan was to construct a mall to ensure recurring rentals. But the financial crisis has forced a change: residential blocks will be added to the project.

“Taking into account the ground reality, Salarpuria suggested putting up a residential-cum-office space. But a decision on this is yet to be taken,” said K Shankaran, director and secretary, TTK Prestige.

The management feels the new plan makes sense from a liquidity point of view.

Also last week, another firm, Sunteck Realty, said it was revisiting its project –a commercial complex on a 1.5 acre site between Kandivali and Borivali. “The project hadn’t even reached the drawing board when we closed the deal a few months back. However, taking into account the oversupply situation in Mumbai’s commercial space, we thought it prudent to develop a high-end residential complex instead, with a small portion of retail added to it,” said Sunteck Realty managing director Kamal Khetan.

Orbit Corporation, the south Mumbai realtor, decided convert its 2.5 lakh sq ft commercial development, called the Hafeez Contractor House in Lower Parel, into a residential project.

Pujeet Agarwal, managing director, Orbit, said the company is actually converting two commercial developments — the Lower Parel one and another in Andheri — into residential ones.

Realty analysts said oversupply and declining demand is making such commercial space development unviable.

“The government’s initiatives towards reducing borrowing costs is reflected in declining interest rates on home loans. This, coupled with realty prices getting more realistic are helping maintain the excitement in the residential space,” said Sanjay Dutt, CEO, business, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, the real estate consultancy.

Revival in demand for commercial space, meanwhile, will largely depend on the global economic scenario.

“The only movement that I see is offices being relocated to more reasonably priced commercial developments thereby cutting costs,” said Dutt.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs in a recent report, said primary residential volume trends (year to date till May this year) indicated recovery in markets such as Mumbai and Noida.

“Inventory days in the two cities have fallen back to early 2008 levels or better. However, the overhang in Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon and Hyderabad remains significant with at least 15 months of inventory in the pipeline,” Goldman analysts Vishnu Gopal and Aditya Soman wrote.

With inputs from Pooja Sarkar in Kolkata

Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_realtors-turn-malls-and-office-plans-into-homes_1282909

Lower Interest Rates cheers Gurgaon real estate market

Encouraged by price correction and lowering of interest rates, the real estate market, after a period of relative inactivity lasting the first few months of the year, witnessed improved levels of activity on the part of retail investors in the residential sector, especially in the low to mid-end housing segment, said experts as well as market analysis reports of the second quarter in 2009.

CBRE Market View, India Office , published for the second quarter, said: “Level of enquiries went up and, more significantly, transaction velocity also increased marginally as compared to Q1 (first quarter) of 2009… However with most of the activity confined to smaller format offices, vacancy levels remain high. Most developers deferred plans for launching any new projects, the focus being on deploying the scarce resources on completing projects in hand.”

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/lower-interest-rates-cheers-gurgaon-real-estate-market.html

Ambuja Realty to execute Rs 4,000 cr housing projects

Ambuja Realty Development has planned to execute projects worth Rs 4,000 crore in the next five years. According to Harshvardan Neotia, company’s chairman, all options would be kept open for raising funds for the projects. The company has kept options open for divestment in the closely held company.

He informed, “IPO or any other means to raise funds would depend on several conditions like market response, project schedules, booking, bank credit and capital market conditions. If the situation demands, we are open to raise funds from the market, but there is no plan as of now.”

Gurgaon, Faridabad to be developed as green cities
The Haryana government has planned to develop Gurgaon and Faridabad as green cities.

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the project meet the energy challenges, reduce dependence on fossil fuel, expensive oil and gas for energy and also to promote increased use of renewable energy. “The state government would be assisted in preparation of a master plan for increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy supply in these cities, besides having in place institutional arrangements for implementation of the master plan,” Hooda said.

These will be the first cities in Haryana to be brought under the development of solar cities programme, launched by the new and renewable energy ministry.

Oakwood plans apartment with five-star facilities
Oakwood Worldwide, a leading player in the service-apartment segment, has announced plans to open 11 five-star temporary housing facilities across the country by 2012. The locations for its facilities would include Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Vikas Kapai, country general manager, Oakwood Worldwide, said “These properties are under construction. Meanwhile, we have also signed 11 deals with real estate developers for the new constructions. It would come up with two more properties in Mumbai, and two in Chennai in the next one year.”

Realtor to develop vaastu-compliant township
Kolkata-based Shristi Infrastructure Development has planned to develop a mega integrated township with the name of Shristinagar at Asansol, West Bengal.

The vaastu-compliant project, with built up area of 6 million sq ft, will offer 2,400 apartments, in addition to plots, group housing structures, bungalows, row housing and premium residential apartments. Keeping options open for people who would prefer community living and yet want to develop a dream home. We will develop vaastu-compliant houses for 5,000 families at Shristinagar, spread over 90 acres,” said Hemant Kanoria, director, Shristi Infrastructure.

RICS to launch professional courses in realty sector
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the UK-headquartered organisation which trains professionals working in the land, property and construction sectors, has decided to start its professional courses in India.

Sachin Sandhir, MD, RICS India, said “We plans to start Centre of Excellence for Real Estate & Construction, for the development of specialised skills for professionals employed in the realty sector.” He said that the specialised courses in realty and construction management with durations of six months to two years.

Source : http://www.expressestates.in/full_story.php?content_id=93873

Developers Start New Projects Leaving Old Projects Midway

Home sales in India may be on the rebound, with real estate firms launching new projects to tap a revival in housing demand, but Ajay Jain remains an angry customer of DLF Ltd, the country’s largest property developer by sales. Singapore-based Jain, 49, who signed up in August 2006 for a four-bedroom apartment in DLF’s Belaire project in Gurgaon, a satellite town south-east of New Delhi, is upset that he has paid the developer at least 85% of the cost of the flat—Rs2.4 crore—but only half the work has been completed so far at the site. At the time of booking, Jain said, he was told that the project would be completed in three years—by August 2009. After paying two-three instalments, DLF gave Jain the buyer agreement in February 2007, which said that possession would be given within three years of signing the agreement.

