Latest Property News on 'Gurgaon'

Rajasthan Tops Investment Chart 2008-09: Assocham

Rajasthan has emerged as the leading state in the northern region for attracting the largest planned investment in 2008-09, industry body Assocham said on Wednesday. “Rajasthan has cornered planned investments worth Rs 69,052 cr from India Inc in 2008-09 for upgrading and modernising its infrastructure in nine areas among nine northern states,'’ the chamber said.

Haryana and Uttarakhand stood at the second and the third position with Rs 52,852 cr and Rs 36,059 cr planned corporate investments, respectively, in the last fiscal. Top sectors that attracted investments for Rajasthan include real estate (Rs 40,945 cr) , energy (Rs 19,400 cr), hospitality (Rs 6,388 cr) and cement (Rs 1,537 cr). Uttar Pradesh secured the fourth place followed by Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh in that order, it added. Read More »

Real Estate India Ready to Roar Again

Investors and analysts have begun re-rating the realty sector on optimism that the worst may be over, as the efforts of recent months and a stable global environment will help developers attract funds and boost earnings. Developers in the past year have restructured debt, sold non-core assets and tweaked product mix, helping to push up sales. This has encouraged investors to buy stocks of real estate companies and motivate analysts to revise price targets and upgrade the outlook on the sector. “The stabilisation in the international market improved financials arising out of restructuring of loans and enhanced liquidity from banks have resulted in revision in the outlook for the sector,” said Dipesh Sohani, an analyst with MF Global, an equity brokerage. “The real estate players are better placed now than what they were two-three quarters before.”

Reflecting the positive sentiment, the Bombay Stock Exchange Realty Index rose 58 per cent in the past month, outpacing the benchmark Sensitive index’s gain of 27 per cent. Stocks of Unitech, DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate and HDIL have jumped 65 per cent, 41 per cent , 54 per cent and 146 per cent, respectively. The turning point seems to have been the successful qualified institutional placement (QIP) of Unitech on April 16, at a time when very few companies dared to enter the market. The country’s second-biggest developer raised Rs 1,625 crore from the sale at Rs 38.50 apiece. The stock is now trading at Rs 71.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The renewed faith of overseas investors stems from the series of steps taken by developers to improve their financial position. Unitech has cut debt by Rs 2,000 crore while DLF, the country’s biggest developer, has repaid Rs 1,700 crore of loans in the past year. The two companies together have also restructured as much as Rs 4,100 crore worth of loans with commercial banks and mutual funds, avoiding short-term payment pressures. Read More »

Post Election Experts Anticipate Real Estate Recovery

With the UPA returning to power, the property pundits anticipate the revival of real estate market in the northern region that has witnessed shrinking of transactions when the country was in election mode. “The sale and purchase of property will now start taking place as the Center is expected to have stable government led by the UPA,” Punjab Properties and Colonizers Association Chairman Anil Chopra told PTI.

The property transactions dipped by 70 to 80 per cent in the northern region ahead of the elections as people were not inclined to invest in the real estate due to apprehensions that no major political party would get majority in the elections to form the government, experts said. “We observed just ahead of the start of the elections that the sale and purchase of land or residential or commercial properties almost came to halt with investors as well as end users preferring to wait till the new government is formed,” Chopra said. Read More »

Dubai Realty Major Plans Offices in Indian Metros

Sherwoods Independent Property Consultants is to open an office in New Delhi this summer as investor appetite grows amid a shortfall of four million residential units in the Indian capital. The Dubai-based real estate adviser, which has three offices in UAE as well as a strong presence in Europe, predicted on Tuesday New Delhi will have a buoyant housing market with rising demand among the burgeoning middle class as India’s economy booms. Sherwoods estimated that there is a supply shortage of around four million homes in the capital. Puniet Singh, CEO of Sherwoods Independent Property Consultants (India) Private Limited said: “Sherwoods is targeting all metropolitan cities in India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore as well as tier-2, urbanised cities such as Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and Noida.”

As well as showing signs of recovery from the global crisis, interest rates in India have from fallen from 11.5 percent to 9.25 percent, making mortgages cheaper. The Indian economy is likely to grow at 6.6 percent in the current fiscal year on the back of new investment proposals, economic think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in a report on Tuesday. “We believe this is a highly favourable time for real estate investments as India is now showing strong signs of recovery and opening excellent opportunities in the mid to long-term horizon,” Singh continued. “India’s resiliency is of particularly strategic importance because growth has levelled out in other major global markets, putting India in the spotlight as a new prime destination for real estate investors.”

