Indian Property News on 'March, 2008'

Mumbai may Buck Global Property Slowdown with Record Land Sales

Mumbai is set to break its record for land prices at a sale today after the nation’s financial capital doubled the minimum bid in response to surging demand.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority will offer plots for office space at a reserve price of 300,000 rupees a square meter ($690 a square foot), anticipating the buyer will convert the former marshland at Bandra-Kurla Complex into India’s version of Canary Wharf, the financial development built in London’s disused docklands. Read More »

Luxury Market for NRIS and HNIS, a New Opportunity for Real Estate Developers

As home sales continue to dip, real estate developers are tapping the luxury home segment by targeting non-resident Indians and high net worth individuals keen on buying that exclusive villa in India. The move also seems to be backed by pure market play as demand in the luxury home segment is growing sharply, bucking the trend seen in other areas of the industry where exposure to high-risk borrowers has tightened loan flow from banks.

Real estate players whom ET spoke to said these ‘nouveau riche’ were now moving up the chain and extending their possessions to luxury homes with ultra sophisticated amenities like personal swimming pools, jogging tracks, health clubs and personal gardens. Read More »

Weak Stock Market to take Toll on Real Estate

Monday’s bloodbath on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which saw the sensex tanking another 950 points, has made the real estate industry jittery and on the edge. The property market in most parts of the country is currently witnessing a slump in demand and the precipitous fall in the stock market is now bad news for developers.

Real Estate Developer Pujit Aggarwal of Orbit said over the past three months, sales of residential and commercial office space has virtually come to a grinding halt. “I can clearly see a correction in the property market with prices falling by up to 30% in the next one year to 18 months,” he said. Read More »

Investors in Delhi NCR having a tough time

While the bears are ruling the stock market, there is another asset class where the bulls are keeping away. Speculative investors in real estate market are retreating, at least in the Delhi-NCR region.

Some leading real estate developers based in the region say it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to sell flats at launch stage due to lack of interest from speculators. This reflects on the inherent demand structure in the real estate market. Read More »

Indian Realty Market attracts Australian Company

Australian real estate consultancy major LJ Hooker (LJH), which recently entered India with its real estate franchisee business, is now looking to tap the emerging demand for professional property management, particularly in the residential and retail segment in the country.

With homebuyers’ budgets expanding, investing in state-of the-art amenities and designer internal fit-outs are the order of the day. LJH’s new venture in India will provide professional maintenance and upkeep of these assets upon project completion. Read More »

Emaar to build Residences designed by Georgio Armani

Dubai-based Emaar Properties is now planning to launch private residences, to be called `Armani Residences` designed by Giorgio Armani himself, by its Indian joint venture Emaar MGF Land.

Emaar has recently unveiled 144 Armani Residences at its iconic Burj Dubai development, predicted to be the tallest man-made structure in the world.

Emaar MGF has also chalked out plans to set up the Armani brand of luxury hotels in places like Mumbai, Delhi and Goa. Emaar MGF is expanding aggressively in the hospitality sector of India with several luxury hotels. These could include Armani Hotels & Resorts. Currently, Emaar is evaluating the options of launching an Armani property in the country. Read More »

Spirituality drives India’s Realty Industry

Spirituality, one can say has emerged as a major factor driving India’s $15 billion realty industry that is growing at 35 per cent per annum.

Religious tourism is pushing the realty industry’s growth in destinations like Vrindavan, Mathura, Haridwar, Ajmer, Amritsar, Tirupati and Nasik - cities on the fast track and emerging hot spots for real estate developers.

“Religious towns have good growth prospects. They are witnessing more than 45 per cent annual rise in property prices against the average 25-35 per cent in Tier II cities,” says Vipin Agarwal, executive director, Omaxe Developers. Read More »

Chennai Realty Boom attracts Companies from Israel

Israel has landed in Chennai. After the domestic, the US and the European firms homing in on Chennai to cash in on the city’s real estate boom, it is now the turn of a host of Israeli firms to make a beeline into Chennai, otherwise known for its idlis and vadas and not to mention the cuppa full of kappi. A slew of Israeli firms have lined up mega investment plans in the Chennai real estate market. This is despite the property prices in the city has gone through the roof and ruling at all-time high levels with no signs of fatigue.

According to the Chennai-based real estate advisor, Hemdev International Realty Services, at least a couple of Israeli real estate majors have lined up mega investment projects in the city which include both commercial and residential projects. According to them, Israeli firm Elbit Medical Imaging Ltd has invested close to $135 million in a Chennai property which will have both commercial and residential projects. The company had already acquired land for the hybrid project. Read More »

Investors prefer Commercial rather than Residential property

Individuals are no longer eyeing only residential properties as a lucrative investment opportunity. Rather, it is commercial retail space that has now become hot property.

Given that the appreciation potential and rental return in commercial real estate is far higher than in the residential segment, this is not surprising. Moreover, the various options that have sprung up in retail have also played an integral role in generating high awareness levels. Read More »

Pune to lead in IT/ITeS Commercial Space

Pune’s skyline is set for a big change, thanks to the commercial space being developed for the IT/ITeS sector. By 2010 an estimated 100 million sq ft of IT/ ITeS specific commercial space is expected to come up in seven cities through Special Economic Zones alone in India. Pune leads this list with 23 per cent of this amount -that is about 23 million sq ft which is almost one-fourth of the total space thus created.

While Hyderabad has maximum area to its credit on the basis of supply potential, Pune ups it on sheer ground implementation, according to the report titled ‘SEZs in India: Here comes the sun’ put together by DTZ, a global real estate adviser. In this estimated supply of office space Pune is followed by Delhi NCR with 18 million sq ft, Hyderabad and Chennai with 15 million sq ft each, Bangalore at 13 million sq ft, Kolkata with 10 million sq ft and Mumbai at seven million sq ft. Even if the entire 100 million sq ft does not come up due to any delays, the report puts at least 60-70 million sq ft as achievable target by 2010 in the country. Read More »