“Though DLF has collected the money for this project, they are not bothered about completing it and instead, they keep investing in other projects,” Jain said in a phone interview with . Belaire is likely to be delayed by 15 months, say real estate consultants. Buyers such as Jain—those who bore the brunt of the downturn along with developers—are in plenty. Since mid-2008, projects of almost every developer across cities have been stuck, delayed or shelved. Average delays have ranged from six months to a year. But what irks buyers even more now is that while several existing projects are stuck mid-way, developers have started launching new ones. These projects, mostly in the budget range, promise possession to buyers within two years, yet there are few signs that the pace of construction at existing, delayed projects will be accelerated.

DLF declined to comment as it was in the mandatory silent period ahead of its first quarter results, likely to be released later this month. Since mid-2008, projects of almost every developer across cities have been stuck, delayed or shelved. In November, the company’s chairman K.P. Singh had said its assets under construction spread over hotels, residential and commercial projects were delayed because of lower demand and an industrywide liquidity crisis. DLF’s Belaire and Park Place projects in Gurgaon are likely to be delayed by 15-18 months, say consultants. Belaire was to be ready by August and Park Place by October. A visit to the sites showed that both projects are far from completion. At both sites, only the structure of the towers are ready. The DLF website reflects as much: Structural work is in progress both at Park Place and Belaire, it says.

With these projects lagging, DLF launched 2.8 million sq. ft of residential projects in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, compared with 2.1 million sq. ft launched during the first quarter of fiscal 2009, according to a July report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, a brokerage firm. This is true of other developers, too, who have launched new projects—mostly in the budget or affordable housing category—to generate cash flows even as their existing projects await completion. According to Motilal Oswal, real estate developers, including DLF, Unitech Ltd, Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd, Puravankara Projects Ltd and Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd, have launched 36 million sq. ft of residential space in the quarter gone by, compared with 2.6 million sq. ft in the year-ago quarter, across cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi, and its suburbs, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Of this, developers have already sold 44%, or 16 million sq. ft, of homes.

Unitech’s Fresco, Escape and Harmony projects, all within a 300-acre township, Nirvana Country in Gurgaon, look delayed as well. According to Unitech’s website, Escape and Harmony are to be delivered in the January-March quarter of 2010 and the first phase of Fresco is expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2009. But during a visit to the Escape construction site last week, site workers said construction had just restarted after a lull and it would take at least a year-and-a-half to finish the project. At Escape, only the structure is ready, but the landscaping within the project is still not done. Arvind Panwar, a buyer at the project, is visibly worried. He had bought a three-bedroom apartment in Escape for around Rs1 crore in July 2006. He had opted for a down payment plan, paying 95% of the cost of the flat at one time in return for a 10-11% discount on the base price of the flat.

Panwar, 35, who works with a tech firm in California, US, feels weighed down by loan instalments of around Rs70,000 every month. “I am worried because I am paying my (loan) EMIs regularly, but there is no clarity on when the possession of the apartment will be given,” he said. Panwar’s buyer agreement says the flat would be delivered within three years—a deadline that matures next month. “The penalty for delay that they have said they will pay (Rs5 per sq. ft per month) is nothing compared with the EMIs I am paying,” he said. “I have been getting lots of emails from Unitech and brokers on the new projects they have launched. I get frustrated when I see those mails.” Unitech had not responded to’s queries on email and text messages until late Wednesday. In Mumbai, with five projects still at various stages of construction and far from completion, local realty firm Neptune Developers Pvt. Ltd has launched two more this year.

A 125-acre affordable housing project was launched in March near Kalyan, about 50km north of south Mumbai, and an upmarket, 30-storey twin tower project in Bhandup, a northern suburb of the port city, in April. The developer is clear about the urgency to do so. “One needs to run the show and for that, one needs to keep adding cautiously to one’s portfolio even when times are not that good. We are only launching projects that will sell and ensure cash flow,” said Nayan Bheda, managing director of Neptune. The firm has sold 2,000 of 2,100 apartments in its budget housing project at Kalyan, said Bheda, and expects the development at Bhandup, priced at Rs5,000 a sq. ft, to sell out,too. The quantum of sales at the Kalyan project could not be independently verified by . A realty consultant seconds Bheda’s candidness. “Some developers are launching new projects in a particular price category to ensure cash flow to fund construction of its delayed, existing projects even at a lower profit margin,” said Ashutosh Limaye, associate director (strategic consulting) at Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, a property advisory.

Construction at Neptune’s projects running behind schedule has picked up after slowing down, Bheda said, without giving any more details. It doesn’t help, as a spokesman for Parsvnath Developers Ltd said, that realty firms see further liquidity pressure as buyers at older projects default or delay their instalments due to the developer. Bangalore developer Brigade Enterprises Ltd has nearly 20 projects at different stages of construction, each of which is lagging behind by at least six months from completion dates expected earlier, M.R. Jaishankar, chairman and managing director of the company, said at a press meet earlier this month. The Brigade Gateway-branded luxury apartments project in north Bangalore, for instance, is at least 10 months behind schedule and several blog sites on the Internet are flooded with complaints on the delay from customers there. The company has plans to enter the budget housing segment.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-developers/developers-start-new-projects-leaving-old-projects-midway.html

Premium residential properties again on buyers’ list

There is good news — and it’s coming from above. Across the country, cities are reporting a revival of sales interest in premium residential Land as investment

properties. In many cases, this is happening, even though the values have remained mostly unchanged. A few cities, however, have attributed the revival to a marginal fall in prices.

In the premium segment, most of the interest revolves around main city areas and resale properties. “Yes there is a movement in the premium segment but it still stands lower than in the Rs 30-40 lakh segment. Part of the demand for premium buys is coming from the secondary market and partly from the under-construction properties,” says Anshuman Magazine, CMD of global real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis.

In fact, this time round it is not speculators but end-users who are bargain hunting. An example is the COO of a leading multinational company in Delhi who had been looking for her dream home for three years within a budget of Rs 1.5 cr. But when she found the 3,000 sq ft apartment within her budget, she did not think twice about putting her money in.

Another buyer bought a property for Rs 18 cr in the upmarket Vasant Vihar area of the Capital for use by his family. This trend has kept realtor Ashok Kumar on his toes as he has done brisk sales in the Rs 3 crore per floor in premium South Delhi areas as well as the Rs 6 crore to Rs 30 crore sales in premium residential areas such as Vasant Vihar, Panchsheel Park, Greater Kailash and Defence Colony areas. In the suburban areas of Gurgaon, per sq ft rates of premium property is between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 on Sohna Road to Rs 15,000 on the Golf Course Road.

