Real Estate

Tata Housing today announced an offer of gold vouchers worth Rs 49,000 to buyers who book flats in the name of women in its Rs 600 crore project in Bhubaneswar.

Project ‘Ariana’ is spread over 12 acre and apartments are priced in the range of Rs 33-70 lakhs.

“Ariana, a premium residential project is offering gold vouchers worth Rs 49,000 from 1st to 15th February. The ‘Surprise Her’ offer will be for all buyers who register their apartments in the name of their wives, mothers and sisters,” Tata Housing said in a statement.

There is a declining trend in the construction of housing activities in big cities like Kolkata and Chennai whereas a growth is apparent in small cities like Bhopal and Hubli in the housing sector, according to the Housing Start Up Index.

HSUI, an indicator of volume of construction in the housing sector during a certain period, was released today covering 27 cities across the country.

The Supreme Court’s direction to the Maharashtra government to remove “private forest” tag attached to huge land parcels across the state is likely to give a push to development of real estate in such vacant areas, according to real estate developers’ body Credai.

“We are happy to hear this judgement as it will finally pave the way for development of forest land which has been lying vacant for years and most importantly regularise the homes of people living there,” Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) Chairman Lalit Kumar Jain said in a statement here.

KV Group, a leading producer of mint, has forayed into the real estate sector with its first housing project in Greater Noida and is expecting a sales realisation of Rs 300 crore over the next three years.

KV Aromatics Pvt Ltd is a manufacturer, exporter and supplier of mint products, natural essential oils, aroma fine chemicals, peppermint oil and herbal products. It posted a net sales of Rs 500 crore in the last fiscal.

The Reserve Bank’s hiking the key policy rate today will hit property sales, particularly in the residential segment, real estate developers said while expressing disappointment at the move.

Realty firms and consultants hoped however that this would be the last round of monetary tightening by the central bank.

“We are very very disappointed. This will bring more suffering to developers community,” Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Chairman Lalit Kumar Jain told PTI.

Fair trade regulator CCI has rejected a complaint that alleged realty firm Omaxe of indulging in anti-competitive practices with respect to development of residential plots in Sonepat district of Haryana.

The complaint by two individuals had alleged that Omaxe had abused its dominant market position by imposing one-sided and anti-competitive agreements on buyers of plots, among others.

Realty firm Gaursons will invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next four years to develop a township on the 300-acres land that it bought from Jaypee Group on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida.

Ghaziabad-based Gaursons had bought this land from Jaypee Group for about Rs 1,700 crore in May, 2013. The land parcel is situated close to Jaypee Group’s F1 track.

Announcing the launch of township ‘Gaur Yamuna City’, company’s Managing Director Manoj Gaur said: “We will be constructing 20,000 housing units in the first phase which is spread over 250 acres”.

Realty firm Supertech plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore this year through private equity to fund ongoing projects and is in discussions with a few firms.

In 2013, Supertech had raised Rs 280 crore from PE firm Xander for its upcoming township project in Gurgaon. Before that, it had raised Rs 100 crore from Walton Street Capital for mixed-use project ‘Supernova’ at Noida.

“We are planning to raise Rs 1,000 crore through private equity this year. We are in discussions with few private equity firms,” Supertech Director Mohit Arora told PTI.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) today welcomed the West Bengal government’s move to rationalise property valuations.

Officials of the apex body of real estate developers commended the state government for appreciating the seriousness of implications caused by difference in valuation of properties by the registration authorities and their actual market value.

Industrial real estate and warehousing facilities developer, IndoSpace, today said it has raised $330 million for projects across the country from a diversified investor base.

The company closed its second fund at $330 million as against a target of $300 million, it said in a statement.

The fund has been raised from both new and existing investors.

The investor base includes endowments, foundations, sovereign funds and pension funds, it added.

India Ratings & Research has maintained a negative to stable outlook on the real estate sector for 2014-15 on the back of continued weak end-user demand and adverse consumer sentiments.

Real estate companies have been facing falling unit sales, flat revenue and EBITDA margins and continued deterioration in credit metrics and cash flows, the rating agency said.

Realty firm Supertech will invest Rs 1,350 crore over the next three years to develop a new housing project in Noida.

The company would construct 1,800 flats in the project, which is spread over 17.5 acres.

“Total cost on this project is Rs 1,350 crore. We have got all the regulatory approvals to develop this project. We have started construction work and project will be delivered by December 2016,” Supertech Chairman and Managing Director R K Arora told reporters.

Noida-based realty firm has fixed the basic selling price at Rs 4,350 per sq ft.

Realty major Tata Housing plans to develop a super luxury residential project in the heart of national capital comprising 4-5 expensive villas in a price range of Rs 130-170 crore each.

Tata Housing, the real estate arm of the Tata Group, has decided to develop 4-5 signature villas on the 1-acre bungalow that the company had bought in 2012 on Hailey Road near Connaught Place for about Rs 250 crore, sources said.

