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Affordable Housing Has Not Impressed Everyone Affordable housing is, definitely, the buzzword in India's real estate sector these days. Almost every realtor who has been hit adversely due to last year's market slowdown is talking of getting into this segment that involves putting up houses for the masses. However, not everyone is impressed. Mr. Deepak Parekh, chairman of HDFC, said that although developers are now reintroducing one-bedroom apartments and, in the current falling interest rate scenario, buyers are making a comeback, the real issues are not being addressed. "Affordable housing is not about box-sized, budget homes in far-flung places where there is no connectivity to work places and little surrounding infrastructure. It has to be able to cut across all income segments and has to make economic sense in terms of proximity to work place. The agenda for affordable housing requires a combined public-private collaboration and a strong political will to enforce change," Mr. Parekh added. 24 June 2009 DNA Money India's Realty Graph Yet To Revive Just a year ago, prices of houses were tremendously high but soon economic slowdown forced prices to come down. Following the crash in the stock market and the financial slowdown, the real estate sector in India has undergone a massive change. Realtors, desperate to reignite the sales, have cut prices by as much as 40 per cent. The government has been working to spur the sector - from loan incentives to the tune of Rs 20 lakh to duty cuts in the iron, steel and cement sectors. But despite all the measures taken by the industry and the government, the demand in real estate sector has not yet revived. In fact one of the big developers said that, while they had clocked sales of Rs 90 crore last year, this year that figure is only Rs 30 crore. In fact, there are many developers who are shying away from putting money in real estate projects. Now, it remains to be seen what more the industry and the government can offer to buyers to re-ignite the Indian residential market. 23 June 2009 indianrealtynews.com Delhi Real Estate Agent Admits Rs 85 crore Tax Evasion A real estate brokerage firm in Delhi has confessed to evading Rs 85 crore in taxes, official sources said. The firm owned by two brothers has been in the business of real estate and infrastructure for the last four years. As per sources in the I-T department, operations are still on at four premises of the firm and we have also seized Rs 53 lakh cash from these locations. "The firm has admitted Rs 85 crore (tax evasion) to the department and further probe is on in the case," a source said. The firm dealt with big developers in the real estate business in Delhi and were allegedly evading taxes by under-reporting the profits earned by them on the account books, they said. 23 June 2009 indianrealtynews.com Home Loan Rates To Fall Dewan Housing Finance Corporation said it expects home loan rates to come down by 25-50 basis points in the near-term as liquidity eases and inflation turns negative. "Interest rates will continue to remain low for some time. There is sufficient liquidity in the system. Inflation has also turned negative. My perception is that home loan rates will come down by 25-50 basis points in the near-term," said DHFL vice-chairman and managing director, Mr. Kapil Wadhwan told. 19 June 2009 rediff.com $300 Million Raise By DLF From Standard Chartered India's largest real estate developer, DLF Ltd has raised debt of about $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) from Standard Chartered Bank, according to a source familiar with the development. The company would use the money to develop its newly announced housing projects and for other corporate activities. The funds have been raised for a long term at an expected interest rate range of 8-9.5%, which are at least 500 basis points lower than the prevailing market rates. 20 June 2009 DNA Money LIC Mulls Real Estate Focused Venture Capital Fund LIC Housing Finance Ltd is planning to launch its real estate-focused venture capital fund along with its parent Life Insurance Corp of India by September-end, an official of the company said. "We are looking for another partner. Talks are on," Director and Chief Executive, Mr. R.R. Nair said. The real estate venture capital fund would have an initial corpus of five billion rupees, he said. The fund would be initially looking at financing real estate projects in India, he added added. 22 June 2009 indianrealtynews.com Banks' Credit To Real Estate Expands In 2008-09 Data from the Reserve Bank of India suggests that bank credit to the realty sector has actually expanded. Fourteen banks, which have released their 2008-09 annual reports, revealed that their commercial real estate exposure grew by an average 29.1 per cent, even as total credit grew 25 per cent. This growth was more significant for public sector banks; their real estate exposure grew 43 per cent over the year against their credit growth of 29 per cent. Private banks such as ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, on the other hand, posted marginal growth in their real estate credit portfolio. IndusInd Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Indian Bank hold higher exposure to real estate, with the sector accounting for over 8 per cent each of their total credit. 