The asking rates were about 10-15% higher during the boom. Realtor Ravi Pundir says in Noida, Sectors 93, 50 and 62 have apartments of 1000-9000 sq ft each by developers such as Jaypee, Unitech, Amrapali and Mahagun at Rs 4,400-8,000/ sq ft.

Harinder Dhillon, GM, marketing, Raheja Developers, also agrees that demand in this segment has picked up. “Our Atlantis project in Gurgaon is in the range of Rs 1.5-1.6 cr, which has been seeing a good response. The fact is that end-users have realised that the market has already bottomed out and the price movement from here will only be upwards.”

Brix Research, the research arm of magicbricks.com, has been conducting a series of multi-city surveys to assess the demand of premium housing in the country since December 2008. Multiple sources, including developers, realtors and consumers, have been contacted on a sustained basis to arrive at these conclusions. The survey has found that the premium luxury apartments and bungalow market of Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 3.5 crore and above, has witnessed a revival across India since May 2009.

In Mumbai sale of premium property in areas such as Cuffe Parade, Carter Road, Andheri East, Juhu, Film City Road, Bandra, Pali Hills, Four Bungalows and Juhu Road Versova side did take place, though at 10% rate of transactions at values upwards of Rs 25-30 crore each. Row houses in Bandra and Carter Road areas sold during the reported slump at Rs 2- 2.5 crore each and values are unchanged. A few villa projects in the Royal Challenge area by developers such as Oberois and Rahejas are finding takers at Rs 8-9 crore each. Less premium developers are finding buyers at Rs 6-7 crore each, according to Chandan Chowdhary, a leading city realtor.

In Bangalore, the slump in the market continues. Premium localities along the Ring Road such as Cox Town, Indirapuram and Koramangala, have witnessed sale at 10% lower prices. Transactions have risen from the near zero to about 30-40% of peak numbers at Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.3 crore, according to city-based realtor Nadim Munjawar. However, in peripheral premium localities such as Whitefield, Electronic City and Sarjapur Road, prices have dipped by almost 30-40%.

In Chennai, in premium areas of Aryapuram, Besant Bagar, East Coast Road, Perungudi, Adyar, T Nagar, Ashok Nagar, KK Nagar and Boat Club prices Land as investment

range from Rs 50-60 lakh to Rs 5 crore and demand has dropped 95%. With values down by 10-15%, transactions have started picking up in luxury apartments, bungalows and individual houses. Local realtor Madhusudanan expects the situation to continue till 2010-11.
In Ahmedabad, luxury apartments of around 2,000 sq ft come at Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore. The rate of transactions are rising. Premium localities include Prahlad Nagar, Science City Road, Vastrapur, Satellite, Mani Nagar, Shahi Bagh, in and around Lajpat Club and upcoming localities such as Sanathan. Major developers in this segment include Pacifica Builders, Goyal, Savvi Infrastructure, Bakeri and Saffal groups. Realtor Anand Varani maintains that premium buyers are not impacted by falling interest rates or dropping property values. Only those scouting in the main city areas are looking for bargains.

In Kolkata, premium properties that have been launched 3-4 months ago, are selling since May-June 2009. Transactions are at 75% of peak numbers, says realtor Sandeep Sen. Transactions in the Rs 70 lakh to Rs 3 crore for 2,000-2,500 sq ft, 3 BHK apartments are taking place. Premium projects are coming up in Ballyganj Circular Road, Guru Sadi Road and Maysir Road. The shine is back in the premium real estate market. So this may be just the right time for you to scout for a good deal!

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/The-Sunday-ET/Property/Premium-residential-properties-again-on-buyers-list/articleshow/4794274.cms?curpg=2

Surge in demand for office space good for economy

The real estate market has shown a clear sign of revival following the formation of Congress-led UPA government with a clear majority at the Centre.
Apart from the affordable housing sector, which has witnessed a surge in demand, office space too has registered fresh demand, which was almost dormant for last one year, ever since the global economy went into a tailspin.

Commenting on the latest biometrics of the real estate sector in the country, Anshuman Magazine of CB Richard Ellis (South Asia) said, “In the 1st quarter of 2009, confidence and sentiment was low in the real estate market. The formation of a new government has improved market sentiment, while the global economic decline appears to be bottoming out. This has resulted in an improvement in the velocity of office space offtake, especially in the small to medium segments . This is further supported by a substantial decline in rentals in the past one year.”

Surge in demand for office space is a good sign for the economy, and also for the real estate sector. The opening of new offices means investment is likely to pick up, which will help revive the economy. At the same time, it also leads to creation of new jobs, which drives the demand for residential real estate. Normally, the demand for residential space increases by a factor of ten to that of office space.

Because of tough market conditions , coupled with a global slowdown, investments in the economy got badly hit. This resulted in a slowdown in demand for office space all of a sudden, in the last one year. But, the fresh supply of office space continued as buildings launched earlier to meet the expected strong demand for office space were completed during the period, even as the global economy was facing what may be billed as the second worst recession in the last hundred years.

This put pressure on rentals and capital value of office space in the country. In fact, this led to correction in rental rates and brought them down, closer to a more realistic level. CBRE report on office space said rentals in the secondary business district (SBD) of Nehru Place came down to more realistic levels with a correction of around 11% over the last quarter, to Rs 160 per sq ft per month.

Saket, another emerging market in the NCR, received minimal interest from the prospective office space occupiers. But as a huge supply of office space deluged markets in the last three months, the vacancy level in Saket rose to 35% and rental values corrected by around 22%, to Rs 140 per sq ft per month, over that in January-March 2009 quarter.

At Jasola, another promising SBD in the NCR, rental values fell by around 20%, to Rs 110 per sq ft per month due to a huge supply, 1.3 million sq ft during the period. Jasola is likely to benefit from a proposed fivestar hotel, multi-level parking facility and Metro-connectivity.

However, rentals in Gurgaon have not declined much in the last three months as they had already fallen substantially in the second half of 2008. In fact, corrections in the rentals have also helped in reviving demand for office space.

