Deepak Parekh, the Chairman of HDFC said that there is an improvement in the economic condition and therefore, developers have started charging premiums. Due to the land prices touching sky, the realty prices also shot up.

As per the report, there was a downfall of 25% in residential real estate prices in October 2009, but now it’s steeping upwards again.

Parekh observe this change in the most active markets of India, for instance, suburbs of Mumbai, NOIDA in the NCR, a Bangalore suburb etc which all are experiencing price hike.

Also, he plans for having a real estate regulator in place.

The project is spread over an area of 400,000 sq ft. the project consists of two similar wings residential towers having 28 stories each with ultra modern amenities and two podiums. It is oriented in the direction facing Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Gitanjali Infratech Ltd which is a 100% subsidiary of the Gitanjali Group is going to develop this project.

The developers will offer possession in somewhere mid of 2013 while the bool=kings will be open from September. The expected revenue Gitanjali would be able to fetch is around 400 cr.

Along with this project, two more projects are on the list of Gitanjali Infratech.

Due to the rise of upper middle class in India, a sense of better lifestyle and good living has made home in the heart of society. Now days, people believe in spending and enjoying rather than saving and worrying. Easy living is the demand of the time.

People now do not compromise on their comfort level. When one comes back home after a day’s work, he just want an ambiance that helps him to unwind. And this statement has proved itself as a boom for the developers since they now provide facilities and get customers as soon as the project launches. The demand in the residential sector is increasing day by day. Also, due to globalization, demand for office spaces has also grown. Thus, it can be easily concluded that realty sector is flourishing to the fullest.

With the 3D floor plans, you can easily visualize and understand better which in turn will bring better and focused results. It is even useful for the buyers who then will have a proper view of your project.
Some of the benefits of 3D floor plans are:

1. It provides the exact view of floors to both developer and buyer.
2. It brings ease in improving the plan as per need instead of changing the whole plan and start from scratch again which is obviously both expensive and hectic.
3. It also attracts lenders due to its proper design and colors which may lead to better sale.

As per the instructions of Mr.Raj Kumar Chouhan, the Revenue Minister, any illegal construction will not be tolerated and along with the guilty, the government officials will also be punished if they fail to control such activities.

He added that if anyone is found who is carrying out any construction activities in 1,639 unauthorized colonies, which are being considered for regularization by the government will also be considered guilty and will be punished as well.

Finally, he also said that government would not stand aside but will take action against developers and land mafia if they are found guilty.

Some sources revealed that apart from the general complaints of conditions of sale agreements, change in terms, delayed possession and problems faced by consumers while opting out, the complaints of misleading advertisements would also be taken into note.

Sources also revealed that CCI has found a large number of complaints against many leading real estate developers. There exist an Act of Parliament through which the Commission, which gained functionality last July, is empowered to ban any malpractice or enalise the guilty.

According to the Commission, irrespective of any specific builder, the consumer status as far as unsatisfaction is concerned, is the same. Thus, it is well justified to look into these specific as well as general problems.

According to experts, when they analyzed the commitment and positive contribution of the company in the society welfare, it would be fully justified to call it one of the best developers in the Indian real estate market.

The award ceremony was originally organized to honor the real estate companies and industry professionals who have put their heart and soul into the realty and have done significant contributions in the growth of Indian realty. A panel of experts was the judge.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tata Housing, Brotin Banerjee, said that the company has the motive of delivering to the consumer what he wants. They firmly believe in ‘what you see is what you get’. And the Cityscape award is the evident of the contributions the company has made over the years to the society.

DLF

The realty giant plans Rs. 5000 cr. to be cut from its debt. Out of these, Rs. 2700 cr. will be raised from sale of non-core assets and the left over from internal accruals. Last year, DLF could raise only Rs. 1800 cr. from sale of non-core assets while it planned for Rs. 5500 cr.

This fiscal, DLF has to compensate Rs 2,500-2,700 cr. in debt and also an interest of Rs. 1800 cr. Also, officials believe that this divestment of non-core assets is not just a means to reduce debt but is a strategy to focus more on the core business operations.

Rs. 7,855 cr. was the overall revenue during financial year 2009-10 which is reduced by 25% as compared to Rs. 7,855 cr. in financial year 2008-09. The firm sold an area of 12.55 million sq ft across the world in the last fiscal.

JLLM, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, a property consultant firm’s  Country Head and Managing Director Anuj Puri said that developers experience difficulties in having a pan-Indian presence due to the different procedure and different laws in every state for acquiring land, property taxation and approvals for projects.

