Latest Property News on 'Hyderabad'

Big developers Partner with Local Developers to Complete Projects Quickly

Hyderabad-based PBEL Property Development (India) Ltd has a new strategy to break into unfamiliar markets: partner with local developers to complete projects quickly. The realty firm wants to divide its 42 acres on Old Mahabalipuram Road off Chennai into four or five portions, each of which will be handed over to local developers for building residential apartments. “We don’t know much about the Chennai market and think it’s a good idea to bring in people who have the knowledge,” said Anand Reddy, director of PBEL Property, which has a project pipeline mostly in southern India. “Of course, we will keep a portion of the land which we’ll develop ourselves.”

A number of large developers are similarly forming joint ventures (JVs) or special purpose vehicles with smaller, local developers for specific projects on a revenue-sharing model. “We will see more developers getting into such JVs depending on what the local partner brings to the table,” said a senior research analyst at First Global Securities Ltd, who didn’t want to be named. “It could be land, local domain knowledge or even good building capacity.” Mumbai-based developer Sunil Mantri Realty Ltd, for instance, prefers local partners with the potential to speed up projects by procuring building approvals and helping in the conversion of land status quickly—often, the most time-consuming aspects of development. Read More »

Home Buyers Taking Interest in Hyderabad Real Estate

Aggressive pricing and festival season discounts are beginning to draw home buyers in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, including surrounding municipalities and satellite townships. With the market correcting by nearly 30-40 per cent depending upon the location, be it core city area or peripheries, buyers have begun to not only evince interest but are also entering into deals, according to some real-estate companies in the city.

The President of Greater Hyderabad Builders Federation, Mr C. Prabhakar Rao, said some of the large builders who have taken up integrated township and mega projects are those who are facing the heat of servicing loans. This has forced them to bring down prices by about 30-40 per cent to bring back buyer interest. Prices had shot up to unrealistic levels due to the boom in the real-estate market. That was the time when no one doubted the market potential and continued to invest, a good number of them for speculation. Read More »

Hyderabad Realtors Support “Jagan” as CM

In the last five years, the city of Hyderabad became ‘Greater’ expanding to five times its size. Land auctioned by the government here even fetched as much as Rs 19 crore per acre, before recession hit the sector. This apart, the state became the country’s SEZ capital with over 100 SEZs approved in AP. Predictably, it is the real estate sector that is most concerned about “the accessible’’ YSR’s untimely death and are now rooting for Jaganmohan Reddy as the next chief minister, as he alone shares his father’s passion for real estate and land, they say. Apprehending that a non-businessman politician would be unable to understand their business and its prevailing concerns, realtors say Jagan is the next perfect choice for the CM’s post. “But Jagan is an industrialist himself. He is a real estate businessman and so would understand our business better,’’ said Ashwin Rao, director Manbhum Constructions.

Realtors say that Jagan not only enjoys the support of MLAs that would in turn give a stable government (which would be any industry’s requirement), but he would also be the only person in the party who will adopt YSR’s policies totally. And he is no green horn, they contest, citing his thumping election victory from Kadapa and his business acumen in handling his own firms. Given that the state attracted infrastructure majors and the city even boasted of a brand new 5,000-acre airport, city builders say that YSR was an exception among politicians as he had a unique incisive understanding of the real estate business, a knack that his son has acquired, they say. Besides, realtors note that if earlier major real estate and infrastructure activity was concentrated in Mumbai and Bangalore, YSR brought it to Hyderabad. “He made it the most happening city and only Jagan can carry this forward, being an industrialist and entrepreneur,’’ said P V S N Murthy, president, AP Builders Association. Read More »

No Fresh Supply of Mall Space for South India between January and March

The three major cities in south India — Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore —did not witness fresh supply of mall space between January and March this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. However, these cities would see supply of 4.35 million sft by the year end, the real estate services firm said in its report recently. “Retail real estate across India continued to reel under the current economic pressure while retailers continued to show their apathy towards expansion plans.”

Though Bangalore witnessed no new supply, some sporadic leasing activities in the existing malls kept rentals across established locations like Mysore Road and Vittal Mallya Road stable. Rental values in upcoming malls, however, recorded some correction. Bangalore is likely to see about 2 million sft of mall supply in 2009, of which approximately 0.3 million sft is expected in the Whitefield micro market during the second quarter of 2009. Read More »

GMR Plans 250-acre aerospace park in Hyderabad

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) is planning to set up an aerospace park in Hyderabad, which would be spread over 250 acres, even though the aviation sector is going through turbulent times. The park, to be completed in 5-6 years, is coming up in the vicinity of the GHIAL’s new airport in Shamsabad, Hyderabad, where the company already has more than 5,400 acres and is expected to employ 8,000-10,000 people. “The park would be set up in the next 5-6 years. It will be spread over 250 acres,” a senior official of the company told PTI. He, however, declined to share the investment plans of the project. The land for the project has been designated as Special Economic Zone and will enjoy tax and other financial incentives.

