Latest Property News on 'Gurgaon'

DIPP Sets Monitoring Cell to Scan End-Use of FDI Raised by Realty Firms

The department of industrial policy & promotion (DIPP) has set up a monitoring cell to investigate the end-use of foreign funds raised by realty firms, according to official sources. Its objective: to ascertain whether companies diverted the money to areas where FDI is banned like buying agricultural land. The development comes at a time when the government is trying to relax the three-year lock-in period on repatriation of investments by foreign partners in real estate projects.

The decision comes after recent raids by the enforcement directorate (ED) on one prominent Delhi-based real estate developer revealed “large-scale” FDI violations in the purchase of land. The company had an around 12,800-acre land bank, of which 8,700 acre is agricultural land. The ED claimed that most of this farmland was acquired through FDI, in contravention of existing rules. Read More »

Ireo Launches Ireo Uptown, a New premium Development in Gurgaon

Encouraged by the success of its maiden project, The Grand Arch, Ireo, the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) from a private equity fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector and an integrated real estate development company has launched Ireo Uptown, a new premium development in Gurgaon.

Priced at Rs 3,800, per sq ft, the project will offer a wide choice of two, three and four-bedroom apartments spread across five towers. There would be 534 apartments on offer with sizes ranging between 1,430 sq ft and 2,012 sq ft. Spread over 11 acres, about 84 per cent of the project would have exquisitely landscaped lawns with abundant greenery and large open spaces. The lawns would have an organic fruit orchard and a herb section aimed at promoting healthy lifestyle for the residents. Situated in Sector 66, near Golf Course Road and close to the Delhi Metro line extension, the premium township would have quick and easy connectivity to Delhi airport and NCR. The project is expected to be ready for occupation by 2012. Read More »

Ireo Announces the Commencement of its First Property “TheGrand Arch” in Gurgaon

Ireo, the leading FDI from a private equity fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector and a fully integrated real estate development company, has announced the commencement of its first signature property - The Grand Arch — in the Ireo City, Gurgaon. Ireo City is the first mega project of the company in North India, and the planned capital outlay for the development is Rs 10,000 crore. Spread over 500 acres, Ireo City, the integrated township, will offer a unique mix of features such as an elevated walk way connecting the entire township, art centers, theatres etc. Ireo City development will also include schools, hospital, parks, luxury hotels, shopping malls, service apartments and office complexes.

The Grand Arch, spread over 20 acres, is designed to be Gurgaon’s new landmark residential complex. It will have world-class architecture with apartments open on all 4 sides, 10 foot high ceiling improving room aesthetics, two bedroom duplex apartment with double height ceiling over the lounge and dining area, double glazed windows and apartments equipped with VRV air conditioning, offering the best of temperature controlled and energy efficiency. Read More »

HUL Puts Residential Properties for Sale in Mumbai and Gurgaon

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has put up a total of seven residential properties for sale in Mumbai and Gurgaon, which could fetch around Rs 35 crore. The company has made public announcement that it is selling five residential properties in Mumbai’s prime locations of Cuff Parade and Vile Parle, which includes four two-bedroom and one three-bedroom flats.The total saleable area is around 6,796 sq foot. As per real estate consultants CBRE’s property price estimates of these localities, these residential units could together be worth around Rs 28 crore.

HUL is also putting on block two residential plots at Gurgaon, which has a total area of 840 sq metres. As per market estimates, the minimum price for plots are estimated to be Rs 2.5 crore each.Query sent to the company seeking details of the property sale remained unanswered. The company, however, had earlier said that it may sell some of company-owned properties in Mumbai to unlock business value. HUL is understood to own around 25 residential properties in Mumbai’s prime locations, including as Malabar Hills, Church Gate and Andheri.