Since there is a need of understanding local dynamics for developing realty projects, many developers take property sector as a regional business.

The problem for developers of having a pan-India presence cannot be helped until there is in land acquisition process and regulatory approvals are the belief of many consultants and developers.

April 17, 2010

Godrej Group, Mumbai’s biggest landowner, is likely to release by the end of this year in Vikhroli, a prime 35-acre chunk.

In the recent path, this could be one of the largest drapes of unencumbered realty hitting the market. In the eastern suburbs, most of the large industrial plots sold to developers over the past 10 years were between 5 and 20 acres.

In Vikhroli, it is estimated that the Godrej controls around 4,000 acres most of which is constituted of a huge mangrove sprawl. This mangrove sprawl is titled as the best preserved mangrove park in Mumbai by environmentalists.

On Tuesday, the executive director of Godrej Properties, Pirojsha Godrej revealed to Times of India that for mixed-use development, a big plan is being prepared. And it is being prepared by none other than architect Cesar Pelli.

Memorandum SubmissionApril 14, 2010

A memorandum has been submitted to the Finance Ministry concerned with the appeal for removal of service tax on housing complexes under construction by CREDAI, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India which is a real estate industry body.

The Chairman of CREDAI, Kumar Gera stated that they have put forth their concerns and suggestions and also discussed the probable impact of the provisions with the Ministry. An understanding of the problem and required corrective steps will be taken is a hope from the government. The list of recommendations was built in consultations with KPMG, its knowledge partner and was submitted to Y G Parande, a Finance Ministry Member (Budget).

According to Gera, the money collected through the imposition of service tax on real estate development will not be big enough; rather it would majorly lead an overall negative sentiment and a net loss of revenue.

In budget 2010, it was announced by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, the Finance Minister that a tax would be imposed on the housing complexes under construction but later it was clarified by the officials that service tax would be imposed on 33 per cent of total selling price. This was interpreted by the real estate players as a 3.5% price escalation for the buyers.

According to CREDAI, it was an impractical proposal to levy service tax on construction of complex since would lead to government giving preference to the secondary market of completed projects.

Photo by Carlos Lorenzo

Jaiprakash Associates (Jaypee Greens) have announced the launch of their new project “Jaypee Greens Sports City”, a luxury township with residential and sports facilities, near the Taj Expressway (connecting Greater Noida to Agra). “The Sports City is positioned for everyone who appreciates luxurious surroundings and spaces equipped with sports and recreational facilities,” according to a press release by Jaypee Greens.

The Sports City will have various Residential Districts which would be built by the company in phases. The first district will be the Country Homes, with sizes varying from 200 to 4000 sq mts. This will be followed by Lake District with high, mid and lower end apartments. The city will have features like uninterrupted water and electricity supply from Jaypee Group’s own power generation plants, round the clock 3 tier security, super specialty health facilities and educational facilities ranging from Kinder crib to professional levels.

For more details and booking: http://www.propertywala.com/projects/560172

S. Sridhar, Chairman and Managing Director of the Central Bank of India described the move as short sighted and that the developers are naïve if they think that by increasing prices, they would stimulate demand. Further he said, “It is difficult to generalise but as a whole there is some more scope for downward adjustment in prices, or in certain places it should plateau. That will stimulate the demand”. He added, “If the real estate players revise the prices upwards, it will stall the recovery process. Demand for housing loans has picked up among the banks but the situation is still fragile”.

Already in a difficulty due to unavailability of bank loans and a fall in sales, the developers are less inclined to oblige the buyers who are coming together to mount pressure for refunds in projects that are yet to take off.

Several buyers and investors, angered by the developers’ inability to start work on projects, have stopped payment of installments on their purchases, adding to the companies’ cash problems.

Investors in DLF’s commercial projects in Delhi and Kolkata have come together with the help of brokers to put pressure on DLF to start construction or refund initial deposits.

The broker says DLF has not even paid the government to convert the industrial plots at Shivaji Marg and Okhla in Delhi into commercial plots. However, a DLF spokesman denied this saying, “We go by the agreement with the buyers signed at the time of booking. The allegations over the status of our projects are not true. We will deliver as per schedule.”

Several projects of Omaxe, Unitech and Parsvnath are also facing similar problems. Akash Verma, a Noida-based garment exporter, had booked an apartment each in projects of Omaxe and Unitech in Noida. He booked an apartment at the ‘soft launch’ of Omaxe’s Noida project in May 2007. Omaxe had promised to launch the project formally a few months later at a higher rate. The formal launch never happened and investors like Mr Verma are stuck. Omaxe has turned down requests for a refund. An Omaxe spokesman, however, said the company has ‘considered and taken care’ of all such requests.

