Indian Property News on 'July, 2007'

Bangalore Has the Most Expensive Hotel Rooms

Exorbitant hotel room rates in Bangalore have forced leisure as well as business travelers to break their bank. No branded hotel in Bangalore is charging less than $350-500 for a night stay. With the prevailing scenario, the city becomes one of the most expensive places in the world for those looking for a hotel room.

Supply constraint is believed to be the major factor responsible for such a situation. Indeed, many rooms in Bangalore are booked till February 2008, say the hoteliers. With Bangalore fast emerging as a business hub, demand for hotel rooms is believed to be outstripping the supply. To save on money, travelers are looking forward to rooms in unbranded category such as serviced apartments and standalone boutique. Read More »

Govt. Allows Foreign VCFs, PE Funds to Invest in Indian Realty

Foreign investors have once again lined up to bring big money into booming Indian property market, with the government relaxing the norms. Major players including the Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, -The Carlyle Group and Blackstone, among others have finalized half a dozen deals worth $1 billion.

All the niggling doubts related to investments by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), foreign venture capital funds (VCFs) and private equity players have been cleared through a clarification issued by the department of industrial policy & promotion (DIPP), under the ministry of commerce and industry. Read More »

Wadia Gets Into Property Development

The Wadias have finally decided to go for mega ventures in real estate development. The Group owns large chunks of land in different parts of Mumbai, and is now considering building a 36 storey skyscraper which boasts of featuring exclusive luxury apartments.

The proposed project will be developed in a joint collaboration with a global architect. Interestingly, 60 per cent of the apartments have been already booked and the rest would be sold off by end of the year. The project is slated for completion in 1-2 years. Read More »

More Affordable Housing in Haryana

Haryana Housing Board has prepared a plan to develop economical flats in the NCR cities of Haryana. The move will made residential properties in Gurgaon and its adjoining areas more affordable.

The Board will buy its own land. These flats will be built across the state, says SP Gupta, Chief Administrator, Housing Board. Read More »

Annual Mixed Land Use Charges May Push Property Prices

THE Government’s decision to raise land use conversion charges may push property prices further. It is done to generate additional resources from land to fund construction of houses for poor.

The current conversion rates are not enough to represent the fair market value. States would follow the Delhi’s model of levying development charge on mixed land use. This will enable the authorities to carry out their mission of providing housing facilities to poor. Read More »

Parsvnath to Invest $4 bn to Develop Over 100 Projects

Parsvnath Developers, a prominent name in Indian real estate, plans to invest over $4 billion over the next 5 years. The company will translate its large land bank across India into more than 100 real estate projects.

Parsvnath’s current land bank constitutes a saleable area of over 153 million sq ft. and the company holds projects in all verticals including commercial, residential, retail, hospitality, IT Parks, and SEZs. Read More »

Buyers Surrender to Concept of Second Homes

Owing a second home in a place far away from the maddening crowd is no more restricted to wealthy people. With the changing scenario, the middle and upper middle level management can also buy such homes as feasible getaway investments.

The new entrepreneurial class is primarily responsible for this major change in mindset. Nowadays, second homes have become another investment option for a number of individuals. Also, owing a farmhouse, a beach cottage is still a status symbol for many. Read More »

Ludhiana Makes Strides in Realty

Hit by the mall culture, Ludhiana is soon to pave ways for lifestyle clubs and exclusive five star hotels. Retail and the hospitality sector in Ludhiana will boom on the back of IT companies and the opening up of the Wagah border for trade.

The fast flourishing real estate in Ludhiana is witnessing almost 100% growth rate and quick to realize the business potential. This seems to have encouraged the builders to come up with a number of real estate projects such as integrated Township proposals, pushing the property prices in Ludhiana further. Read More »

What Knight Frank Report says about NCR Residential Market?

Despite the soaring interest rate on home loans, there is no decline in the demand of residential properties. Increasing urbanization, rising per capita income, growth in trend of nuclear families are some of the leading factors fuelling the housing prospects across the country.

The scenario led a multitude of real estate developers to announce their projects in different locations of NCR. But, the report by a leading real estate consultancy Knight Frank says something else. According to the data, the residential values across the country are likely to remain under pressure and some markets could also undergo major price corrections to the tune of 15-20% over the medium term. Read More »

No Hectic Land Acquisition Procedures in Gujarat

Now onwards, industrialists and real estate developers in Gujarat will not require bribing or running after the district collectors to get 11 different no-objection certificates (NOCs) to acquire the non-agricultural (NA) permission, documents necessary to buy land for non agriculture purpose.

It would now be a responsibility of district collectors to confine their activities to see if the title of land is clear after verifying the land records. They will also have to ensure that the land is not involved in any material pending legal proceedings. It should neither belong to the new tenure, under which landless and marginal farmers were given the land during the time of land reforms. Read More »