The report says Gurgaon witnessed an increase in the transaction activity, assisted by attractive leasing packages offered by most developers. Companies, the report says, which had postponed their expansion/relocation decisions due to negative sentiment are now ready to take advantage of the softened market and the options available for a phased take-up.

The report says Noida office market suffered heavily as rentals fell by 21%, to Rs 30 per sq ft per month, due to high vacancy levels at around 25-30 %. In fact, in the last one year, rentals in Noida dipped by almost 33%.

However, the positive aspect to all this is that leasing volume has increased by 3-4% in the NCR during the second quarter of 2009. The report says the increasing levels of corporate confidence should help this region and the momentum should be maintained in the second half of the year.

However, rentals in the commercial space market will continue to face challenges due to a large supply of new space, and till the time that the global economy gets back onto the path of recovery, opines Magazine. As rental values declined, the capital value of the property also suffered.

The fall in the capital values, however, has encouraged an increasing number of companies to explore and evaluate opportunities for an outright buy-out rather than leasing the required space. Though there is an improved level of activity in the sector, the markets are expected to remain soft in the short to medium term.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/Real-Estate/Surge-in-demand-for-office-space-good-for-economy/articleshow/4791799.cms

Housing Sector to Come up with 8,000 flats in NCR

In a move expected to give a big push to the housing sector in Gurgaon and Faridabad, the Haryana Housing Board is in the process of inviting expressions of interest for building 8,000 flats in these cities and some other places in the national capital region areas. This is in addition to the 38,000 housing units, majority of them in NCR, planned in the next two years. Under the latest project, the state will enter into an agreement with real estate developers to provide affordable housing to middle and lower middle class under the public private partnership mode.

“Since we do not have land in Faridabad and Gurgaon, we will be joining hands with private colonizers whose projects have been stuck due to the (economic) slowdown. We’ll prefer those who have the licence, and then those who have enough land,’’ said S P Gupta, chief administrator of the housing board. The announcement follows chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s assurance to developers that steps will be taken to counter the slump in the real estate market. It will also fulfil his commitment of providing cheap housing to locals, especially those in NCR cities of Gurgaon and Faridabad. Among the other areas selected for the project are Bawal (in Rewari district close to Gurgaon), Badhi (Sonepat) and Karnal.

Officials claim that around 828 units would come up at Badhi, a township to the north of Delhi. While the board is still working on the number of flats to be offered in Gurgaon and Faridabad, it plans to build 400 units for the lower middle class in Bawal. The housing board will share 50% cost of the project and forego profits. “We’ll also have some guidelines as far as profits of joint venture groups are concerned,’’ Gupta added. Earlier, the state had announced that as many as 38,000 houses would be built for all sections of society by 2011. Though the exact number of houses to be constructed close to Delhi hasn’t been worked out, it’s believed that most of these units will be in NCR where the demand is the highest.

http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/housing-sector-to-come-up-with-8000-flats-in-ncr.html

8,000 flats coming up in Gurgaon and Faridabad

CHANDIGARH: In a move expected to give a big push to the housing sector in Gurgaon and Faridabad, the Haryana Housing Board is in the process of  inviting expressions of interest for building 8,000 flats in these cities and some other places in the national capital region areas. This is in addition to the 38,000 housing units, majority of them in NCR, planned in the next two years.

Under the latest project, the state will enter into an agreement with real estate developers to provide affordable housing to middle and lower middle class under the public private partnership mode.

“Since we do not have land in Faridabad and Gurgaon, we will be joining hands with private colonizers whose projects have been stuck due to the (economic) slowdown. We’ll prefer those who have the licence, and then those who have enough land,” said S P Gupta, chief administrator of the housing board.

The announcement follows chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s assurance to developers that steps will be taken to counter the slump in the real estate market. It will also fulfil his commitment of providing cheap housing to locals, especially those in NCR cities of Gurgaon and Faridabad. Among the other areas selected for the project are Bawal (in Rewari district close to Gurgaon), Badhi (Sonepat) and Karnal.

Officials claim that around 828 units would come up at Badhi, a township to the north of Delhi. While the board is still working on the number of flats to be offered in Gurgaon and Faridabad, it plans to build 400 units for the lower middle class in Bawal. The housing board will share 50% cost of the project and forego profits. “We’ll also have some guidelines as far as profits of joint venture groups are concerned,” Gupta added.

Earlier, the state had announced that as many as 38,000 houses would be built for all sections of society by 2011. Though the exact number of houses to be constructed close to Delhi hasn’t been worked out, it’s believed that most of these units will be in NCR where the demand is the highest.

BOX

Flats planned by 2011.

Total no : 38,000

EWS : 15,340

LIG : 7,800

MIG : 7,100

HIG : 4,800

Others: 3,000

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-City-Delhi-8000-flats-coming-up-in-Gurgaon-and-Faridabad/articleshow/4786929.cms

The Leela Kempinski Hotel and Residences opens in Gurgaon, Delhi

The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has announced the launch of its first property in northern India — The Leela Kempinski Hotel and Residences — in the business district of Gurgaon, Delhi (NCR). The property is located within 15 minutes drive from the Indira Gandhi International Airport and is on the Delhi-Gurgaon border. The hotel offers 322 luxuriously appointed guestrooms and suites and 90 Residences in configuration of one, two and three bedroom options.

The Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon is the first property among the upcoming properties of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts in north India and is the first managed property of the group. The rooms feature modern amenities and facilities including Wi-Fi internet connectivity, Internet Protocol phones, LCD Television with Blue Ray Player, Bose iPod Dock, electronic safes and ergonomic mattresses. Two exclusive floors of The Royal Club will offer guests personalised and complimentary services with added Royal Club Lounge facilities.

