Category: Real Estate Information

Delhi Is The Favorite

According to a recent survey conducted by a leading real estate website Delhi is the most preferred location to buy a house, Mumbai follows next. It is interesting to note that Bangalore and Hyderabad come at the third most favored location for buying property.

Lucknow Properties - Real Estate India - Sushant Golf City Location
Photo by nancyarora2020
The nationwide poll named ‘Realty Trends 2010’ for metros and Tier II cities across the country, which saw participation from over 4,800 property seekers consisted of Majority of the respondents belonging to the age group of 26- 35 years.

The country capital topped the charts with 34 per cent while Mumbai got 28 percent votes. Bangalore received 11 per cent votes in its favor with particularly south Bangalore being preferred the most.

With the introduction of budget 2010 the economy is improving and property prices are stabilizing, this is attracting the investors who restrained from investing last year to jump into the market with full swing.

The survey showed a large number of people looking to purchase a house want it for self-consumption. The figures tell that 67 per cent of the national property seekers want to buy a house for themselves while only 23 per cent are looking for property options from a long-term investment perspective. Short-term investors have only 10 per cent survey takers.

Surely the Indian Real Estate sector is on a roll.

Palm Hills in Gurgaon

One of India`s leading real estate developers, Emaar MGF Land, announced the launch of a new mid-income housing project `Palm Hills` in Gurgaon in NCR. It will be located on NH8 with the prime location in Sector 77, Gurgaon. The total investment will be Rs 500 crore as said by sources on an area spread over approx. 29 acres with a scenic view of the Aravalli Hills.

Palm Hills proposes to house1250 units approximately with an expectation to raise up to Rs 3,850 crore. With a starting price tag  of Rs 48 lakh the company has already sold 650 units in the first phase. These apartments will be giving a feeling of a villa with unique features that no development serves. These will include 3 and 4 bedroom apartments with 1450sq ft to 1950 sq ft per villa. These villas have efficient floor plans and offer us the choice to make amendments to maximize our living space.

Shravan Gupta, executive vice chairman and managing director of Emaar MGF said, “The launch of Palm Hills marks the obligation of Emaar MGF to continuously develop properties with modern design concepts  and gives the experience of living in a gated master planned community a new definition. “The exhilarating response on the very first day of the project launch is an indication to the predominating huge demand for quality housing in the mid-market segment” he added.

Palm Hills are located at only a 20 min drive from Delhi`s International Airport and surrounded with green landscaped areas with a tinch of Spanish styling architecture.

The rocketing success of Emaar MGF can be guessed by taking a look at their reserves.they have a land bank of 11,340 acres.including the Commonwealth Games Village it is currently working on 29 projects.

Snowy palms in Beacon Hill
Emaar MGF which is a joint venture between domestic firm MGF and Dubai-based Emaar Properties is planning to utilize Rs 1,972 crfor part re-payment of debt of over Rs 5,800 cr. It will also be investing Rs 276.8 cr in paying development and licence renewal charges.

A Model real estate bill by housing ministry


For promoting a planned and healthy real estate development of colonies and apartments in big cities, Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry has drafted a bill and invited suggestions from experts.

Kumari Selja-Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister- said, “The government has taken a major initiative in the shape of a model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Act for which the ministry has held preliminary discussions with various stakeholders”.

She added that a draft bill to promote planned and healthy real estate development of colonies and apartments, with a view to protecting consumer interest and facilitating smooth and speedy urban construction, has been placed on the website of the ministry for comments from experts and public.

The ministry is also encouraging institutionalized financing and formal channels of credit.

NHB Residex to cover cities with over 1 million population

National Housing Bank (NHB) aims to cover all cities with population of over one million under its NHB Residex, which is the country’s first official residential property price index.
Currently, the NHB Residex gives relative movement of residential property prices in different localities in fifteen cities.
According to Mr S. Sridhar, Chairman of NHB, “By the end of next year, we want to cover sixty-three cities — all cities with over one million population”.
He also said that NHB Residex will be available on a half-yearly basis from now. The values for the index are derived from the market, and not from Government data.

Temasek look at Prestige

HDFC Property Ventures and Temasek are in talks to invest about Rs 625 crore in the Bangalore-headquartered Prestige Group, as cash-hungry real estate companies continue to tap private equity funds to meet critical funding needs.

HDFC’s real estate fund along with Singapore’s Temasek is in discussions with Prestige, which is seeking a valuation of $1 billion for its business. But the deal could take some time to fructify as both sides need to iron out a number of issues, including pricing.

Prestige Estates is seeking a valuation of about $1 billion. It is not clear if Temasek and HDFC are willing to do a deal at that price. They may look at something between $800 million and just under $1 billion.

