Real Estate Trends – Page 40

Why Pune Can’t Afford Hiked Ready Reckoner Rates

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Ready Reckoner (RR) rates indicate the value of land or residential and commercial properties of an area determined by the state government and are published annually.

RR rates vary as per the area under consideration and the available infrastructure facilities. They have an impact on the stamp duty on property transactions, and concurrently on the revenue mop-up of the state government.

They also directly impact the market value of the properties. Change in the RR rates also influences the real estate construction cost and additional charges towards any transaction.

Pune’s RR Rates

The RR rates of Pune are proposed to be hiked by 3% this year, and the final announcement is expected to come by April 1, 2018.

The proposed hike is marginal compared to the previous years – the rates were increased by 13% in 2010, in 2011 by 27%, in 2012 by 17%, in 2013 by 12%, in 2014 by 13%, in 2015 by 15% and in 2016-17 by 7%.

As per the governing authority, the hike was based on detailed surveys undertaken by the town planning department.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Traditionally, the Gudi Padwa festival season is an auspicious time to invest in real estate. Considered a time of renewal, it coincides with Punjab’s Baisakhi, Tamil Nadu’s Puthandu, Andhra Pradesh’s Yugadi and Kerala’s Vishu.

Since a large cross-section of Indians tends to link property acquisition with auspicious dates, activity levels on the property market tended to increase visibly in this period.

However, Gudi Padwa 2018 is not likely to bring the accustomed uptick, which – though almost non-existent even in the last 2 to 3 years – arrived in the backdrop of a more complex set of challenges than ever before. This year, this festive season will be juxtaposed with some interesting market dynamics.

The residential real estate market in many cities has been slowing down, and developers are hoping that Gudi Padwa will prove to be a turning point for many developers who have been struggling with slow sales as well as policy-induced compliance pressures and generally negative market sentiment.

Indian developers tend to look at the tradition-fuelled appetite for housing purchases during festivals like Gudi Padwa so as to mitigate slow sales during the rest of the year and offer lower prices under the guise of festival discounts.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Real estate prices in Mumbai – India’s high-flying financial capital – are never out of the news.

From South Mumbai’s spectacularly pricey trophy properties to the chronically unaffordable price tags of what passes for mid-income and affordable housing in the city, there is no getting over, under, around or through the extremely high property prices in Mumbai.

Mumbai’s sky-high real estate rates – what lies beneath?

Before we go into which parts of Mumbai can still reap decent returns on real estate investment, it is important to understand why the city was such an investment hotbed in previous years – and in fact still draws patient, well-capitalized investors.

Of course, the city’s extremely steep capital and rental values were (and continue to be) their primary incentive. There are several reasons for Mumbai’s exorbitant property prices – some are logical and have to be accepted as facts of life here, while others have more to do with unabashed market manipulations.

Supply-related challenges

Geographical constraints:

Its unique geographical attributes have been one of the leading factors influencing the astronomic property prices in Mumbai.

by Prashant Thakur

Prashant Thakur, Head – Research, ANAROCK Property Consultants

Nestled in the foothills of Aravalli – one of the oldest range of folded mountains in India – Sohna was for long a major tourist attraction due to its lakes, hot springs, temples and many places of historical importance.

Located in the southern part of Gurugram, Sohna is also popularly known as ‘South Gurugram’. In the last few decades, Gurugram’s unprecedented economic growth has led to accelerated urbanization and rapid growth in migrant population flocking the city for employment.

Over time, the fast-paced growth in key areas such as MG Road, Udyog Vihar and Cyber City has created a ripple effect and pushed developments towards the western and southern parts of the city. This led to the emergence of new areas such as Golf Course Road, Golf Course Extension Road, Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) and Sohna Road – leading right up to Sohna town.

With proximity to various business centres and industrial clusters, good overall accessibility, affordable prices and planned infrastructure upgrades, Sohna is evolving as a key real estate destination for the working population of Gurugaram and surrounding regions.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

With the advent of e-commerce in India, shopping converged into mobile devices in the form of websites and/or apps.

At the click of a button, one could buy groceries, apparel, electronics and almost everything else. For a while, it appeared that ‘couch potato shopping’ was a real threat to physical retail, and that shopping malls will run out of business.

That has not happened – in fact, shopping malls are witnessing a visible resurgence in India.

A clear measure of increasing focus on the retail sector is that private equity (PE) players invested more than $700 million into Indian retail in Q1-Q3 2017 itself – around 90% of the investments that came in during the past two years (2015 and 2016).