Realty firm Supertech has roped in UK-based yoo Worldwide to do interior designing for its two luxury housing projects in Gurgaon.

Last year, Supertech had tied up with Italian fashion brand Armani group for interior designing of 100 super luxury residences in a mixed-use project at Noida.

“yoo Worldwide LLP – the global design, development and branding firm — will design two luxurious residential projects in Gurgaon,” Supertech said in a statement.

The projects would be designed under two brands ‘Jade Jagger for yoo’ and ‘Steve Leung & yoo’.

The world’s super rich people hold a fifth of their wealth in property, estimated at USD 5,328 billion, while Asia’s ultra rich have a greater share in real estate, a report says.

According to international real estate advisor Savills, in association with Wealth-X, property accounts for about a fifth of the invested wealth of almost 200,000 ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the world.

Of the total private wealth of USD 27,770 billion, 19 per cent is held in real estate assets amounting to USD 5,328 billion, it said.

Europe’s super rich hold biggest share of all privately owned real estate assets, followed by Asians.
The world’s super rich people hold a fifth of their wealth in property, estimated at USD 5,328 billion, while Asia’s ultra rich have a greater share in real estate, a report says.

According to international real estate advisor Savills, in association with Wealth-X, property accounts for about a fifth of the invested wealth of almost 200,000 ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the world.

Realty major Unitech plans to sell its two hotels in Noida and Gurgaon for an estimated Rs 600 crore as part of the strategy to divest commercial properties.

According to sources, the company has decided to sell two hotels and it is in talks with the potential buyers.

Unitech has an operational hotel in Gurgaon comprising 200 rooms, while it is constructing a 250-room hotel in Noida.

“Unitech has put Gurgaon and Noida hotels on the block. Hotel sales can fetch about Rs 600 crore,” a source said, adding that transactions are likely to be completed by end of this fiscal.

United Nations Global Compact and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will develop a toolkit for the land, real estate and construction industry to improve the business practices in this sector.

United Nations Global Compact is both a policy platform and a practical framework for companies that are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices. With 8,000 corporate signatories in 145 countries, it is the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative.

RICS is a global body for setting standards in land, property and construction.

Realty firm M3M will invest Rs 3,000 crore over three years on the construction of ongoing seven projects in Gurgaon.

Gurgaon-based company has outsourced the construction contracts to big companies like L&T, Shapoorji & Pallonji for timely execution of projects.

“M3M has decided to ramp up the progress of its 7 mega projects, and planning to infuse a mammoth Rs 3,000 crore in the construction process,” the company said in a statement.

Upon completion, these projects will deliver more than 11 million sq ft of residential, commercial, shopping and hospitality spaces.

Realty firm M3M will invest Rs 3,000 crore over three years on the construction of ongoing seven projects in Gurgaon.

Gurgaon-based company has outsourced the construction contracts to big companies like L&T, Shapoorji & Pallonji for timely execution of projects.

“M3M has decided to ramp up the progress of its 7 mega projects, and planning to infuse a mammoth Rs 3,000 crore in the construction process,” the company said in a statement.

Upon completion, these projects will deliver more than 11 million sq ft of residential, commercial, shopping and hospitality spaces.

The government Wednesday launched an index that tracks the number of houses being constructed every year in the country.

The Housing Start Up Index (HSUI) was launched by Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Girija Vyas, an official release said here.

“The Housing Start Up Index is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) through its integral arm, the National Building Organisation, and the Reserve Bank of India,” Vyas said.

Admitting that CCI nod to mega infrastructure projects has not led to spurt in investments, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday said the efforts would not go waste.

“When you remove regulatory constraints, you don’t get the response immediately. It is also possible that the projects are running into other problems … So, I agree that we have not yet seen a sharp increase in investments.

“But you know these regulatory clearances are pre-conditions, so I don’t think that the effort is wasted,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

Overseas investors have pumped in over Rs 3,500 in the Indian debt market so far in January, when the US Federal Reserve is scheduled to start reducing its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were gross buyers of debt securities worth Rs 8,155 crore and sellers of bonds to the tune of Rs 4,609 crore till January 10, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 3,546 crore ($572 million), according to Sebi data.

FIIs also invested Rs 545 crore in the equity market. Their total investment in debt and equity was about Rs 4,091 crore.

Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT) today said national and international developers have shown interest for development of commercial and residential buildings in the GIFT city.

The company recently floated Request-for-Proposal (RFP) for development of commercial and residential buildings in GIFT-SEZ and non-SEZ areas.

At the pre-bid meeting on December 31, 2013, and thereafter, several developers visited GIFT city to explore the opportunity, it said.

The Competition Commission has dismissed allegations of abuse of dominant market position against real estate developer Akshaya Private Ltd with respect to residential markets in Tamil Nadu.

Noting that Akshaya had competitive constraints owing to presence of other developers in the market, the Commission said that the realty firm prima facie was not a dominant player in the determined relevant market.