Track2Realty: The month of October saw the government easing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms to boost India’s construction sector. The announcement is expected to widen the sector’s investor-base by allowing FDI in smaller projects of 20,000 sq. m. instead of 50,000 sq. m. from firms with capitalization of US$5 million instead of US$10 million.
Track2Realty: Positive market sentiments and a gradual global as well as domestic macro-economic recovery may finally be signaling the beginning of a revival in India’s corporate real estate segment. Various corporate firms, who had put their office space consolidation and expansion plans on hold over the previous couple of fiscals, finally began their transaction processes; and many concluded the same during the penultimate quarter of 2014.
Track2Realty: Despite the significant residential unit inventory and fresh housing supply, most of the urban housing projects across major Indian cities are unaffordable for our economically weaker sections (EWS). This is primarily because developers are by-and-large focused on launching luxury, high-end and mid-end housing projects that are considered ‘safe’ from the perspective of risks and returns in the capital market.
Track2Realty: India’s economy grew 5.7% y-o-y in Q1 2014–15 (April–June) belying market forecasts of 5.3%, and showing signs of recovery following annual growth numbers of between 4.4% and 5.2% in each quarter between Q1 2012–13 and Q4 2013–14.
Track2Realty: Demand for housing across leading cities remained subdued in the first half of 2014. Owing to high pricing and lending rates, buyer preference remained focused on secondary and emerging markets of leading cities; while developers began to offer discounts to boost sales ahead of the festive season. This general slackness in housing sales has been primarily triggered off by the Affordability Index going down in certain cities; although home buyers have been investing in markets that they perceive to be offering value for the product, as well as the preferred location.
Track2Realty: The residential real estate market across leading cities of the country is unlikely to see any traction before the upcoming festive season, when demand is expected to improve. While buyers have held off purchase decisions in anticipation of lowering interest rates, developers have been waiting for the festive season before launching special schemes and discounts to boost housing sales.
Track2Realty: The Grade A commercial office market in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) attracted an increase in demand for office space, with rental values rising across select established micro-markets during the quarter ended June 2014.
Track2Realty: Following the slow market conditions of the last couple of quarters, Mumbai’s office market saw a slight spurt in market sentiments in the second quarter of 2014. The city’s overall real estate market is anticipated to fare better in the third quarter over the second quarter of the year.
Track2Realty: In India’s competitive real estate market, luxury housing projects have been launched aplenty over the last couple of years. So much so that a conservative market like Chennai, for instance, is likely to witness about 1,500 units of ultra-luxury homes—budgeted between Rs. 5–20 crore—within the next 12 months.
Track2Realty: For the quarter ended March 2014, nearly US$800 million was invested into India’s real estate sector. This translates to almost Rs.4,800 crore having been injected into the sector through the private equity route over the past few months. This couldn’t have happened at a more opportune timefor a sector faced with a liquidity crunch, high land acquisition costs, and stringent due diligence from the banking sector—which continues to perceive real estate as a high-risk domain in India.