Signs of Revival in Real Estate Sector

After witnessing an acute slowdown during the third and fourth quarter of 2008, the real estate sector has shown some recovery in the first quarter of 2009 ending March 31. If trends of absorption for the period January-March 2009 are any indication, a report prepared by PropEquity Research suggested there has been a surge in absorption in majority of the cities. A recent study conducted by PropEquity across Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Gurgaon in NCR reveals that absorption has been high among the residential new launches in the first quarter of 2009 in Mumbai, Chennai and Gurgaon. The study attributes the success rate in absorption to the price correction and reduction in unit sizes introduced by developers in these cities. However, Bangalore and Hyderabad, which witnessed fewer new launches during the period, experienced a low absorption.

The real estate sector experienced one of the worst kinds of slowdown in demand because of rise in the interest rates in the January-March 2008, by almost 2 percentage points, to 12%. At the same time, the prevailing prices of residential apartments in most of the cities made them unaffordable for most buyers. The situation further worsened after global financial markets got affected due to the failure of banks and b ro ke r i n g houses in the US and Europe. This also affected Indian real estate market very badly and demand plummeted. According to the report, While October-December 2008 saw the nadir with absorption of only 1,113 units in Mumbai, the first quarter of 2009 witnessed the launch of over 14,478 residential apartment units and a corresponding absorption of 5,746 units. As against this, during October-December 2008, 3,096 units were launched, the report said. Similarly, in Gurgaon, during January-March 2009, 815 units were sold while 4,490 units were launched. As against this, in October-December 2008 quarter, only 587 units were sold from 3,708 units launched. Hence, both the absorption and launch figure showed sign of recovery. Read More »

Developers May Benefit from Mining Ban in Haryana Region

Contrary to the general perception, the Supreme Court’s judgment to ban mining in the Aravali range in Haryana will help real estate developers in the region. Avaneesh Sood, director of Eros group, the developer of the largest project Charmwood township in the area, said the judgment would not affect construction activities in the area. Instead, he said, it would help improve the environment, landscape and ambiance of the area, which would catapult the area into an upmarket region in NCR. Rohtas Goel, the CMD of Omaxe another group that has launched a couple of projects in the region also felt the court judgment will help improve the habitation and greenery in the area making it even more attractive. The ban will also help recharge the area’s groundwater. And even a small prospect of reviving the Badkhal lake and other water bodies, for which the area was famous till a few years ago, will push the real estate prices.

On Friday, SC had imposed a blanket ban on mining in the Aravali range. The ban primarily affects development on the Surajkund Road and Faridabad-Gurgaon Road. There were apprehensions that the judgment will affect construction activities in the area. But, a close look at the judgment allayed any such apprehensions. However, a number of projects are on hold because of the government’s insistence on not allowing the misuse of forestland. Developers said illegal mining proved to be a big menace in the area and ruined the entire landscape of the region. Sood said his group entered the region with housing projects because of the landscape and the water bodies which used to be the unique selling point (USP) of the area. However, the area was degraded because of the unbridled mining. The main attraction of the region, Badkhal lake, almost dried up. On the issue of easy availability of construction material like stone from the area due to mining, developers said they did not source any material from the local stone-crushers, but from Rajasthan. Even infrastructure developers like GMR said they sourced material from Rajasthan. “Therefore, the ban on mining will not push the cost of the implementation of a project,'’ said a senior GMR official.

Bangalore Municipal Authority Accuses DLF for Illegally Selling Flats

The Bangalore municipal authority said in a public notice on 6 May that it has not yet given mandatory sanctions for development of the project, DLF Westend Heights, at New Town, off Banerghatta Road. DLF Ltd, India’s largest property developer by market value, has been accused of illegally selling apartments without mandatory sanctions at its maiden project in Bangalore. The Bangalore municipal authority said in a public notice on 6 May that it has not yet given mandatory sanctions for development of the project, DLF Westend Heights, at New Town, off Banerghatta Road. The municipality, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP), is the final authority for clearing building sanctions in the city.

