Latest Property News on 'Delhi'

Pravasi Bharatiyas Reach Delhi to Attend Annual Meet

The eighth edition of the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that got underway on Thursday will see overseas Indians discuss a range of subjects but the most pressing of them — security, pushed to forefront after attacks in Australia­ — is not on the agenda. As many as 1,000 participants, down from last year’s 1,500, will over the next two days hold session on India’s growth rate, women’s issues, and many more issues. This year’s meet comes on the back of unfulfilled promises made last year.

But Overseas Indians Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi says it is a platform for “arousing the Indian-ness of every Indian abroad creating an emotional bond”. Overseas Citizenship of India Card — which acts as permanent visa, promising almost all rights of citizens, except political ones — was conceived as a step towards cementing this bond. So far, 500,000 cards have been issued, he said. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which loosely translates to the day of overseas Indian, is held from January 7-9 and is an attempt to connect with the diaspora. January 9 is the day when Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915. Read More »

Owning an Apartment in Burj Khalifa Cheaper than Owning a Property in Central Delhi

An apartment on the 100th floor of ‘Burj Khalifa’, the world’s tallest building and one of the most-sought after addresses in the world today, comes at a price of Rs 38,000 per sq ft. But if you think that’s a soaring price, consider this: desi realty rates beat that by a mile. The rates of apartments on Prithviraj Road and Aurangzeb Road in central Delhi are much higher. The per sq ft rate of apartments in Marble Arch and Tata Apartments on Prithviraj Road is around Rs 65,000 per sq ft. Similarly, Ansal apartments on Aurangzeb Road have a price of Rs 55,000 per sq ft, said senior broker Hemendra Sharma.

In Vasant Vihar and Chanakya Puri in South Delhi, apartments built on smaller plots of 400-800 sq metres are commanding prices of around Rs 45,000 per sq ft. In fact, there are not many luxury condominiums available in central and south Delhi. However, there are several bungalows on independent plots of around three acres with a permitted area of construction of 3500 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft. These plots are commanding a price of Rs 200 crore to Rs 500 crore. So the per sq ft cost of these bunglow comes to a whopping Rs 5 lakh per sq ft. Read More »

Delhi Emerging as the most Preferred Real Estate Market in the Country

Infrastructure development, fuelled by the upcoming Commonwealth Games, has ensured that Delhi is emerging as the most preferred real estate market in the country. After a less than perfect start to 2009 — the global economic meltdown took its toll — the road to recovery has been quick and lucrative.

The experts agree: a report released by Ernst & Young in November listed Delhi as the “most preferred market” in India, followed closely by Mumbai. Some of the factors that pushed Delhi to the coveted spot, as highlighted by the report, include massive improvements in infrastructure — a well-connected metro service, a modern International airport, road widening projects, new flyovers, underpasses, walkways and high capacity buses. Read More »

Delhi Based Developer Ansal API Plans to Raise Rs 650 cr via QIP

Delhi-based real estate developer Ansal API will raise around Rs 650 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) in February, 2010, a banker involved in the process told FE. The company has mandated IDFC-SSKI as its lead banker for the slated QIP. In June, the board of directors of Ansal API had decided to seek the approval of shareholders to issue equity shares, to qualified institutional buyers to raise up to Rs1,500 crore. The company had informed the same to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as well.

Now, after weathering the slowdown and assessing its financial requirement, the company has decided to go ahead with a QIP of just Rs 650 crore, a company official said. The realty firm is also planning to increase the limit of foreign institutional investors’ (FIIs) in the company to 49% from the present limit of 24%. When contacted a company spokesman said, “We do not comment on market speculation.” Read More »

Promoters to Benefit from DLF-DAL Merger

It’s that feeling of deja vu. Delhi-based real estate developer DLF has announced a merger of its commercial realty arm DLF Assets (DAL) with itself — a move aimed at repaying some of DAL’s debt. This merger is also aimed at consolidating all commercial properties under DLF, which will help add an annual income of close to Rs 500-600 crore in the form of lease rentals from 2009-10. DAL currently earns around Rs 325 crore from lease rentals.

The new structure involves the merger of DLF subsidiary DLF Cyber City Developers with Caraf Builders and Constructions, which is the holding company of DAL. The valuation ratio approved by the board for Cyber City and Caraf is in the ratio of 60:40. This means that DLF shareholders will have access to 60% and promoters to 40% of the merged entity. However, this will be a cashless transaction. DLF sells commercial property to DAL, which is controlled by KP Singh who owns 78% in the latter along with his son and DLF promoter Rajeev Singh. DAL buys commercial property from DLF and collects lease rentals from it. With this merger, the debt on DLF’s books would be an additional Rs 2,460 crore. Read More »

Real Estate Prices High Along Metro Routes in Delhi

Real estate values have reached new heights along Metro routes in Delhi, a study has found, revealing that a Metro station in the locality pushes up prices by at least 22 per cent. At the ongoing Urban Mobility Conference in the Capital, Professor H M Shivanand Swamy of the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad said he has studied the impact of the Delhi Metro on real estate in three phases. “We researched the pre-construction phase (1990-1996), the under-construction phase (1996-2000) and the post-construction phase (2001-06) in Delhi. We found that property rates jumped significantly after the Metro began operations. There was only a slight increase in value in the two previous phases,” the CEPT’s associate director said.

