Realty sector apprehensive of rate hike
As the Reserve Bank of India meets to review its monetary policy tomorrow, Thursday, the realty sector is getting panicky that if there is a rate hike the sector may see some more pains in the coming days.
As the Reserve Bank of India meets to review its monetary policy tomorrow, Thursday, the realty sector is getting panicky that if there is a rate hike the sector may see some more pains in the coming days.
Stocks of real estate companies suffered widespread losses on the BSE today dragging down the sectoral index by 3.14 per cent on all-round selling by funds on fears of rate hike by RBI to curb inflation.
Buying land can be a time-consuming and expensive affair. Not only can the initial phase of buying it be quite complicated, but the cost involved in maintaining a purchased plot can also be quite high.
Shahid Balwa, a key figure in the telecom scandal that has shaken the government, has resigned as the head of his flagship real estate company, DB Realty. Balwa is vice-chairman of Gulf group Etisalat’s joint venture in the country and at 36 was the youngest billionaire on last year’s Forbes India rich list.
Even as we continue to discuss the acute shortage of industrial land in Mumbai, the fact remains that there are rather significant land parcels held by the MIDC along Mumbai’s Thane-Belapur Highway.
At least four firms, Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd (Ansal API), Emaar MGF Land Ltd, Kumar Urban Development Ltd and Paranjape Schemes Constructions Ltd, have received fresh sanctions from banks, although overall lending to the sector remains subdued.
Real Estate developers across the country have termed the Union Budget 2011-12 as a tie cricket match which can’t be termed as won or lost. However, they are all unanimous that it is not a game changer budget for the sector.
Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHI), most prominent body of the real estate developers today described the Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as “Budget with few positive steps focused on the common man who is interested in buying a house in rural and urban areas”.
The Budget is relying heavily on maintaining the trajectory of growth in the economy to provide solutions for inclusive growth that touch the ‘Aam Aadmi’ and parallelly stressing on governance aspects, which hopefully will be covered separately through concrete action plans to deal with the menace of unaccounted wealth. The trend for consolidation is expected to continue.
The budget of 2011-12 has certainly given due importance to the affordable sector. The current scheme of interest subvention on 1 percent on housing loans is now extended to Rs 15 lakhs where the cost should not exceed 25 lakh.