Anuj Puri – Page 25

Infrastructure Status for Logistics Sector – Ripple Effect on the Affordable Housing?

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

‘Infrastructure status’ typically helps to raise long-term funds at low rates and attract significant foreign investments.

The Government’s recent move to grant infrastructure status to the logistics sector is extremely progressive and will to make funding easy and cheap for companies that operate industrial parks, cold chains and warehousing facilities.

With massive investments likely to flow in the logistics sector, the Government’s plan to develop 35 MMLPs to serve as centres for freight aggregation and distribution, multimodal transportation, storage & warehousing and value-added services, is advancing in the right direction.

As per the Government’s notification dated 20th November 2017, logistics infrastructure was included by insertion of a new item in the renamed category of ‘Transport and Logistics’.

Logistics infrastructure includes Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) comprising Inland Container Depot (ICD) with a minimum investment of INR 50 crore and a minimum area of 10 acres, Cold Chain Facility with a minimum investment of INR 15 crore and a minimum area of 20,000 sq.ft., and/or Warehousing Facility with a minimum investment of INR 25 crore and a minimum area of 1 lakh sq.ft.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

The year 2017 has not exactly lived up to the expectations of the residential property sector. RERA has been deployed, but as of today, only 18 states and 7 Union territories have notified RERA, while 10 states are yet to notify it.

While RERA has certainly already made its expected effects felt in states like Maharashtra – which includes very important markets like Mumbai and Pune – it has not yet extended its full influence over parts of the country where RERA it is probably needed the most.

Though Haryana and UP have notified RERA, they are yet to set up the portal via which developers can upload their applications for registration of their projects. The web portal is also critical for buyers, as this is where they can check the details of projects. Also, these two states have come under heavy criticism for diluting the Centre’s RERA norms.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants

Be it South Delhi, South Mumbai, South Chennai, South Kolkata or South Bangalore – the Southern parts of any metro city have always ranked at the top of that city’s property pyramid.

These precincts are generally seen as the most prime and posh residential destinations and have historically housed the Who’s Who of the city.

If one wants to announce oneself or one’s business socially, buying a home or opening an office in these parts has always been seen as a pretty good bet.

This phenomenon still continues; however, with the passage of time, newer areas are competing with these legacy areas and are attracting the younger rich and the neo-rich.

Different cities are seeing this happening, largely because of the extremely limited new supply of residences in prime neighborhoods.

However, where there is any availability, wealthy buyers will always prefer a home in the Southern part of a city.

Mumbai

In Mumbai’s case, south-central Mumbai has finally shed the image of the mill district and now has superlative trophy projects under construction.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants

With several property developers in Delhi-NCR and elsewhere developing skyscrapers of 150-250 metres and more, an increasingly pressing question being asked by property buyers is whether they safe.

This is obvious and natural, given the increasing incidence of fires, earthquakes and building collapses that the media throws at us fairly regularly. Let us take a closer look at this.

As opposed to the scenario seen in more developed countries, there are still various problems with implementing strict norms for the structural safety and fire safety for high-rise buildings in India. In fact, as we have seen in a recent case of a residential tower in London, this can present a challenge even in such global cities.

However, considering the rapid pace of urbanization being seen in cities like Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, there definitely need to be stricter and enforceable safety norms for skyscrapers. Here are some guidelines.

Earthquake Resistance:

While fire safety is one aspect, earthquake resistance of high-rises is a relatively lesser cause of concern.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants

As India’s urbanization picks up speed, the traditionally-preferred property investment locations in most of the main cities are getting saturated and increasingly expensive.

This is having a roll-on effect on many other residential sub-markets across leading Indian cities. Even as more and more locations go out of the reach of a certain cross-segment of buyers that preferred it in the preceding years, other emerging areas come to the rescue.

Moreover, with the expansion of business districts and different office space occupier categories preferring newer business precincts to older ones, certain residential sub-markets in the primary cities have been finding favour from an increasing number of buyers – and, consequently, property investors.

Such sub-markets tend to offer a marked price advantage vis-à-vis the more established locations – and the residential projects coming up there are compliant with the latest development laws and tend to have more contemporary amenities.

All these ‘pull factors’ lead to such locations seeing good sales traction independent of the rate at which sales are taking place at the city level.

The hottest locations currently witnessing such trends across India’s key cities include

Malad (Mumbai)
Kharghar (Navi Mumbai)
Ghodbunder Road and Pokhran Road (both in Thane)
Hinjewadi and Kharadi (both in Pune)
Sarjapur Road,

by Anuj Puri

Increased affordability, end-user market helped Pune’s residential market remain largely unaffected by demonetisation
Mumbai came close to 1H16 numbers thanks to good traction in the ‘compact homes’ category

Anuj Puri, Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants

Pune’s residential market seems to seems to have seen very little impact of demonetization if the 1H17 sales figures are anything to go by.