Among dining alternatives is a unique 225 capacity restaurant with live kitchens, Spectra;

Source : http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=5541&sid=1

Ireo to invest $500m in Indian realty

The global investment fund Ireo announced its plans to invest $500 million in real estate projects across the country. The project mix will include both residential and commercial developments. The $500 million fo-rms part of the $2 billion tranche of fund available with the Ireo.
“We already have invested close to $1.5 billion towards development of 13 real estate projects in the country,” said Anurag Bhargava, chairman Ireo. He added that the company is now exploring options in tier I and II cities. “Residential projects will remain our priority though we are open to developing commercial projects like the SEZs,” Bhargawa explained.
The company has already completed three million square feet of residential development and has further plans to develop around eight million square feet residential and commercial pro-jects over the next one year.
At present, the company owns 3000-acre at Pune, Gurgaon, Mohali, Ludhinana, Ghaziabad, Noida, Chennai, Coimbatore, Goa and Jalandhar wherein it is developing thirteen realty projects that include development of IT-SEZ at Pune. The construction work of the IT-SEZ at Pune is expected to be complete by next year.
“Though the SEZs do not find favour with other developers in the changed economic environment, yet we feel that with right location and scale they still can be good business propositions,” quipped Bhargawa.
The company is also exploring options in the education and hospitality sectors. “The projects in these categories will largely be in and around the areas where we already are executing projects, as we have a fair amount of understanding of the market, he said.
The investor base of Ireo consists of several financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase, TPG-Axon, Citadel Investment Group and sovereign wealth funds.

Source : http://www.mydigitalfc.com/companies/ireo-invest-500m-indian-realty-875

Real Estate Developers have stopped Discounts on Properties

Developers in India have stopped offering discounts on properties and in some cases are even increasing prices as demand rises.

Rising sales are also prompting some developers to return to the luxury end of the real estate market which had stalled in the economic downturn.

‘Prices are likely to inch upwards in the coming months in some markets,’ said Kumar Gera, chairman of the Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Association of India.

But he added that even an increase in prices will still leave many developments cheaper than they were at the peak of the market a year ago. He estimated that the property crash saw prices fall 25 to 30% but proposed increases in coming months would be around 10 to 15%.

The prices increases vary. Unitech has increased prices marginally, by some 2% in its Gurgaon projects but Mumbai based developer Lodha Group has upped prices by 10 to 15%. A Lodha spokesman confirmed that prices had gone up in luxury projects launched in March. ‘We have marginally increased prices every month for these projects since their launch. But the market is in a good spot and the response is still good,’ said director Abhisheck Lodha.

Bangalore-based firm Brigade Enterprises cut its prices by 15% in April but has now increased them by 3 to 5% and said that it plans to continue doing so at regular intervals. ‘We are hoping that in one year’s time, prices will be back to the peak levels of 2007 to 2008,’ said chairman and managing director M.R. Jaishanker.

However, discounts through brokers have not yet disappeared from the market. Developers have increased the commission offered to brokers from 3% maximum to 5 to 6%. Brokers in turn are offering a discount of 1.5 to 2% on the price of property to buyers.

‘These are the same measures developers and brokers adopted to create a price bubble during the boom years. Demand has not risen to an extent that it can fuel a price increase,’ said S.G. Maheshwari, a Mumbai-based property consultant.

Aditi Vijayakar, residential executive director at property consultants Cushman and Wakefield is not convinced the market will carry the price increases. ‘Right now it is a fairly confused market. Rates have more or less bottomed out but there needs to be substantial amount of sales before buyers are convinced price increases are justified. I think the real estate market will be flat for some time,’ she said.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/real-estate-developers-have-stopped-discounts-on-properties.html

Delhi, Mumbai command 50% of top residential markets

The rest of India almost doesn’t matter – at least when it comes to realty. Think property and you think capital Delhi and financial capital Mumbai. Land as investment

These two metros, along with their suburbs, comprise the largest pie of real estate in the country. No surprise that they are undoubtedly the most sought after destinations for an investor looking at attractive residential locations.

And not without reason. These markets are significant from the perspective of sheer administrative strength and as centres of business as well as growth. And numbers bear out this fact as well. According to Rajiv Sahni, partner, real estate practice, Ernst & Young, while in terms of office space absorption, NCR comes second after Bangalore, it commands nearly 35% share of the top 8-10 residential markets in India. Mumbai comes second, with a 15% share of residential market.

So which are the best places to invest in Delhi and Mumbai? Aditi Vijayakar, executive director, residential services India, Cushman & Wakefield, advises that investments should usually be targeted towards destinations that have a stronger prospect of appreciating in the future, offer leasing potential and have the inherent strength to sustain demand.

“Locations such as central Mumbai (Parel, Mahalaxmi), Bandra (West & East), Kalina and JVLR in Mumbai and NOIDA-Greater NOIDA expressway, Indirapuram, Golf Course extension road, in Delhi offer such opportunities. They are ideally located from the perspective of accessibility and have growing commercial hubs in the vicinity. These are emerging as strong changing markets.”

Aditi adds that as far as return on investment is concerned, these will vary depending on projects, acquisition cost, leasing potential, supply pressure, promoter’s brand equity and maintenance quality. “Average returns from rental may vary from 4% to 6% and capital values may appreciate at the rate of 8% to 10% per annum. Returns are dependent on the capital and rental value cycle and currently both values have dipped given the economic environment.”

What also makes these cities attractive for owning a residential space is the fact that they are buzzing with economic activity. According to Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CB Richard Ellis, a lot of improvement has taken place in these cities in terms of business opportunities and infrastructure which makes them extremely viable destinations.

Developers also agree that Gurgaon and Indirapuram are attractive markets in Delhi NCR whereas it is Navi Mumbai, Vasai, Virar, and Kandivali in Mumbai which will see increased development.

Says Harinder Dhillon, GM, Marketing, Raheja Developers, “These two markets make up at least 30% of the entire market. Gurgaon is lucrative due to the upcoming developments in accordance with the new Gurgaon masterplan. The Indirapuram area and beyond will remain in demand because of the revised floor area ratio (FAR) and population density norms. In Delhi, the areas under new master plan which will open up under the new R zone such as Chattarpur, Nangloi, Alipur, Najafgarh blocks will see heightened activity. In Mumbai, it is Navi Mumbai, Vasai, Virar, Kandivali which are likely to witness hectic transactions in the near future.”

Agrees Vijay Jindal, CMD, SVP Group who says that some of the best places to invest are in Delhi NCR and the new developments in Mumbai. Land as investment

“If one is looking at the futuristic development of the place, then places in Ghaziabad are NH24 and NH58, and if you move further then Faridabad is also coming up well. Some of these places might look deserted but think of places like Dwarka some 10 years back. It is now in demand primarily because of infrastructural developments. In the financial capital, locations such as Navi Mumbai and Thane are attractive,” he says.

