Latest Property News on 'Chandigarh'

Punjab GOVT comes up with Stimulus to Boost Real Estate and Affordable Housing

Keeping in view the slowdown and recession in economy, the Punjab government has come out with an economic stimulus package to give boost to affordable housing and real estate sector. Disclosing this here Thursday a spokesman of the Punjab government said that the Confederations of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) and National Real Estate Development Council (NARDECO) had recently submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal separately urging them to immediately announce some incentives/concessions to real estate developers in order to put the real sectoral growth back on the track on one hand and to encourage group housing for weaker sections on the other.

The spokesman further said that the stimulus package included waiver of Change in Land Use (CLU) charges for industrial land use in entire Punjab, moratorium on payment of External Development Charges till December 31, 2009 and promoters who make prepayment of EDC installments would be entitled for discount of 5%. Reduction in penal interest on over due charges from 18% per annum to 3% per annum over and above the normal interest @10% compound per annum w.e.f. September 19, 2007. Wherever Zonal/Sector Plan have been notified, the minimum area for developing a colony would be 25 acres. In low potential zone, the minimum area for residential colony would be reduced from 25 acres to 10 acres. However, no minimum area norm would apply in case of the left over pocket, i.e. where on all the sides construction had already been taken place. Read More »

Small Towns can revive Housing Demands

For two years, Ratnesh Gupta, a software engineer with IT major Birla Soft, has been trying to fulfil his dream of buying a house of his own, either in the national capital or in Chandigarh. But his budget of Rs 2.5 million (Rs 25 lakh) was making it beyond reach. Now, he has finally zeroed in on his dream house, though he has settled for Rudrapur, a small town in Uttarakhand. In the process, he has joined thousands of house hunters who are buying properties in smaller cities, fuelling a housing boom in them. Rudrapur is among a host of towns like Almora, Bhiwadi, Neemrana, Haldwani, Meerut, Moradabad and Karnal that have started attracting new home buyers, bringing a lot of cheer to the realty industry that is otherwise facing one of its worst crises in decades.

‘My budget was very small to buy a house in Delhi or even Chandigarh, my native place. Even a one bedroom apartment was not available in a decent colony. Now, I will own a decent house and also manage to save some money for other investments,’ Gupta said. ‘In Rudrapur, a two bedroom apartment is costing me Rs 14.6 lakh (Rs 1.46 million). It is within reach. And I feel it is a very good investment proposition for future as the city is opening up for development,’ he told media. ‘The main reason for realty development at these places is that metros and even many big cities have become overheated and oversaturated,’ said Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of global realty consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj. Read More »

Real Estate Punjab Hit by Global Crunch

The meltdown being witnessed around the world is having a significant effect on the state’s real estate business. Property dealers, who were already seeing a decline in their income, have seen a decline of 60 per cent in their earnings. New deals are hard to come by and deals already finalised are also being called off by buyers due to the liquidity crunch, though the prices remain static. “We have been sitting idle for many days,” said Parminder Singh, a property dealer in Jalandhar. NRI buyers are also not as keen on buying property here as they have been in the past. Kewal Singh, a US-based NRI from Jalandhar, said the recession in USA has made it difficult for NRIs to invest here. “We are unable to manage our own installments in the US as most of the things are bought on loan there,” he said.

The construction sector has also got a hit as NRIs are not investing in big projects and only concentrating on the old projects, according to Anil Chopra of PPR, a leading real estate developer. The number of NRIs visiting India for vacations has also decreased this time as many of them are doing over-time to manage their loans there, said Nihal Singh, another US-based NRI. “The travel expenses are huge and many of our friends who used to come here every year are not coming this time,” said Parkash Raman, a UK-based NRI from Hoshiarpur district. Mohinder Singh, who organises various foreign tours in collaboration with SOTC, a known brand in arranging tour packages, said the travel business too has gone down by more than 50 per cent. Sales manager of Bhabhi Boutique, which has several NRIs as regular clients, said that usually by this time their business would pick up, but their sales have reduced by 50 per cent this year.