Although the city’s apartment sales had remained steady even in 2H16 when demonetization had affected most other markets, Pune’s sales showed a slight improvement as they rose by 4% (y-o-y) in 1H17.

With this development, Pune’s residential market has become India’s most dependable and established one.

by Anuj Puri

High time to fully explore and unbox its massive potential

Anuj Puri, Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants

Several breakthrough reforms with pertinence to the Indian real estate sector saw the light of the day over the last one year.

Be it demonetization – the Government’s ‘surgical strike’ against black money – the revolutionary RERA or the unified tax regime of GST – all bore the power of rendering the Indian real estate sector more transparent and professional.

The upward trajectory of consumer sentiment is a strong indicator that the market has responded well to these reforms. The incumbent Government has embarked on a determined journey to transform the Indian realty sector into a more wholesome industry.

While the primary and secondary residential markets undoubtedly benefited from the plethora of reforms, the rental market has also received a shot in the arm. Various reforms and announcements made over the last one year can potentially boost this crucial segment of the Indian real estate sector:

April 2017: An End to Fake Rent Receipts

Under Section 10(13A) of the Income Tax Act,

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants

Every year, the end of August ushers in the beginning of festive season in India.

Religious sentiments lead innumerable Indians to plan important purchases and investments – including real estate – during this period.

Naturally, developers also plan for these months well ahead of their arrival with a view to cash in on this positive sentiment.

Unfortunately, last year’s festive season did not meet their expectations as buyers stayed away from the market – primarily due to execution delays, an uncertain economic scenario and unattractively high prices.

Demonetization also played a key part in the depressed sentiment – not only in the resale market as was at first expected, but in primary sales as well.

Most aspiring home buyers deferred their purchase decisions, preferring to wait until RERA kicked in fully. Though most developers offered compelling discounts and schemes, buyers stuck to their cautious approach during the last festive season.

However, the 2017 festive season has started on an altogether different and far more positive note.

While structural reforms by ways of RERA and GST have helped firm up buyer sentiment,

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – Anarock Property Consultants

After recognizing a massive gap of housing in India, the Union government had announced ‘Housing for All’ by 2022 in July 2015 to achieve the staggering target of bridging a gap of more 1.9 crore houses. 96% out of these are required for the Lower Income Groups (LIG) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) groups.

In India, while the population is growing at more than 2.1% every year and may touch 1.51 billion by 2030, growth in housing has been unable to keep the same pace. The Central and States governments are now contemplating many ways and means to provide access to housing for all.

Affordable housing will not only fill the housing gap but be the next major economic growth driver by creating more than 2 million jobs during the period till 2022. To fill the massive gap of affordable housing in India, the government has come up with a spate of many initiatives:

To encourage the PPP (Public Private Partnerships) module which can amplify affordable housing, the Union Budget 2016-17 announced that developers would be exempt from paying tax on profits in this segment for five years starting 2016
The Government has increased the time limit to complete affordable housing projects from 3 to 5 years.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Over the last few years, there have been continuous incidents of collapsing old constructions in India.

As per data shared by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), more than 14,000 people have died from 2010 to 2015 due to dilapidated building collapses. At an average, 2,700 people lose their lives in different structural breakdowns every year.

Across all the major cities in India, Mumbai has been witnessing the maximum cases of structural collapses. Between 2010 to 2015, there have been approximately 13,470 incidents of structural collapse in the country, and Mumbai alone accounted for 1,366 of these.

This amounts to over 10% of the total incidents. The collapse of buildings, specifically old constructions, has been continuously increasing in recent years.

The life span of any building depends on many factors, including quality of building materials, external weather conditions, structural design and age of the structure. However, we have seen in the recent past that many collapses happened due to the negligence of residents living in these old constructions.

Most of the times, these old buildings are left dilapidated and never refurbished,

A 2017 Festive Season Primer For Homebuyers

The Enduring Pull Of The Southern Parts Of Cities

Focus On Safety Measures In High-Rise Buildings

10 Hot Residential Property Investment Destinations In India

Pune’s Residential Sales Stable; Mumbai Close To 1H16 Sales Numbers

Rental Reforms Redefine The Indian Real Estate Sector

April 2017: An End to Fake Rent Receipts

Residential Realty Poised For Revival In Festive Season 2017

Affordable Housing Steals The Show In 2017

A ‘Crash’ Course On Building Collapses