Some are of the view that the genesis of Delhi and Mumbai is different altogether as one is a political centre and the other a business hub. Brijesh Bhanote, senior V-P, sales and marketing of The 3C Company, a Delhi-based real estate firm feels that as the cost of construction and land prices in Delhi are relatively lower than Mumbai, hence return on investment could be better in the capital.

A few things should, however, be kept in mind while seeing the investment potential of a given location. Various aspects such as infrastructural developments, connectivity, power, roads etc should be considered so that one can get maximum returns of the investment.

“Neighbourhoods with a strong employment base, proximity to educational, health and shopping centres, ideal external connectivity through mass transportation system, closeness to golf course and natural garden are essential features of a property having appreciation potential. If such a property is backed by a developer having reputation for high quality construction, it is destined to give handsome return on a medium to long term basis,” says Rajeev Rai, vice-president, corporate, Assotech.

With developers coming up with many projects in and around new developments in Delhi NCR and Mumbai, you can expect a lot of supply in these cities in the near future. But do study the pricing basics and micro examine the investment potential of a given location in these two real estate markets. Make a good choice and be sure of a profitable bargain.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/The-Sunday-ET/Property/Delhi-Mumbai-command-50-of-top-residential-markets/articleshow/4739137.cms?curpg=2

Decline in Demand of Service Apartments

The demand for service apartments has declined in the last few months due to the slowdown. This apart, real estate experts feel that lack of dedicated players and lower hotel room prices too have impacted the demand in this segment. This, however, was not the scene a year ago. “Last year, the boom had resulted in corporates offering a lot of privileges like frequent travels, which had seen a rise in demand for service apartments. However, lately, with the domestic travel reducing and even hotels offering cheaper prices, the demand has dropped a bit. Nevertheless, the industry expects demand for service apartments to rise again in the next six months,” says Jaxay Shah, director, Savvy Infrastructure Limited.

Real estate analysts agree that the option of service apartment is better than hotels as far as corporates are concerned. “Service apartments carry facilities that support stay with a duration of 15 days as well as over six months. Compared with that, staying in hotels tend to be costlier. Longer stay, however, is being ruled out by corporates as of now. Rather, they are now relying on video conferencing and other cost effective means,” says Ashutosh Limayi, associate director, strategic consulting at John Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), a real estate consulting firm.

According to SK Sayal, chief executive officer and director of Delhi based Alpha G: Corp Development Private Limited, the segment also lacks seasoned players. “Since service apartments require more facilities that can be offered over a period of time, ranging from 15 days to over six months, there are not many specialists in the industry. As compared with global markets, India still lacks dedicated service apartment providers and hence, hospitality players are complementing it with their hotels. Even our upcoming hotel project in Ahmedabad might complement service apartment need in the market,” points out Sayal.

Ahmedabad-based Neesa Leisure, which operates service apartments in Gurgaon and Jaipur, is also wary of the market. “We have a couple of properties in Ahmedabad and one in Gandhinagar. However, another service apartment is yet to be planned,” says Arvind Gupta, managing director of Neesa Leisure Limited. Industry estimates reveal that the investment in service apartment is over Rs 20 lakh per room.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-trends/decline-in-demand-of-service-apartments.html

Office, retail space is hot property

Lower real estate prices have triggered some big-ticket sales in recent months in the commercial segment

Bangalore: Some six months after they fled the real estate sector, investors are gradually making their way back. This time around, high networth individuals (HNIs) and domestic funds are putting money mainly into office and retail spaces.
As the economic meltdown unfolded in late 2008, commercial realty became the worst hit segment in the sector and lease rental and property rates fell by 30-40% in the metros and the bigger cities. The lower prices, in turn, have triggered some big ticket sales in recent months.
Big catch: The DLF tower in Gurgaon. The cash-strapped realty firm sold its 66% stake in a private mill property in central Mumbai to an undisclosed Chennai-based investor for Rs310 crore in May. Ramesh Pathania / MintIn May, Unitech Ltd, India’s second biggest listed developer, sold a 200,000 sq. ft office property in Saket, New Delhi, to an investor for Rs450 crore, nearly Rs200 crore cheaper than in 2007-08. Unitech didn’t disclose the identity of the buyer.
The same month, a cash-strapped DLF Ltd, the country’s top realty firm, sold its 66% stake in a private mill property in central Mumbai to an undisclosed Chennai-based investor for Rs310 crore. DLF had bought the property for Rs350 crore in 2007, at the peak of a realty boom in India.
In April, three investors from Kolkata bought 50,000 sq. ft of an office property near Bangalore’s Outer Ring Road for Rs35 crore, about 20% lower than the asking price till mid-2008, said a property consultant who brokered the deal. He didn’t want to name anyone involved in the deal. The developer had earlier leased the property to companies.
“Many HNIs and funds are now returning, looking at only commercial properties…to take advantage of the falling rates. The returns for such properties are as high as 12-13% compared to 3-4% in residential projects,” said Farook Mahmood, chairman of Bangalore-based advisory Silverline Group Inc.
For example, a Hyderabad investor with Rs300 crore is scouting for commercial properties in Bangalore, said Mahmood, without elaborating.
There is huge demand from HNIs for buying office properties, said a Unitech spokesman. “We are in contact with a group of HNIs with a portfolio of Rs1,000 crore each, who are looking at lucrative deals,” he said.
Unitech, also cash-starved, has been selling office properties and hotels the past two quarters in and around New Delhi and Mumbai. Domestic property-focused funds, which earlier targeted residential projects, too, are looking at commercial properties now. Red Fort Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd, for example, has invested Rs400 crore in three commercial properties in New Delhi and Mumbai and is looking for more.
“In the current scenario, most developers are looking to sell their commercial properties. There are many such distressed assets and the pressure of liquidity is still there on them. For us, it’s a good deal because property rates have dipped,” said Subhash Bedi, director of Red Fort Capital.
Research and rating firm Crisil Ltd, the Indian arm of Standard and Poor’s, said in a June report that while the overhang of commercial property was enormous, demand was still slow.
In the first three months of 2009, there was a fresh supply of 11.5 million sq. ft of space, outstripping absorption of 5.78 million sq. ft, according to property advisory Cushman and Wakefield’s report in April, based on a survey of eight major cities.
The combination of over supply, poor demand and a liquidity crunch pushed many developers to focus on selling commercial properties.
Developers such as DLF and Unitech, which adopted the build-and-lease model the past two-three years when rental costs had skyrocketed and technology firms were expanding, now prefer to sell their stock.
“We are only keen on selling office space now. The focus will also be on developing non-IT space like pharma and telecom, where demand still exists,” Unitech’s spokesman said. Unitech has about 4 million sq. ft of commercial space under development. Its spokesman didn’t disclose how much of this would be up for sale.
Investors are also keen on buying pre-leased properties from developers who are in a hurry to sell, said Kaustuv Roy, head of tenant strategies and solutions, Cushman and Wakefield. “It’s much easier to sell pre-leased properties. There are more takers for them and they fetch better rates.”
“Going forward, most developers will adopt a mixed model where 80% would be sold and 20% will be leased out,” said a senior official of Maker group, who can’t be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
In April, the group sold 4,300 sq. ft of space at Maker Chamber VI, an office building in Nariman Point, Mumbai, to a pharma company for Rs12.5 crore at Rs30,000 per sq. ft. The price was Rs40,000-45,000 per sq.ft. in 2008, said S.G. Maheshwari, a property consultant in Mumbai.
“The thing to look out for in the coming quarters will be if there is a revival of interest among corporates for commercial space,” said Anirudh Wahal, national director, business development, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, a property consultancy.