The Metro has also ‘flattened the curve’ Swamy said, as his study has established that property prices around stations that are at the peripheries of the city have considerably closed the gap with those at city centres. “While this gap is still 35 per cent, prices along Dwarka and Rithala routes have risen significantly,” Swamy said. The study points out that prices are highest within 500 metres of Metro routes. As one moves away, the impact on price rise decreases, he said. Proximity to the Metro has proved more beneficial for commercial properties, the study states. Read More »

Vatika looks to Raise Rs 125 cr from Real Estate Investment Firm Brahma Capital

Delhi based real estate and hospitality company Vatika Group, which raised Rs 1,000 crore from a group of international financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Baer Capital and Wachovia Bank in 2007, is in talks to get fresh funds from real estate investment firm Brahma Capital, a person familiar with the matter told ET.

When contacted, Pritam Chivukula, principal-real estate, Brahma Capital, said: “While we are active and looking at a couple of deals in the northern capital region, this is a mere speculation.” Although the exact deal size could not be ascertained, a senior executive in the private equity space said it is likely to be in the range of Rs 100-125 crore. Read More »

DLF to Build Rs 15 cr Flat in Delhi’s Posh Locality

Real estate major DLF is coming up with Rs 15 crore flats in the posh Greater Kailash area, courtesy Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), alleges Congress. Leader of Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Jai Kishen Sharma has alleged that the civic body has “illegally” allotted the land meant for park and community centre to the DLF. The Bharatiya Janata Party is in power at the Town Hall. Claiming that the civic agency is hand in glove with the ruling party, Sharma said: “In clear violation of the MCD rules, plots measuring 1.5 and 2.5 acres have been allotted for building apartment complex. The land was meant for civic facilities like parks and community centre. This was done to increase the ground coverage of the housing society and give undue benefits to DLF.”

The real estate major is building eight and nine storey apartment buildings in the E and W blocks of the Greater Kailash-II. The building plans were sanctioned in 2007. DLF has already started construction on the plots. Captain KS Singh, a MCD councilor from south Delhi, said: “When the plots were allotted the topography of the area was very different from what it is today. Now, the area is densely populated. So, there should be no construction here as civic infrastructure will crumble if these housing projects come up.” Read More »

Cong and its Supreme Ally Trinamool Battle over Real Estate

Real estate in the Lutyen’s Delhi zone has emerged as the latest bone of contention between the Congress and its biggest ally in the second United Progressive Alliance (UPA) — the Trinamool Congress. According to top Trinamool sources, their leader Mamata Banerjee is again angry with the Congress — even before the previous contentious issues could subside — over non-allocation of a preferred bungalow for her party office in the national capital.

Banerjee had zeroed in on bungalow number 14 on Bishamber Dass Marg as the ideal place to house her party office in Delhi. But the House Committee, headed by Congressman J P Aggarwal, ruled out Banerjee’s appeal and allotted the bungalow to a BJP MP. The preferred plot has a type VII bungalow — the second largest of the kind in Lutyen’s Delhi. “I don’t have any vacant bungalow now which can be given to any Trinamool Congress MP to set up their party office. The bungalow in question was already allotted to a senior Lok Sabha MP even before the Trinamool Congress leadership sent its request. Read More »

PE Firm Milestone Capital to raise $250 mn

Private equity (PE) firm Milestone Capital is looking to raise a $250 million (about Rs 1,175 crore) offshore fund independently or jointly with Delhi-based Religare, its existing partner in a fund that invests in the healthcare and education space in India, an industry executive, familiar with the matter, said on conditions of anonymity. The new fund will invest in the US, Europe and the Middle East in education and healthcare sectors. At present, Religare Group and Milestone have a 50:50 joint venture (JV) fund, Religare Milestone, with a corpus of Rs 600 crore. The fund focuses on local companies in tier II and tier III cities in the education and healthcare space. The fund has already invested Rs 25 crore in test preparation firm IMS Learning Resources and is also in talks to invest similar amounts in 2-3 hospitals in the country.

When contacted, both the Milestone and Religare spokespersons declined to comment. The person privy to the development said one of the options for Milestone is to jointly raise the fund with its JV partner. Milestone has already initiated talks with the financial services group promoted by former Ranbaxy owners, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, to raise this amount, he added. If negotiations with Religare fructify, this would be the second fund under its management catering to the education and healthcare space. Read More »