Land Mafia and Corporate Houses Impose Threat to Chandigarh Government Property

The Manimajra Farmers’ Welfare and Environment Protection Society, in association with the Society for Prevention of Crime and Corruption, organised a public interaction and fact evaluation meet on Monday to address the alleged corruption in the real estate dealings in the city. Residents of all age groups, including businessmen, farmers and social activists, had gathered to discuss the rampant corruption in the name of ‘development’ in Chandigarh. Addressing the interaction, the Citizen group presented a ‘Citizen’s Report” to highlight that the quantum of scams in real estate dealings amounted to crores of rupees in the city. The group said government properties like the ISBT in Sector 17, public parks and open spaces were under the threat of being sold to corporate houses, land mafia and builders.

The group appreciated the ‘courage’ and ‘conviction’ exhibited by UT advisor Pardip Mehra to stand up against Administrator General SF Rodrigues (Retd) and highlight corruption worth Rs 2,000 crore in the Medicity project. Social activist Hemant Goswami said officials of the Chandigarh Administration had initiated a slander campaign against Mehra. “There are clear CVC guidelines that no inquiry is to be initiated against any official on anonymous complaints, still an inquiry was initiated against the advisor. Surprisingly, the Chandigarh Administration acted in a selective manner. While scores of credible complaints against the Administrator and some other officials were ignored, action was initiated on the anonymous complaint against the senior most bureaucrat for a flimsy and false allegation of affixing tiles in his government house in Delhi.” Read More »

Small developers relocating to other sectors

The rental rates of commercial property have soared in Chandigarh, thus forcing the small developers to shift to other sectors. The number of vacant sites in sector 8 and 9 has increased. “The benchmark for rentals has increased manifold over the years. Rentals have increased by almost 100 percent in the past one year. Five years ago, the rent for a showroom in Sector 8 on the Madhya Marg was around Rs 3 lakh. Today, it has shot up to more than Rs 16 lakh. The upcoming auction will further boost the rentals considerably,” said Mangat Rai Baboota, a real estate consultant.

The rent of an 8000-square feet showroom, if divided floor wise, comes out to be Rs 12 lakh for the ground floor, between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh for basement and first floor. According to the existing trend, multinational companies take the complete showroom on rent rather than independent floors. The same rentals exist in Sector-17 main market. According to sources, recently a showroom rented out by a popular sweet shop in Sector 17 to a clothing chain is fetching Rs 16 lakh a month. “At present, the availability of vacant commercial spaces in these sectors is 15 per cent, which otherwise could have been an excellent source of income to the landlord and tenant,” says R P Malhotra, general secretary, Property Owner Welfare Association, Chandigarh. The rent in other sectors like 7, 26 and 35 is almost half the rates at Sectors 8, 9 and 17. This is forcing small and medium enterprises to relocate to cheaper areas or inner markets of these sectors.

Hansa group to set up industrial park in Punjab

Chandigarh-based Hansa Group of Industries has diversified into real estate development and is setting up an industrial park in Derabassi (Punjab) near Chandigarh. The proposed park will be spread over 80 acres and attract an investment of Rs 132 crore. The group has been granted approval for change in land use by the Punjab government for setting up the park.

Group Director Atul Gupta said, “The industrial park is ideally located on the Derabassi-Barwala Road, which is a state highway. The proposed industrial park will be the first ever in Derabassi and the second one in Mohali district. We will develop this park in accordance with international standards over 80 acres at an estimated Rs 132 crore. It will have basic amenities like wide road links, water supply, a sewerage treatment plant, and street lights.” Read More »

Realty boom in Chandigarh

The real estate market is once again booming in the Chandigarh periphery, if the official figures of land registration deeds are any indication. The number of land registration deeds touched an all-time high in two years at 446 in July 2008, followed by 393 in August 2008, after plunging to as low as 163 in September 2007. The state Government earned Rs 88.38 crore as stamp duty and registration fee from the 8,324 land deeds between April 2006 and August 2008, in the Chandigarh periphery, falling under the jurisdiction of Majri sub-tehsil. At least 69 defaulters detected between August 2006 and March 2008, evaded Rs 62.62 lakh on account of stamp duty and registration fee.