The two funds may jointly pick up a little over 15% stake in Prestige Estates Projects, valuing the holding entity of the southern real estate major anywhere between $800 million and $1 billion.

Small cities are getting more interest

Real estate
Due to the major hike in property prices in metros most of the people are showing interest for small cities. The new name in this list is the Neharpar city in Faridabad. Buyers as well as developers are started looking at Neharpar as the emerging real estate investment destination. It is supposed to become the big realty junction of NCR in near future. The development work is going on its best in this city and the most attracting point is that prices are much affordable.

Omaxe subsidiary will develop township

Twin Towers by Omaxe at NOIDA
Photo by vm2827
Construction firm Omaxe said its subsidiary has entered into an agreement with Allahabad Development Authority for the development of a township in Allahabad.

Pancham Realcon has has entered into a memorandum of understanding for the development of township in Allahabad on a proposed area of 1,535.12 acres, Omaxe said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. However, the company has not disclosed the financial details of the township project.

Indian HNIs make realty investment

3D Realty HandshakeForeign developers are trying to attract Indian HNI (High Net Worth Individual). HNIs are people with net financial assets (liquid assets) of at least $1 million, excluding primary residence and consumables. India is projected to be the world’s third largest economy by 2050. A subsequent increase in the number of wealthy individuals, real estate consultants from across the world are trying and also getting the HNI segment interested enough to buy.
Strong GDP growth, robust figures in industrial and service sectors, high market capitalization and steady FII inflows are some factors contributing to the rise in HNI wealth. In 2006, India’s HNI population crossed the one lakh figure, which made it the second-fastest growing HNI segment in the world.

Cement Companies Transform Product Mix

With increasing cement supplies to north India, companies dependent on this market are changing their product mix from portland pozzolana cement (PPC) to ordinary portland cement (OPC) to sustain growth. OPC is used for roads and infrastructure while PPC is used in real estate projects.

Shree Cement managing director HM Bangur, who runs the largest single-location integrated factory in northern India, confirmed the trend. Mr Bangur said: “The contribution of PPC to our total income will gradually come down as we have decided to increase 20% of our OPC production in the subsequent few quarters.” Shree’s share is the highest in the Delhi market, the most significant market in the national capital region region. The company’s 86% output is sold in north Indian markets while the remaining 14% is consumed in central India.

Binani Cement has shifted its focus too. The group MD Vinod Juneja said: “The demand for OPC has more or less doubled in the northern region due to construction works for Commonwealth games and the international airport. Binani Cement is a leading player in the northern region. It enjoys 13% market share in Rajasthan. It dispatches nearly 45% of its sales in this state.

Analysts said the data shows that the new trend is gathering momentum in the northern markets. OPC constituted 21.6% of total sales in the June quarter from 16% in the year-ago period. They said even after the rise in OPC production, there is still shortage of this product in the market. “With the real estate boom slowing down in the last few months, the demand for PPC has also gone down. So it makes more sense for the cement makers to concentrate more on OPC,” said an analyst.

New Investment Rules For Venture Capital And Private Equity

The government may soon come out with new investment norms for venture capital (VC), private equity (PE) and hedge funds to make their operations transparent and create a level-playing field for both the domestic and foreign players.

Joint secretary in the finance ministry KP Krishnan said government is likely to revisit norms for VC funds and talks have already been held with the market regulator SEBI towards this end.

Efforts are also on to create a legal framework so that venture fund investments should not land in a few sectors only and equitable distribution takes place. The government is specifically worried about huge fund inflow in sectors like real estate, which has affected investments in other hi-tech sectors like software and biotechnology. At the same time, it has led to appreciation in the prices of real estate in the country.

Government, it is learnt, is considering to give some new tax incentives to venture funds and PE funds to invest in high-risk areas.

Venture funds invest in the equities of high growth companies to earn hefty returns. At present, foreign funds have an advantage over their domestic counterparts under the existing tax system of the country.

Head of financial services at PWC India, Punit Shah said foreign VC funds are at an advantageous position against domestic ones, while investing other than nine hi-tech sectors like biotechnology, software and nano technology. Government gives tax sops (no capital gains tax on profit) to domestic funds if they invest in these nine sectors but not others.

But sectors like real estate is not included in this list. Therefore, when a domestic venture fund invests in an unlisted real estate company, he pays tax on the capital gains earned while exiting the company, Shah added.

But, foreign funds registered in tax heavens like Mauritius and Cyprus do not pay any tax on the capital gains earned such transaction because of the double tax avoidance treaty. The new initiative, according to Krishnan, would ensure that same tax rule apply on both foreign and domestic VC, PE funds to achieve a level-playing field. Besides, the move will also make the investments by these entities transparent. For this purpose, the government would like to redefine VC, PE and hedge funds.

