Latest Property News on 'Real Estate Companies'

Developers go the Extra Mile to woo Buyers

When real estate company Unique Builders launched a condominium development near Jaipur, 3,510 Hindu priests performed traditional rituals and prayed for divine blessings. The number of priests equalled the number of condos on offer at the development, My Haveli@ Mannat1.

An adjudicator for the Guinness Book of World Records was in attendance at the bhoomi pujan (ground-breaking) ceremony in Mahapura village, about 16km from the Rajasthan capital. The ceremony took place when India’s real estate market was starting to cool after a red-hot streak. “The whole idea was to attract attention and create hype around the project,” says Vinay Shenoy, head of marketing at Bangalore-based real estate marketing firm Asipac Group, which conceptualized the event. Read More »

Realty slowdown hits ad industry

If you thought that only the real estate values are witnessing a dip, think twice. Even the advertising industry is also feeling the realty heat. According to industry sources, it is estimated that all major developers such as DLF, Omaxe, Ansals and Parsvnath have decided to cut down on their advertising budgets by around 5%. The advertising industry in India is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore.

While analysts attribute this trend to dampening spirits of potential buyers, real estate companies prefer to call this a reality check on their advertising budgets. A report from Adex India, a division of TAM Media Research, shows that the share of real estate advertisements in print media saw a drop of 2% during 2007 compared to 2006. According to Adex, the share of real estate advertisement in overall print and TV advertising last year was 4% and 1%, respectively. Read More »

K Rahea ties up with ServCorp

K Raheja Corp, one of India’s leading real estate and retail companies, has entered into an exclusive franchise agreement with Servcorp, global leaders and pioneers of the fully functional serviced offices and virtual offices’ business, to establish a presence in the fully serviced offices business in India.

Mr Chandru L Raheja, Chairman, K Raheja Corp, informed, “We feel happy to be associated with Servcorp. They are one of the global leaders in the serviced offices and virtual offices business and have a proven track record in the markets worldwide. Servcorp will strengthen the Group’s objective of providing an end-to-end business logistic support to our clients in India. And further grow our breadth in the Realty and Consumer business.” Read More »

Realty Companies Dilute Promoters’ Holding to Raise Funds

Construction companies have resorted to expansion of equity base, and subsequent dilution of promoters’ stake, to meet their financing needs. As per an ETIG study of 50 firms in the sector, which have disclosed their shareholding for March’08, close to 15 firms reported expansion of equity base over last year. If we take a longer period of five years, around 20 companies have diluted their stake, which include big players like Jaiprakash Associates, Nagarjuna construction and IVRCL infrastructure.

Among the big players, promoter’s stake in Jaiprakash Associates has declined to 44.58%, as a result of expansion of equity base to Rs 234 crore in March ’08. Similarly, for Nagarjuna Construction, the stake has declined to 22.5% on March ’08. Nagarjuna has been diluting its stake for the last five years; in March 03, promoter holding was as high as 48.2%. The company’s equity base has increased to Rs. 45.75 crore in March ’08 from 9.45 crore in March ’03. Read More »

US Housing Crisis Melts Indian Realty Valuations

The sub prime crisis may have struck in the US, but real estate companies around the world are feeling the heat. The meltdown in property firms’ valuations in other economies, including India, China, Japan and the UK, has surpassed that of the US with Indian real estate companies witnessing one of the biggest falls. Some leading Indian real estate firms are trading at about 34% discount to their net asset values (Naves), which implies that property firms are being valued at just two-thirds of the assets they hold.

This makes India the second-most affected nation after Malaysia in the first quarter of 2008 among key property markets, according to a Citigroup report. Interestingly, in the US, the property market index is trading at just 12% discount to its NAV. Its performance is even better than the global index, which is ruling at an 18% discount. NAV is the present discounted value of all future cash flows of a property firm. It factors in the existing land bank, overall development opportunities and project execution of a property firm. It is a valuation tool for real estate firms. Read More »

Fund Raising becomes Costlier for Realty Companies

RAISING funds is becoming increasingly costlier for real estate players, as private equity players try and extract their own pound of flesh given the poor market conditions, says DLF chairman K P Singh.

“The cost of raising funds has gone up from what it was six months ago,” K P Singh told media, adding that real estate firms faced a tight situation. Several real estate firms, including DLF, Unitech, Indiabulls and Omaxe, have put off their plans to raise funds through capital market due to a global market meltdown. The listing of DLF Assets (DAL), a firm owned by the promoters of DLF, as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in Singapore has also been postponed. DAL is now raising funds worth Rs 2,000 crore through private placement. 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 »

European real estate giant enters India

India & China are perhaps the major real estate markets in the world now. As a concept, “branded homes” is fairly unknown in India. Yoo by Strack finds India as an attractive country to design and develop real estate projects. Real estate development company ‘Yoo by Starck’ has entered India.

The first project named ‘Yoo in Pune’ is being developed by Panchshil Realty over 21 acres of land. The first phase of this project will have six 30-storie-towers. Read More »

Emaar to Establish 100% India Subsidiary

Emaar, the Dubai based Real Estate Company, is planning to set a 100% subsidiary in India as it already occupies an equal joint venture with Delhi based realty company MGF.

The new venture will be executed through Hamptons International, one of the UK’s premier international residential agents Emaar acquired in 2006 for $500 million. Emmar has already begun the process of recruiting people for the new venture. Read More »