Shopping malls in India have come a long way indeed, from less than 5 malls in 2001-02 to more than 500 in 2017. Over the last few years, as the overall economy struggled, there was a drift of negativity about Indian shopping malls being able to sustain and were ‘going to be out of fashion’.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants

Green shoots of improvement in new launches; 100% month-on-month rise in new launch absorption levels

2017 has been an action-packed year, not just for the real estate sector but for the entire nation.

While the structural changes and policy reforms (demonetization, RERA and GST) shook up the economy, it imbibed financial discipline, accountability and transparency across various sectors.

As per the statistics released by Economic Survey, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7 to 7.5% in 2018-19, eclipsing China to become the fastest growing economy.

In 2017, the performance of Indian residential real estate was lacklustre due to the sector’s transition from an unorganized to an organized one, amidst changing regulatory environment.

The big-picture reforms are making the market buyer-friendly and further attracting global investors to consider India as one of the preferred destinations for real estate investments.

With two months into 2018, ANAROCK Property Consultant’s research report presents some of the trends reflecting the state of residential real estate market across the country’s top seven major metropolitan cities.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

After a protracted period where interest for real estate investment was concentrated primarily in the larger cities, we are now seeing a resurgence of the Tier 2/Tier 3 cities story in India.

Many of these cities are seeing increasing economic activity and infrastructure growth, to some extent reducing the outward migration to the metros.

This is a welcome dynamic which will eventually result in a more uniform spread of real estate demand across the country, and reduce the pressure on the larger cities.

What lies beneath

The ticket sizes for residential properties in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and towns start from a significantly lower base, owing to cheaper land prices and also the fact that developers active there are more aligned with affordability.

Buyers tend to be more cost-sensitive as economic drivers in the city may not be on par with those in the larger cities. Also, under the incumbent Government, many of these cities are now seeing significant infrastructure deployment. Quite a few have come under the Smart Cities program,

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Consolidation is the process of combining a number of separate parts into a single, more effective or coherent one. Whenever there is consolidation in any sector, the general perception is that everything is going down the drain.

However, the reality is that this process usually happens at the fag end of an industry downturn and actually helps in catalyzing a much stronger come-back.

The real estate sector is a clear case in point. It is emerging from a prolonged slowdown coupled with landmark policy inputs which have begun to edge out the ‘small fry’ – essentially creating an environment of large-scale consolidation of tier II and III developers. This dynamic alone will define 2018 as a year of massive positive change for Indian real estate.

In 2017, the overall Indian economy and the real estate sector, in particular, were well and truly shaken up by a series of unprecedented reforms and structural changes.

Without a doubt, demonetization, RERA and GST will go down in the annals of Indian real estate history as the ‘trishul‘

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 Anuj Puri

PRESS RELEASE

18% of MMR’s Housing Launches In 2017 Added In Thane – ANAROCK Report

53% of 70,000 units launched between 2012-2017 already absorbed

Mumbai, 8th February 2018: ANAROCK Property Consultants‘ latest research report ‘Thane – An Emerging Megapolis‘ highlights this city’s unstoppable rise to become one of the hottest real estate development and investment destinations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Launched at the MCHI CREDAI Thane Property Expo today, the data-driven report vouchsafes that Thane, driven by specific micro-markets, has not only shed its previous ‘industrial’ image but become a stand-alone real estate boom city.

“Thane’s emergence as a preferred destination for corporate office occupiers as well as homebuyers has been nothing short of spectacular, ” said Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants at the report’s unveiling. “Last year alone, the city contributed as much as 18% of the entire supply of housing project launches in MMR. Even more interestingly, of the 70,000 housing units that hit the Thane market in the last five years,

Why Pune Can’t Afford Hiked Ready Reckoner Rates

Housing Sales Herald A Tepid Gudi Padwa 2018 For Real Estate

Which Mumbai Real Estate Locations Still Deliver Good ROI?

Sohna – From Tourist Destination To Real Estate Hotspot

The Resurgence Of Shopping Malls In India

State Of India’s Residential Real Estate Sector – 2 Months Into 2018

Tier 2 And Tier 3 Cities Stage Their Real Estate Comeback In India

Why 2018 Will Be A Year of Consolidation for Smaller Developers

Sustainable Building In India: Integrating Traditional And Modern Architecture

18% of MMR’s Housing Launches In 2017 Added In Thane – ANAROCK Report