On its part, SEBI will make it mandatory to register VCs and PEs after compiling data about their investments in sectors like real estate, ITeS, education. SNI director TC Nair said that at present the market regulator has no definite source about the exact investments of PEs and VCs.

Milestone To Launch MEAS With Ecofirst

Milestone, India’s largest independent Real Estate Fund house is launching Milestone Ecofirst Advisory Services (MEAS) through a 50:50 Joint Venture with Ecofirst. Ecofirst, established with a multi million pound budget, is a J. Leon Group company based in UK.

With the launch of Milestone Ecofirst Advisory Services (MEAS), for the first time in the country, a real estate fund house will be offering its invested companies/projects specialized consultancy services for eco-friendly development. Read More »

Rakindo Plan To Set Up $250-m Arm May Get Okay

Chennai-based real estate developer Rakindo Developers’ proposal to set up a wholly owned subsidiary with $250-million FDI from Dubai-based Rakeen Development is expected to get Cabinet clearance on Thursday.

Rakindo has plans of building a $1.5-billion (Rs 6,000- crore) integrated township at Coimbatore which will be ready for launch after the CCEA clears the FDI proposal. The plan envisages developing over 1,000 acres of property with an 18-hole golf course as the centerpiece. Rakindo is proposed to be a holding company that will promote investments in several SPVs to develop and operate townships. It is a joint venture company formed by Rakeen, a joint stock global business company promoted by the Ral Al Khaimah group, UAE and the Chennai based mineral conglomerate Trimex group owned by Koneru Prasad. Read More »

Sistema Will Invest In Hospitality Sector In India

Kolkata, April 30:- Mr Alexander A. Chinyaev, the chief representative in India of Sistema said that after venturing into the Indian telecom business, Russian conglomerate Sistema is now planning to tap the real estate and hospitality industries in India. The London Stock Exchange-listed public sector company is looking at investing an estimated eight hundred crore rupees to construct office and commercial projects in the country by year end.
Talking on the sidelines of a conference organized by the Indo-CIS Chamber of Commerce here recently, Mr Chinyaev said, “We are looking to launch an ‘A class’ office and hotel projects in Delhi, Goa, Gurgaon, and in almost all the metros, including Kolkata. If we find proper partners, we will invest $100-200 million in a pilot project by the year-end.” Sistema, however, will not build residential projects in India, he clarified.
The company, which deals with thirty star hotels across the CIS countries, is also looking at building and managing hotels in India.
“We have plans to take part in the tourism business in India through exchange of tourists between the two countries. We can bring our tour agencies to India for this purpose. This will be supported by developing businesses like hotel and resort projects,” Mr Chinyaev said.

Emaar SPVs To Get $800 Million PE Funding

Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and one more financial investor are likely to make a combined investment of $800 million in three special purpose vehicles (SPVs) which are being created by real estate group Emaar MGF. Each SPV will have one financial investor who will hold a minority stake.
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No Chance Of Slow Down In Hotel Industry

Hotel industry in India has shown strong growth in last financial year. Though hotel occupancies in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune dipped marginally owing to over capacity, average room rates for branded hotels across star categories continue to witness robust growth in most cities.

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Citi arm takes 40% in BPTP

New Delhi :- Property investment division of Citibank has invested one hundred sixty million dollar in real estate major BPTP. earlier Citibank Property Investment (CPI) had invested eighty million dollar in the company to take 5.89 per cent stake. The hottest investment will be made in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of BPTP, which is executingfour SEZs in the national capital region. According to a source, CPI will acquire 40% stake in the SPV.

The SPV is applying IT specific SEZs at Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon. The Noida SEZ is being developed on 25 acre of land, Greater Noida on 100 acre, Faridabad on 54 acre and Gurgaon on 27 acre of land. In the first phase, the company will develop six million square feet in the four SEZs by 2010. The total area to be developed in the four SEZs is 20 million square feet.

All four SEZs have got the approval of the government and land has been acquired. The money raised by the SPV will fund the project.

The government rejected to extend the tax benefit for software technology parks after March 31, 2009, IT SEZs have become popular amongst the export oriented units. The developer of SEZ will get tax concessions not only on profit, but also on all inputs required for the project.

The deal reveals that the real estate tale in the country is still shining and the investors are prepared to put money, provided the project is at the implementation stage, said a banker. He said if India maintains an eight per cent growth, it will require enormous real estate supply.