Source : http://www.livemint.com/2009/07/01234720/Office-retail-space-is-hot-pr.html?h=B

HOUSE RULES | Property For Sale

Real estate is not a happy business in this cringing economy. The Gurgaon glamour and Bangalore boom have deflated, leaving that ‘3BHK.w/ Jczzi   & club, swmg pool in prestigious IT enclave only 80 km from City Hall’ anything but desirable. I love, though, the idea of open houses in countries like the US or Canada. These are typically held on Sundays, when the property up for sale opens its door to visitors to take a peek. Paradoxically, few of the guests are really interested in a purchase but walk in with the sole purpose of copying bathroom ideas or furniture arrangements for their living room.
A handful show up to assess what their property should be priced at for putting up on sale next spring. Most wander in motivated solely by the desire to see how other people live. Right before the big show, the owners would have made themselves scarce, since a buyer-seller interaction would be considered sacrilegious in such situations. The seller’s broker receives you at the entrance asking you to sign in, and hands you a flyer that describes the house and a list of its features.

Meticulous planning goes behind such houses readying up for sale. At the outset, a clutter consultant helps organise items of domestic interest and shed excess luggage. A house inspector would suggest repairs to make the property sellable and an appraiser would tell you how much bang for the buck each home improvement idea would provide. A staging consultant points out how the furniture needs to be arranged in a vignette formation and how best to set up your fruit-bowl on the table.

They would also recommend turning on all the lights and heating up some cookies before the actual showing to give the place that ‘homey’ feeling. In contrast, the Indian property-visit scene is less structured but much more personal. There may be no fancy open events but there are no walls and pretences either. You get to meet the host family in the domestic ambience of their 2BHK apartment with no airs other than enticing aromas wafting from their kitchen. Discussions are held over hospitable coffee and if you are truly interested, you get to join them for lunch and to munch on the delectable fare you smelt earlier.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/HOUSE-RULES–Property-For-Sale/articleshow/4702689.cms

Indian cities should make space for low-cost housing

In the next six years, urban India needs to build at least 10.5 million houses to meet the demand for housing that accompanies rising levels of urbanization. With the financial crisis bringing affordable housing back on the radar of promoters and builders, it is worthwhile to estimate the extent of unmet demand for low-cost houses.

As much as 65% of the demand in India’s top 112 cities is for houses measuring less than 1,000 sq. ft. This translates into approximately 6.8 million new homes. Interestingly, about 70% of the demand would be for houses with two rooms or less. This means 7.4 million new houses need to meet these specifications. This is because 90% of the urban households have incomes under Rs5 lakh per annum.

Thus, the demand for majority of the urban housing would be in this category. The rising slum and squatter settlements in cities is a clear sign that this demand is not being met through formal housing stock.

Greater housing demand originates from two sources—those who have arrived earlier and residing in makeshift tenements, shacks and slums, and those who are expected to migrate into these areas. The requirements are different. Typically recent in-migrants require smaller areas, but as they stay on, their families join them and expand, and their incomes and wealth also increase. This translates into requirements for marginally larger carpet areas.

The cities that have the largest requirement for such housing are those that attract migrants—Mumbai and New Delhi and their surrounding areas, Bangalore, Pune, Surat, Coimbatore, etc. These cities either saw large migration in the recent past but are slowly stagnating (for instance, Mumbai), or continue to have great levels of in-migration (New Delhi, Surat and Pune, for example). Either way, these cities are already bursting at their seams.

The need to expand opportunities in other cities is paramount, as is the need to get a better grip on land utilization within these cities. Typically, government bodies have almost monopolistic control over land, and this is a serious problem as land management is riddled with bureaucracy and poor governance. What is needed is a much more aggressive and forward-looking approach that looks at the requirements for each city specifically. Ensuring there is regular availability of land for low-cost housing within a city is among the first and foremost steps.

The supply side constraints for provision of low-cost housing are well known and these problems have been made worse due to the rapid increase in real estate values.

As a result, the largest action in urban housing has been in suburban areas surrounding the large cities— rural Bangalore, Ranga Reddy near Hyderabad, the Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad quadrilateral surrounding New Delhi, and Howrah and North and South 24 Parganas near Kolkata are well-known examples. The bulk of new housing is occurring on converted agriculture land around these cities.

This need not have been the case, had local governments been more responsive to emerging requirements. Unfortunately, unplanned and unstructured development is a hallmark of urban India and is unlikely to change very soon. Demand Curve is a weekly column by research firm Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd on consumer trends and markets.

