Santhosh Kumar – Page 4

The Trump Effect On Gurgaon’s Luxury Housing Market

Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

When the scion of one of the world’s most iconic real estate brands comes to India to help market yet another luxury homes project – this time in the Millennium City of Gurgaon – the market sits up and takes notice.

By all standards, the upcoming Trump Towers are a sizeable undertaking – the 47-storey towers will put 250 exclusive units on the market, with completion and possession slated for 2023.

As can be expected from such an iconic development by a brand that has already made a strong imprint in Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata, the price tags are astronomic, ranging from INR 55-110 million.

This gives rise to a logical question – at a time when the luxury housing market in India has yet to pull itself out of the doldrums, is there any appetite for such an offering? Let’s examine some facts.

In the Asia Pacific region, India ranks 4th in the list of countries with largest HNI population. The HNI stratum of the Indian population largely remains shielded from the macroeconomic risks,

by Santhosh Kumar

Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

The built environment of any community is considered to be the reflection of regional architecture – and thereby a significant component of differentiation.

In the pre-Industrial Revolution phase, India’s built environment, as in the rest of the world, was shaped by certain values and cultural beliefs.

However, with tremendous urbanization and globalization after the Industrial Revolution, India’s rich cultural and architectural heritage is vanishing. This is primarily due to increased usage of industrially-produced and standardized materials.

With that, the dependency on locally-available materials has declined, transforming ‘vernacular architecture’ buildings to more standardized modern concrete structures.

Vernacular architecture refers to structures built indigenously to a specific time or place, taking into consideration the experience of centuries of community building. It depicts the characteristics of the local environment, technology and climatic conditions.

Importantly, buildings constructed through traditional techniques using natural, locally-sourced, non-toxic, renewable and biodegradable materials can also minimize negative ecological impacts.

Modern architecture, on the other hand, uses industrially-produced materials (such as steel and concrete) that possess a low thermal resistance and require high energy intensity,

by Santhosh Kumar

Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

The Finance Minister’s fifth union budget on 1st February 2018 was probably one of the most closely-followed events for the Indian business community.

Not only was it the final budget before the 2019 general elections, but strong rumours of a populist Budget were sending all sorts of mixed signals to various industries.

In any case, all sectors – and specifically real estate – had harboured considerable hopes from this Budget. Battered and bruised after demonetization, RERA and GST, the sector looked forward to at least some major announcements that could re-inject the market into a growth trajectory.

Above all, real estate players fervently hoped for the long-awaited and long-elusive infrastructure status. The logistics sector and affordable housing had received it sometime back, but the market needs the benefits of infrastructure status on a much broader spectrum.

Expectations notwithstanding, the real estate industry got neither infrastructure status or, for that matter, any additional direct policy push from Union Budget 2018-19.

Why is infrastructure status so important for any sector?

How can this status impact the country’s economy at large?

by Santhosh Kumar

Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Exponential urbanization and tremendous employment opportunities have made NCR one of the fastest-growing regions in the country.

It is the largest urban agglomeration in India, with more than 28 million urban residents (around 7.5% of overall country’s urban population).

The accelerated urbanization and rampant migration of working population from different states have created a tremendous need for affordable housing in NCR – and the requirement keeps growing.

A recent ANAROCK report shows that NCR comes out on top in terms of the number of units added in the affordable housing segment (priced < INR 40 lakh) during the last two years, and accounted for around 26 to 30% of the overall affordable housing segment’s supply across the top Indian cities.

The region’s share of new launches in the affordable segment has grown from a mere 21% in 2012 to 71% in 2017 (up to Q3).

While the entire region possesses the opportunity to shine in this segment, ANAROCK’s report has identified some pockets which qualify as the key destinations for affordable housing projects in NCR.

The Trump Effect On Gurgaon’s Luxury Housing Market

Sustainable Building In India: Integrating Traditional And Modern Architecture

Budget Blues: Infrastructure Status For Real Estate Could Have Saved The Day

Emerging Affordable Housing Corridors In NCR