It also said DLF has only got approval from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for constructing four floors in all the buildings at its project, while the firm’s been advertising 18 floors. The Gurgaon-based developer launched the 80-acre project earlier this year after reformatting it from premium homes to smaller, less-expensive residences costing Rs1,850 per sq. ft. On its part, DLF said the company has kept its customers informed about the status of the approvals and will not start construction till it gets all the clearances. “DLF has paid Rs14.60 crore to BBMP towards betterment charges last August, which indicates that it would seek approval from the authority,” it said, adding that it started bookings from customers only after studying the legalities and taking into consideration the approval process underway. The developer has been attempting to launch the project since early 2008, but was held back by delays in getting approvals and because of changes in the design of the project, which will be built in phases. Read More »

Real Estate Biggies Worst Hit by Crisis

Real estate developers with a pan-India presence are in trouble. With few buyers in the market, majority of their projects have not taken off in various markets, say realty consultants. Almost all major real estate developers such as DLF, Unitech, Omaxe, Parsvnath Developers and Emaar MGF had moved out from their core areas to construct projects in different cities. However, 65-70% of these projects have not taken off. DLF, for instance, recently pulled out of many commercial projects in Gurgaon and Manesar. Buyers also moved out of the developer’s Garden City Residential project in Chennai. Similarly, Unitech’s projects in Kolkata and Mohali have also not taken off as per plan. A severe cash crunch has also made Parsvnath Developers hold back its plans to construct several projects that were in the pipeline.

Kaustuv Roy, executive director at consultancy Cushman & Wakefield says performance of any player depends on the cost of land acquisition. “Those developers who picked up land at a higher value in the last two to three years are facing a tough challenge in these times. They picked it up on the assumption that the market is going up and will continue to go up. But today they are facing a hard time as they cannot construct on the same value as when they had bought it.” Read More »

Real Estate Sector Sees Minor Recovery in 1st Quarter of 09

After witnessing an acute slowdown during the third and fourth quarter of 2008, the real estate sector has shown some recovery in the first quarter of 2009 ending March 31. If trends of absorption for the period January-March 2009 are any indication , a report prepared by PropEquity Research suggested there has been a surge in absorption in majority of the cities. A recent study conducted by PropEquity across Mumbai, Bangalore , Chennai, Hyderabad, and Gurgaon in NCR reveals that absorption has been high among the residential new launches in the first quarter of 2009 in Mumbai, Chennai and Gurgaon. The study attributes the success rate in absorption to the price correction and reduction in unit sizes introduced by developers in these cities. However, Bangalore and Hyderabad, which witnessed fewer new launches during the period, experienced a low absorption.

The real estate sector experienced one of the worst kinds of slowdown in demand because of rise in the interest rates in the January-March 2008, by almost 2 percentage points, to 12%. At the same time, the prevailing prices of residential apartments in most of the cities made them unaffordable for most buyers. The situation further worsened after global financial markets got affected due to the failure of banks and brokering houses in the US and Europe. This also affected Indian real estate market very badly and demand plummeted. According to the report , While October-December 2008 saw the nadir with absorption of only 1,113 units in Mumbai, the first quarter of 2009 witnessed the launch of over 14,478 residential apartment units and a corresponding absorption of 5,746 units. As against this, during October-December 2008, 3,096 units were launched, the report said. That means, in the first quarter of 2009, 40% of the launched apartments were sold, which is considered to be a good turnover. Similarly, in Gurgaon, during January-March 2009, 815 units were sold while 4,490 units were launched. As against this, in October-December 2008 quarter, only 587 units were sold from 3,708 units launched. Therefore, both the absorption and launch figure showed sign of recovery.

Pay Back Our Money- Buyers to DLF

After 560 customers sought to exit Chennai project, about 600 want to pull out from New Town Heights In another instance of customers wanting to exit from a realty development, several buyers at a mid-range housing development of DLF Ltd in Gurgaon on Delhi’s outskirts want to exit their bookings. A recent poll among some 600 buyers at the New Town Heights project at Gurgaon, banded together in an online group, showed that 70% of them want DLF—India’s biggest realty firm by market value—to refund payments, of up to Rs31 lakh in some cases, because the firm has not begun construction on the project and real estate prices have crashed in the past six months.

“People are not satisfied with the value proposition,” a member of the buyer group, who asked not to be identified. “There has been a huge drop in prices of all the raw materials used for construction… Moreover, the price cut announced by DLF for its Chennai and Bangalore projects is much more than what they are offering us.” DLF, which has reduced prices of apartments in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, already faces exits by as many 560 customers in a Chennai project. New Town Heights, a residential project of DLF in sectors 90, 91 and 86 of Gurgaon, was launched in March last year as mid-range housing project with apartments selling in the Rs45-75 lakh range. The project has around 3,000 apartments, of which around 85% have been sold, according to the company. Read More »