Gurgaon Rapidly Develops as One of the Most Modern Cities of India

Gurgaon has emerged as one of the most modern cities of India, with state-ofthe-art commercial buildings, posh residential condominiums and large malls. It has emerged as the first choice for a large number of multinational companies opening their offices in the country. The township has benefited hugely from its proximity to India’s capital and power centre at Delhi. In the last ten years, Gurgaon has had a number of MNCs opening their offices here. This has led to a rapid growth in real estate in the city, and today, it has emerged as a major residential, commercial and retail hub. Favorable government policies, good connectivity with Delhi, and its upcoming infrastructure has enabled Gurgaon to position itself as an industrial & IT/ITeS hub. A number of IT/ITeS companies, auto and auto ancillaries and garment export industries are operating out of this place.

The city’s proximity to the domestic and international airports, quality of real estate developments coupled with proactive government policies have helped it to grow faster than any other competing suburbs of Delhi, says Samir Jasuja of PropEquity, a real estate research firm. The commissioning of NH-8 (Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway) has further fuelled developments in Gurgaon. The Metro link, currently under construction, will further strengthen Gurgaon’s position in the NCR by providing muchneeded quality public transport connectivity. The city has also benefited from the government’s enhanced focus on a comprehensive infrastructure development plan for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the NCR. However, Gurgaon has still a long way to go in terms of social and physical infrastructure as it faces severe power shortages and traffic bottlenecks. Read More »

Lower Interest Rates cheers Gurgaon real estate market

Encouraged by price correction and lowering of interest rates, the real estate market, after a period of relative inactivity lasting the first few months of the year, witnessed improved levels of activity on the part of retail investors in the residential sector, especially in the low to mid-end housing segment, said experts as well as market analysis reports of the second quarter in 2009.

CBRE Market View, India Office , published for the second quarter, said: “Level of enquiries went up and, more significantly, transaction velocity also increased marginally as compared to Q1 (first quarter) of 2009… However with most of the activity confined to smaller format offices, vacancy levels remain high. Most developers deferred plans for launching any new projects, the focus being on deploying the scarce resources on completing projects in hand.”

Price Correction Encourages Gurgaon Real Estate market

Encouraged by price correction and lowering of interest rates, the real estate market, after a period of relative inactivity lasting the first few months of the year, witnessed improved levels of activity on the part of retail investors in the residential sector, especially in the low to mid-end housing segment, said experts as well as market analysis reports of the second quarter in 2009. CBRE Market View, India Office, published for the second quarter, said: “Level of enquiries went up and, more significantly, transaction velocity also increased marginally as compared to Q1 (first quarter) of 2009… However with most of the activity confined to smaller format offices, vacancy levels remain high. Most developers deferred plans for launching any new projects, the focus being on deploying the scarce resources on completing projects in hand.”

“The downward trend in rental values seen till now has actually been arrested. We expect them to stay put at the present levels over the next quarter. Depending on location, project and sub-market dynamics, the decline over the past 12 months has been anywhere between 25 to 40 per cent. However, values have remained steady over the last quarter,” Pawan Swamy, Managing Director (Western India) Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, said. Read More »

Housing Sector to Come up with 8,000 flats in NCR

In a move expected to give a big push to the housing sector in Gurgaon and Faridabad, the Haryana Housing Board is in the process of inviting expressions of interest for building 8,000 flats in these cities and some other places in the national capital region areas. This is in addition to the 38,000 housing units, majority of them in NCR, planned in the next two years. Under the latest project, the state will enter into an agreement with real estate developers to provide affordable housing to middle and lower middle class under the public private partnership mode.

“Since we do not have land in Faridabad and Gurgaon, we will be joining hands with private colonizers whose projects have been stuck due to the (economic) slowdown. We’ll prefer those who have the licence, and then those who have enough land,'’ said S P Gupta, chief administrator of the housing board. The announcement follows chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s assurance to developers that steps will be taken to counter the slump in the real estate market. It will also fulfil his commitment of providing cheap housing to locals, especially those in NCR cities of Gurgaon and Faridabad. Among the other areas selected for the project are Bawal (in Rewari district close to Gurgaon), Badhi (Sonepat) and Karnal. Read More »

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 »