The park will offer services like aircraft maintenance and repair, manufacturing of components and sub-systems, and research and development for civil as well as military aircraft. It will also provide training for aviation industry personnel. Besides, it will offer warehousing services and support ancillary industries like tyre manufacturers. The park is expected to generate employment for 8,000-10,000 people. In February, as a first step, GHIAL had announced the setting up of a Rs 400 crore maintenance, repair overhaul (MRO) facility in association with Malaysia Airlines at the aerospace park. GHIAL is a joint venture firm in which GMR Infrastructure holds 63 per cent, the Airports Authority of India and Government of Andhra Pradesh hold 13 per cent each and Malaysia Airports Holding Berhard has the remaining 11 per cent.

Mumbai, Ahmedabad Witness Drastic Fall in Mall Rentals

Once buzzing with a lot of business activity, shopping malls too are feeling the pinch of the slowdown. While mall rentals in retail hotspots like Mumbai and Ahmedabad have seen a correction of 36-42%, other shopping destinations like Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata and the NCR saw a drastic dip since January 2009. The mall and main street rentals fell as much as 42% in Mumbai and 25% in the NCR in the January-March quarter, compared to preced-ing quarter, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. Ahmedabad saw corrections in the range of 20-36% over the last quarter.

In the past one year, mall rentals in Ahmedabad alone have corrected by a whopping 33-55%. The correction in rental points to a waning retail sector in Ahmedabad. Be it stores of Indiabulls Retail, Spencer’s Retail or Subhiksha, the retail biggies have either shut shop (completely or partially) or have shrunk in size. In Mumbai, main-street locations also saw rental correction with Colaba Causeway recording the highest correction of 38%. Read More »

Assocham Sees South India as a Better Investment Option

Metros in South India are more attractive for infrastructure projects than their counterparts in the other parts of the country, an industry lobby report said Sunday. According to the report, ‘Indian Metros: Pulling Infrastructure Investment’, released by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai received 70 per cent of the total private infrastructure investment came to the six major metros in the country.

“In the past four years, private sector has invested Rs.33,161 crore in three metros of South India compared to Rs.14,240 crore of infrastructure investments in other tier I cities,” the chamber said. Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said better state policies and high literacy rate in the southern cities attract most of the investors. “Even though these cities are less urbanised with combined urban population of about 16 million, they attract private infrastructure projects primarily due to better state policies, better human talent, high literacy rates, and faster rising in per capita income,” he said. Read More »

Indian Developer Plans Mega Home Project

A housing project with 2,000 properties up for grabs is to become the third mega-project to be built by an up-and-coming Indian developer. Indu Projects Limited announced Indu City in Bachupally, Hyderabad, would also be designed and built by American real estate giants Belt Collins. It follows similar huge housing schemes called Indu Fortune Fields, in Kukatpalli, and Indu Aranya, built at Nagole.

The company also revealed the development would be a fusion between real estate and natural terrain, providing a balance between “nature and high quality living”. Indu projects said: “The proposed gated community is planned for 1,715 apartment units ranging from 750 sq ft to 3,150 sq ft, and a range of 318 villas ranging from 325 sq yards to 600 sq yards.” In line with a current drive towards more affordable housing in India, the developer also said units would be available to suit all real estate budgets. Read More »

Hyderabad Based Real Estate Company Bags Green Platinum Pre-Certification

Aliens Group, leading Real Estate Company in Hyderabad, just added another feather to its cap. It has become the only Real Estate Company in Andhra Pradesh to be pre-certified with a Platinum Rating by Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) in the Residential Townships category. This makes it one of the most Eco-Friendly Properties to live in and the First Platinum pre-certified Green Township in Hyderabad. This comes after Aliens Group being the only Real Estate Company to get the HUDA approval for a 30 Storied High Rise in Hyderabad.

IGBC is a not-for-profit organization and also the certifying body for Green Buildings in India. It follows a series of studies and does extensive review after which these ratings are given to the developments. There are very few developments that are accredited with these ratings in India and Aliens Group is one of them. Speaking on the occasion Mr. Hari Challa, MD Aliens Group said, “It is a matter of great pride that the award recognizes our Eco- Friendly initiatives. We believe in self governance and are aware about our responsibility towards the society and environment. What makes me proud is - what we are building today is not at the cost of tomorrow.” Read More »

Reliance Infra plans to raise funds in phases for Hyderabad project

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, part of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, will be raising funds in phases for its 100-storeyed trade tower and business district project on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The company needs about Rs 4, 000 crore in the first phase to pull off a large part of the project, which will be executed at a cumulative cost of Rs 8,000 crore in the next three-five years. “We will have to raise the money in two-three phases from banks, though we intend to develop the project in one go,” said a senior official of Reliance Infrastructure in charge of the Hyderabad project.

Reliance Infra, which is a two-thirds partner in the project that is to be implemented through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), won the bid last November. The other stakeholders in the venture are Bangalore-based Sobha Developers Ltd (technical partners) and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corp. with 23% and 11% stake, respectively. The project is the business group’s first venture into real estate, with the second being a mixed-use project planned on about 220 acres, which it got by winning the contract to build a metro rail line between the New Delhi railway station and the international airport. Considering the current market downturn, the SPV has decided to lease, rather than sell, the tower, which will be the central attraction in the 77-acre project. “Leasing out space is much more flexible when property prices are on a downward slope and you don’t relinquish ownership rights. However, we will lease out the space in phases in the next few years,” said the same official. Read More »