Mr Verma has also been unsuccessfully seeking a refund of his investment in Unitech’s Grande project. “I am paying Rs 4.5 lakh as EMI. Unitech executives say the project will be delivered on schedule, but there is no worker at the site,” he says. A Unitech spokesman said, “We generally discourage cancellations. But if the buyers insist, we refund the money after deducting 10-15% of the total value of the apartment.”

Most realty firms do not encourage refund requests. Till the end of 2007, investors could easily sell their property in open market as the prices were going up. But with buyers disappearing from the market, investors are forced to approach developers for refunds.

Some property buyers are seeking refunds due to their weakened financial positions, while several others do so as they are not sure of the developers’ ability to complete the project. There are a few others who seek refunds as they feel that they can strike a better deal now with prices undergoing a major correction.

The first half of this year also saw a marked shift in developers’ strategy towards mid-income houses, as the high-end segment witnessed increased resistance from buyers.

Project launches in the high-end category fell by two-third to just 5, while mid-income housing project launches rose by over 20% to 37.

As per a report by international property consultancy firm DTZ, the absorption of mid-income houses in July at 76% had overtaken that of high end houses (68%). This means that high end houses are selling at a slower pace than the mid income segment. The report says that the share of mid-income housing in the overall residential supply is expected to rise to 62% in three years, compared to 22% currently.

This translates into a CAGR of 131% for mid income housing units.

The project, spread over thirteen acres, is likely to be completed by 2011, the company said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Parsvnath said it expects revenue of 400 million rupees from its just-launched housing project in Pune.

According to shareholding data available on BSE, the domestic financial institutions and banks have amplified their inevstment in Unitech Ltd by more than 1.5%, while Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have reduced their stake.

In the case of Parsvnath, there were marginal changes in the institutional shareholding (mutual funds/UTI and financial institutions and banks) within the non-promoter category, even as the ‘individual’ holding get higher by just less than a percentage point.

In the case of Unitech, the stake held by various mutual funds and UTI stood at 0.51% on June 30, 2008 a bit higher than 0.25% in 2007.

If you live overseas than Meerut property dealer may you help in find your dream projects. Meerut property dealers offer you to both types of properties like commercial and residential properties. Real estate in Meerut is riding the crest of increasing demand boosted by large availability of abundant land at throw away prices. MSX Developers, Era Group, Supertech Group, Majestic Properties, DLF are in the Meerut real estate market and increase the competition.

At such high price levels for property, the buyer is taking his time which does not augur well for the developers. It is precisely for this reason that the uncertainty has stepped in.

HDFC’s Karnad admits that there are some pockets in India where prices need to correct further. “However, today, the real estate sector is going through a stage of over-pessimism,” she argues.

The story of the aspiring Indian middle class is hard to ignore and that could be urge to own a home could still make sure there is a healthy level of demand. Overall, the impact of a global slowdown on India is slowly being felt. It may affect Indian realty sector in coming time. However, NRIs affections towards Indian properties will not likely to be vanish in near future.

Many developers today offer RoI (return on investment) of anywhere from 10 to 24% a year to get people to invest in their projects, and some have even started issuing cheques as well. Such offer is largely by either new developers, who do not have the required standing to attract funds from high net worth individuals or by developers who are expanding rapidly and need to assemble funds from a host of small retail investors.

Most of these real estate projects are in the segment of retail and office space. When asked as to how an individual can invest in properties assured of generating regular returns, new developer Khan Infrastructure says, “One has to invest a minimum amount of Rs 18 lakh in order to avail of the offer.

Mr. Oberoi said “Our first Oberoi Garden City’ in Mumbai will be ready in the next four years. In a tie-up with Starwood, the hospitality chain, we are planning to develop a hotel at Gurgaon. For developing hospitals, we are talking to developers and planning to partner with them. We hope to garner gross revenues to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore from one project in four years. We should do revenue of Rs 3,000 crore in the year 2009.”

Besides this, Oberoi Constructions is also planning to rise with an initial public offering (IPO) in September 2008. Mr. Oberoi acknowledged “We still have to evaluate the exact valuation for the IPO. Through the IPO, we are looking at developing close to 15 mn sq ft of real estate, which can accommodate homes, hotels and shops”.