22 June 2009 The Hindu Business Line Realty To Witness Recovery By 2010: Crisil According to a report by Crisil Research, demand in the residential market is expected to turn positive in 2010 owing to improvement in affordability, steady economic growth and greater liquidity. However, the report reveals that the current trend for over-priced capital values of all three real estate segments-residential, commercial and retail-would persist through 2009. But the firm says that demand for houses will improve in 2010, backed by lower home loan interest rates and better job security owing to higher growth. It also feels that the pace of economic recovery and confidence revival will have an impact on sentiments across all real estate categories. 25 June 2009 The Indian Express After The Slowdown, U.S. Called New Emerging Market For Real Estate It's time for Brazil, Russia, India and China to move over. Another emerging market for commercial real estate opportunities is US. "Now that the meltdown has happened, the new emerging market is the United States," said Mr. Tom Shapiro, president of real estate investment firm GoldenTree InSite Partners. The U.S. commercial real estate crash, in which prices are down more than 20 percent and are expected to fall 40 percent to 50 percent, has created a landscape of what is expected to be a land of vast opportunity for those with cash. "I think there's going to be the best opportunity to make money in the last 20 years in real estate in the U.S.," Mr. Shapiro said. 23 June 2009 reuters.com Developers In Asia Buoyant As Home Sales Rebound Asian realty firms have started witnessing an upturn even as the world economy struggles to recover from its worst recession in decades. These firms are upbeat with some revealing plans for new projects in anticipation of an upturn later this year. For instance, Chinese commercial property developer SOHO said it has built up a war chest of $1.9 billion to replenish its land bank and intends to start new projects in Shanghai and Beijing in coming months. Indiabulls, India's third-largest listed property developer, aims to launch six to seven residential projects in the financial year ending in March 2010 on the back of an expected recovery in demand. "The general mood has been cautious, but there is also optimism. Asian companies in general are in much better shape compared to their peers in other regions," said Ayala Land Chief Financial Officer and Asian Public Real Estate Association President, Mr. Jaime Ysmael. 24 June 2009 reuters.com Mumbai Gets Into Rental Housing Mumbai-based developer, Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) have recently joined hands to provide rental housing to about 43,000 low-income families. The venture will develop 525 acres of land in Virar, the northern suburb of Mumbai. HDIL will take up the construction of these houses and after that hand it free of cost to MMRDA, which in turn will rent them out at its terms and conditions. The project, located around 2 km from Virar railway station, will be completed by 2015 in four phases. The first 10,000 units (160 sq. ft each) will be ready by March 2011. According to experts, the monthly rentals for these units would be around Rs 2,000. 24 June 2009 rediff.com Ozonegroup Comes Up With A New Residential and Commercial Project Ozonegroup has announced the launch of a mega residential and commercial project, MetroZone, on 42 acres at Anna Nagar in Chennai. The project is partnered by HDFC India Real Estate Fund and Urban Infrastructure Opportunities Fund. Mr, S. Vasudevan, Managing Director, Ozonegroup, said MetroZone was being developed as a self-contained township with 1,600 residential units across 29 towers of ground plus 16 floors. There would be 1.2 million sq. ft. of commercial complex, including a mall, multiplex, hotels and office space. The total cost of the project is Rs. 2,500 crore. The first phase would be over by the end of 2011. 26 June 2009 The Hindu Business Line Metro Cash & Carry To Foray Into Real Estate Market German retail giant, Metro Cash & Carry is getting into a real estate joint venture with local developers for a network of stores across the country. Under this proposal, the company will transfer its land bank into the JVs and sell a majority stake to realtors depending on the development potential at each location. It operates six big box distribution centres in the country, and has entered into an MoU with Punjab for starting six stores. Besides that, it plans to expand in existing markets such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal though the company has not officially commented on this. 24 Jun 2009 google.com Indiabulls Plans Investments of $500 Million in New Realty Projects At a time when most developers are struggling to raise funds and repay debt, Indiabulls Real Estate plans to use more than $500 million raised from a recent share sale to launch projects. Mr. Gagan Banga, chief executive of the group's flagship, Indiabulls Financial Services said that the developer aimed to launch 6-7 residential projects in the financial year ending in March 2010 on the back of an expected recovery in demand. "We would like to pursue some large and interesting projects, which we hope to get at a decent value given the fact that we are sitting on cash and the rest of the market is not," he added. 22 June 2009 indianrealtynews.com | ||||||||||