BCCL Picks Up Stake In Mantri Realty

Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) has picked up Rs 60 crore worth preference shares in Mumbai-headquartered real estate major Mantri Realty Limited, which has operations in both Mumbai and Bangalore. Mantri Realty is an associate concern of Mantri Enterprises. The company, which has so far completed over 35 residential and commercial projects with over 3 million square feet built up area across 15 cities, has a land bank of more than 1,400 acre. Mantri Realty will use these funds for developing new projects. Read More »

Buy a home abroad, get a jet free

One can get a BMW or a private jet, a multiple entry visas or a free ticket to fly down as an incentive for buying a home or investing in property  abroad. The Luckiest person can get a permanent residency or citizenship too. Read More »

World’s largest shopping centre

The Dubai Mall, world’s biggest shopping and entertainment destination, developed by the foremost Dubai real estate developer Emaar Properties PJSC and located in the Dh73 billion mega-project Downtown Burj Dubai, is putting concluding touches to quite a few retail and entertainment concepts that are a first for the region.

The Dubai Mall, with an approx area in excess of Twelve million square feet, is setting a new structure in mall development with a range of construction machinery in fact epic in proportion and scale. The structural steel used in The Dubai Mall is twice that of deployed for the Eiffel Tower (seven thousand three hundred tones), and the stone and tile works of 1.2 million square feet already laid are nearly eighteen times the size of a football field measuring sixty nine thousand square feet. The net leasable floor area will be equivalent to the size of fifty football grounds put together.

Triangle RE fund to raise $500 m for Indian realty

To cash in on the growth of organised retail in India, UK and South Africa-based real estate investment groups have launched retail property focused Triangle Real Estate Fund (TREF) for India. The $500 million fund will be routed through Mauritius and will be managed by Property Zone – a joint venture between Old Mutual Investment Group Property investment Ltd., South Africa and ICS Realty Private Limited, India.

Strutt & Parker Real Estate Financial Service Limited (SPREFS) has been appointed as UK and European placing agent. “Unlike most other real estate investors, the fund will dedicatedly concentrate on tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India.
Four projects in cities of Aurangabad, Jaipur, Indore and Nagpur have been selected for the first phase of investment. Surat is also being considered,” Nick Harvey Jones of SPREF told DNA Money.
“It is a high net worth investor fund which requires minimum investment of $5,00,000 form an individual and $5 million form institutional investors,” he added.
Two deals, consisting of 11 projects and having cumulative worth over $200 million, are in the pipeline.

Real Estate Companies planning for Low-Cost Residential Projects

NEW DELHI: Playing on the basic economics of small margins-high volume, realty majors are now adding low-cost residential projects to their portfolio. Omaxe, DLF, Ansal API, Parsvnath, BPTP, et al are setting their eyes on the small and mid-income home buyer segment and lining up projects which will meet the aam aadmi’s need. Read More »

Holding Company ‘Dubai Properties Group’ Launched to Further Consolidate Operations

Leading master real estate developer Dubai Properties, a member of Dubai Holding, on 16th march revamped its corporate structure and pronounced the establishment of a fresh holding company – Dubai Properties Group – combining all its existing businesses into separate business unit, and fetching them under one roof organization.

The new group structure consist 6 business components whose focal point will be real estate verticals like hospitality, property services, international investments and real estate development. Every entity will operate as a separate business subsidiary within the Dubai Properties Group, individually responsible for the unit’s management systems, strategic planning and business results.

Reflecting its parent company Dubai Holding’s mission, Dubai Properties Group will also look for investment opportunities on a worldwide level, launching an aggressive expansion and diversification drive to double its investment portfolio up to seven hundred billion over the next three years.

More over to Dubai Properties, which has notched quite a few milestones in the real estate market, the new group structure comprises Dubai Asset Management, Dubai Retail and Dubai Hospitality.

REITs For Booming Real Estate

SINGAPORE, March 17 – The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on Monday that it was looking at the introduction of real estate investment trusts (REITs), but this will come only after other financial market liberalisation moves.

“We have got remarks from market players. I would say that in the timetable, that will be later than the stock lending scheme and currency futures,” the stock market regulator’s chairman C. B. Bhave told an investment conference in Singapore via teleconference.
SEBI in December released draft guidelines on setting up REITs in India, which would pave the way for wider participation by retail investors in the country’s booming real estate sector.

Regulators are also mulling over the introduction of currency futures to help investors hedge foreign exchange risks, and a new system for the borrowing and lending of securities.

Goa Real Estate, Developments With Full Amenities, Appeals International Community

Goa is the smallest state in the Indian Union is located on its western coast. This erstwhile Portuguese colony is a prime vacation destination for international and Indian tourists alike. Goa borders the Arabian Sea and the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, and two of its greatest attractions are its laid-back pace of life and its 105 km long coastline, which is made up of several white sand beaches.
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