Official records with News line reveal that revenue of Rs 7.51 crore was earned in July 2008, on account of Rs 7.32 crore stamp duty and Rs 18.45 lakh from registration fee. The second highest revenue of Rs 6.64 crore was earned in June 2008 from registration of 366 land deeds on account of Rs 6.5 crore stamp duty and Rs 14.25 lakh as registration fee. The recession in the real estate market last year, was evident from the lowest revenue of Rs 63.27 lakh recorded in October 2007 when 218 land deeds were registered. Though the land deeds could not be registered below the minimum rates of registration of land fixed by the Collector, who is also the Deputy Commissioner, but the high and mighty connive with the concerned tehsildars to get their land deeds registered as per their whims and fancies.

Chandigarh Realty Market Witnessing New Trends

India’s first planned city, Chandigarh, is witnessing a surge in the demand of new real estate segments like luxury homes, studio apartments and friend flats. People prefer small, cozy homes to the huge bungalows as has been the trend there in the past. And so, these are being converted to flats. Single professionals and new couples lift small, cozy homes that are easy on budget and have low maintenance costs. Elaborate housing usually spells immense infrastructure and high maintenance costs for them. New constructions are witnessing a boom in the demand for partner housing as compared to 2 BHK or 3 BHK apartments.

This demand has been fuelled by the migratory population. The city is no longer a home of the retired scores people. In fact young professionals and students from nearby areas of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and even Delhi commune to Chandigarh in search of better lifestyle and good infrastructure at low costs. Most of the old residential properties in Chandigarh are bungalows that are 2 - 3 storey gangling structures. The owners are remodeling these bungalows into single apartments, 2 BHK and 3 BHK and paying guest accommodations. This way, the owners can mint more money from rent and many family units can be accommodated within the same bungalow. This formula seems to be catching on with the residents and many people are opting for such remodeled accommodations. Read More »

Chandigarh developers to sell land to cope with slowdown

As the real estate sector in Chandigarh is witnessing a slowdown, realtors are even planning to sell their land, which they had bought out of the profits they earned from the earlier projects, to fund their ongoing projects. The multiple interest rates coupled with inflation have slowed down the residential sales around the city, worsening things for realtors who are grappling with financial crisis. The realtors of the area are bearing the brunt of the liquidity crisis and are not able to fund their existing projects.

“Last few months have not been good for the market. The liquidity cannot be generated through the stock markets and even the banks have got strict over loans. In order to generate liquidity many developers around Chandigarh are ready to sign off their land holdings to generate liquidity for their ongoing projects,” General Manager of Berkley Realtech Kamal Jindal said. Explaining the cycle, Jindal said that when the real estate market was in a boom most developers with the huge profit margins created land banks around Chandigarh. But as the real estate entered into the correction phase, liquidity became an issue for the developers who are ready to sign off their land holdings in order to clear the debts and fund their existing projects.

Real estate prices shoot up in Punjab

The property prices of prime locations in Punjab have shot up by 40-55% in the last two years. The cash-strapped state, which desperately needs to push the growth of industrialisation, is facing shortage of land, which has pushed the prices upwards. “Property prices in Mohali, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Amritsar, and Ludhiana are scaling new heights. We have been fetching more price than the reserved cost from our previous auctions. A maximum price has been fetched from Ludhiana as it is an industrial belt. Now we have kept a reserve price of Rs 165 crore for the forthcoming auction of a 5 acre site scheduled to be held on August 26 in Amritsar”, chief administrator, Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA), Som Parkash stated.

The state government recently acquired 300 acres for the proposed Mohali international airport for which the government paid compensation of Rs 1.5 crore per acre to farmers whose land was possessed. This was the highest ever compensation paid for acquisition by the state government to farmers which has certainly set a benchmark. Lately Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), a one kanal seven Marla plot in sector 69 fetched a whopping Rs 3.11 crore against its reserve price of Rs 2.3 crore. The reason this plot went for such high prices could be that Mohali is all set to develop a state-of-the-art town centre in Sector 62, which is near Sector 69. Real estate experts have projected that with the upcoming international airport, Knowledge City and the rapid development in Mohali will keep the reality prices upward only. Read More »