Source: http://www.livemint.com

DLF seeks nod for apartments, commercial complexes in SEZs

New Delhi (PTI): Realty major DLF has sought government approval for building service apartments and commercial complexes in four special economic zones, of which two are located in Gurgaon.

The Board of Approval (BoA) in the Commerce Ministry will consider requests from the developers for building apartments and commercial space in the non-processing areas of the four IT/ITeS SEZs at Gurgaon, Chennai and Hyderabad, an official said. The non-processing area includes non-core activities.

The BoA is meeting here on June 17 to take up the request, along with other agenda.

DLF has informed the ministry that it wants to build service apartments on 15,000 square metre and commercial space on 12,000 sq m at one of its Gurgaon SEZ. The total notified area for SEZ is 10.73 hectares (1,07,300 sq m).

At the height of the SEZ controversy, it was alleged that the land was being acquired for real estate gains by the developers. However, the Commerce Ministry has denied these claims stating the commercial activities would be restricted to non-core areas.

The SEZ developers have been demanding that they should be granted an infrastructure status for availing the bank finance. However, the Reserve Bank has not acceded to the demand taking a view that it is a real estate activity.

Source : http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200906141012.htm

Developers build on low margins, high volumes

Does low-cost housing make economic sense? It seems to. Developers believe the loss in margins (20 per cent in affordable housing, against 50-300 per cent in case of premium housing) can be made up somewhat by the sheer volumes of sales. Rajeev Talwar, group executive director of DLF, says: “Every group has to chart out its strategy. We have decided to take on the market by pricing our products 30 per cent lower than others, even if it means less margins.”

In any case, as Rashesh Shah, chairman of brokerage firm Edelweiss points out, the days of making a killing are over. “Sales weren’t happening anyway and developers have finally realised that they would survive only if they brought prices down,” Shah says. That realisation has prompted developers to tweak their strategies and reduce apartment sizes to attract home buyers. For instance, Unitech has stopped giving modular kitchens and is laying vitrified tiles instead of expensive marbles in its affordable housing projects, apart from cutting parking and basement space. It also restricts the total floors in a building to three-four to save on construction costs.

“The average cost of our land is Rs 200 a sq ft and construction cost varies from Rs 900-1,500 a sq ft. In affordable projects, we keep construction cost to the bare minimum. We design our buildings and use materials accordingly,” says a Unitech official.

Besides, Unitech has reduced the size of its apartments to 800-1,000 sq ft, on an average, from 2,000-2500 sq ft a couple of years ago, even as the price per sq ft has come down to Rs 3,000 from Rs 4,500 a sq ft earlier.

DLF, too, is changing its housing designs in Gurgaon to squeeze in more two-bedroom units. Scores of property developers, such as Akruti City and Parsvnath Developers, use pre-fabricated slabs in their buildings, which help them save 15-20 per cent in costs against manually-laid slabs in their buildings. While others, such as Unitech, Ansal API and Omaxe, import sanitaryware and fittings from countries such as China, Malaysia and others, as these are 10-15 per cent cheaper than Indian products.

Most developers are also focusing on completing their housing projects in 30 months instead of the earlier 36 months, using advanced technology.

Tata Housing, which is building 15,000 low-cost homes in the country, is keeping construction cost to about Rs 700 a sq ft by sharing returns with the land owners, according to Managing Director Brotin Banerjee.

The company is in advanced stages of talks with the Delhi-based Raheja Developers (which owns the land) to initiate a similar low-cost project at Manesar near Gurgaon. The apartment size will range between 283 sq ft and 465 sq ft each. Plans are on the anvil to start similar projects, called Shubh Griha, in Chennai and Kolkata and, subsequently, in other Tier-I and Tier-II cities.

What also helps are the measures announced by the government — special interest rates for sub-Rs 20 lakh home loans. Public sector banks charge a maximum interest rate of 8.5 per cent for loans below Rs 5 lakh and 9.25 per cent for those between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh. A marginal part was also played by the lower input costs of steel and cement, which has seen some softening in the last 12-18 months.

All’s not over for premium
Unitech’s GM (Corporate Planning) R Nagaraju could have been exaggerating when he said premium housing had become extinct. The fact is quite a few companies are still operating at different price-points and the real estate market has got segmented,though with a bias towards low-cost projects.

For instance, just seven days after Tata Housing announced its Shubh Griha project, group company Tata Realty announced a high-end residential project in the Chennai special economic zone. At Rs 13,000 a sq ft, the price tag for the smallest apartments would be Rs 2.6 crore and the largest Rs 3.9 crore.

The complex would have about 180-200 apartments and is getting an encouraging response. For Tata Housing, too, Shubh Griha is just one of the eight projects the company is taking up. But, going forward, the company expects low-cost housing to have a 20-25 per cent share in the total mix, while another 25-30 per cent would be accounted by mid-income homes, with high-end products taking up the balance.

Abhishek Lodha, director of the Lodha group, says the company would build premium housing for margins, and mid-income housing for volumes.

The company has launched five mid-income housing projects in Mumbai and an equal number of high-end projects in South Central Mumbai. The Lodha Bellissimo in Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi area, for example, is offering super-luxury apartments spread across 48 floors.

Or, take Emaar MGF, for example. The company recently launched ‘The Terraces’ with an aim to cater to the growing mid-market segment. Phase-I of the project is expected to be completed by 2010, with units priced at Rs 36 lakh onwards. It would house three independent dwelling units, with the ground floor priced at Rs 46 lakh, first floor at Rs 38 lakh and the second floor at Rs 36 lakh — not exactly low-cost, but affordable for the mid-income population. The company, however, is also operating at a much higher price-point too — Commonwealth Village, for example, despite the temporary hiccups.

Many also say it’s just a matter of time before the premium housing market comes alive. Aditi Vijayakar, executive director (residential), Cushman & Wakefield, says: “In the future, as the demand for luxury projects gains momentum, big players will once again change their portfolio to high-end apartments.”

Then there are, of course, recession-proof areas, like Mumbai’s Bandra or Santa Cruz. Prices continue to rule high at Rs 20,000-40,000 a sq ft, mainly because of the demand-supply mismatch and the aspirational value. Real estate developers all over the country must be hoping the tag extends to many other areas as well.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/developers-buildlow-margins-high-volumes/360489/