Anuj Puri – Page 45 – Indian Real Estate Redefined

Homing In On Andheri – East

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Since Mumbai is the commercial and financial capital of India, almost all major Indian corporates, as well as leading Indian PSUs and MNCs, have their offices set up in the city.

Traditionally, Nariman Point in South Mumbai (the traditional Central Business District) was the preferred location for high-grade office occupiers, and therefore commercial office space investors.

However, today Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) has emerged as an alternative location to the traditional CBD. It has become more acceptable to MNCs as it offers a better-built environment. The Suburban Business District (SBD) in the North of Mumbai is also a major commercial office market.

Geographically, this micro-market contains all areas in Andheri, Jogeshwari and Juhu. However, a lot of the Grade A office buildings are to be found in the Andheri East area.

In the past, Andheri was known as a ‘suburban district’ which was absorbed by Mumbai city as Greater Bombay. It emerged as one of the prime residential and commercial real estate destinations.

Andheri East is a mixed land use precinct with some of the most prominent hospitality and industrial developments in its vicinity.

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Gurugram is home to around 1,500 start-ups and is the 4th largest start-up hub in India. As the city hosts the behemoths of the start-up industry, it makes sense to delve a little deeper into this fascinating new office space sector in Millennium City.

Emerging commercial office locations in Gurugram, as also in Bangalore, Navi Mumbai and Hyderabad, have benefited significantly from the Indian start-up euphoria. This trend is likely to continue for some time given the availability of large talent pool and availability of real estate spaces.

The start-up eco-system in India has been a key contributor to the rise in investments and job creation. Many start-ups that commenced operations in later part of the previous decade have already become medium-sized or large companies, particularly if we look at some of the popular e-commerce companies in India today.

From zero contribution to office space take-up, the e-commerce sector today contributes over 3% of the total office space absorption on an annual basis. We expect the growth in this sector to increase over time.

The government initiatives,

by Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

A quick look at the numbers of the first month of 2018 reveals that the market is changing for good. With new launch sales of 500 units across the top 7 cities of India in January 2018, new launch sales have doubled from December 2017.

This uptick is a major motivational boost to stakeholders who had been grappling with subdued demand for the past few years. Although a couple of months into 2018 are not a major indicator of how the markets will behave during the ensuing months of the year, they surely provide guiding cues.

As ANAROCK’s Annual Residential Report 2017 illustrates, there are certain teething troubles in the sector that is adjusting to the new ways of doing business, and a few trends are likely to stick around in 2018:

A continuing buyers’ market

With the crackdown on black money and benami transactions, stringent norms and compliances under the RERA regime, investors – and, more importantly, speculators – have been pushed out of the market.

The Indian real estate sector was extremely buyer-friendly in 2017 and presented an opportune time to ‘seal the deal.’ This trend is likely to continue in 2018 as well and may,

by Anuj Puri

PRESS RELEASE

Chennai Saw Highest Housing Sales Dip In 2017, Bengaluru Lowest – ANAROCK Report

Unsold inventory decreased by 10% from 8.04 lakh units in Q4 2016 to 7.27 lakh units by Q4 2017

Mumbai, 22 March 2018: Fewer launches, subdued sales and muted property prices defined 2017 for the Indian residential real estate sector, according to a detailed report by ANAROCK Property Consultants.

With an annual decline of almost 50% in new launches and 15% decline in sales across top 7 cities in India, the sector was effectively shattered in 2017.

“A spate of policy reforms and structural changes literally crippled the sector,” says Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants. “Simultaneously and consequentially, it transitioned rapidly into a transparent and buyer-friendly one. With only end-users left to drive the market and investors more or less evaporating completely, developers throttled back severely on new launches to allow the market more scope to absorb the already staggering unsold inventory.”

2017’s Depressed New Launch Readings

The top 7 cities recorded new unit launches of around 26 lakh in 2017 as opposed to 2.50 lakh in 2016.

by Prashant Thakur

Prashant Thakur, Head – Research, ANAROCK Property Consultants

Gachibowli in Hyderabad is a market comprising of a 15 km stretch from Nallagandla-Tellapur along the Financial District, Nanakramguda, Kokapet, Narsingi, Raidurg up to Manikonda.

Recognized as one of the popular IT-ITeS and BFSI hubs of Hyderabad, Gachibowli has emerged as a sought-after destination for commercial office spaces as well as residential developments.

Gachibowli falls in the western periphery of Hyderabad and was once a far-flung region with minimal development and almost negligible residential activity.

However, it has witnessed a tremendous transformation in terms of commercial and residential real estate activity driven primarily by the many major IT-ITeS companies now operating there.

Only 6 km from HITEC City, Gachibowli has ICICI, CMC, Franklin Templeton, UBS, Cognizant, IBM, Microsoft, Infosys and many other large firms driving multi-faceted real estate demand. As a result, it has emerged as a top employment destination in Hyderabad and attracts working professionals from various parts of India.

These commercial office developments have attracted residential developers to come up with projects in the nearby micro-markets, and now the region is booming with massive real estate activity.

by Anuj Puri

Speculator-driven NCR & MMR saw sales drop by 68% and 27% since 2013-14

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

From observing residential market trends over the past five years, it clearly emerges that 2013-14 was the last year where things still looked vibrant for the sector. Housing sales began plummeting after that, and there is no clear revival in sight as yet.

A quick trends assessment for the past 5 years reveals that during 2013-2014, an average of 3.3 lakh units was sold annually. Thereafter, with too many project launches facing off with decreasing demand, unsold inventory began piling up across the top 7 cities of India.

Housing sales dropped significantly in the 2015-2016 period. On an average, only 2.7 lakh units were sold across top 7 cities of India during 2015-16, recording a significant drop of 17% from the average sales of 2013-14.

When demonetization hit the nation during the 4th quarter of 2016, the situation turned from grave to savage. Immediately after the demonetization impact, the real estate sector was battered with RERA and GST which severely shook up the sector.

by Santhosh Kumar

Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, is one of the biggest cultural, economic and educational centres in South India.

Mercer’s Quality of Living Survey noted Chennai as the safest city in India and is exemplified by the fact that it has the third-largest expatriate population in the country.

Also justifiably called the ‘Detroit of India’, Chennai has over one-third of India’s automobile industry operating there.

Chennai has grown significantly in the last few years. Education prospects and employment opportunities, along with a decent lifestyle, are the key drivers that attract people to the city.

With increasing population, the city’s real estate landscape has also grown by leaps & bounds and is now spread across various zones of Chennai.

Whilst the real estate development paused momentarily due to massive floods of 2015, the fundamental demand drivers remain intact and the city is likely to continue on its growth trajectory in the future periods, reinforced by:

Diversified economic base

Chennai’s diversified economic base is anchored by the automobile,

by Anuj Puri

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.

Homing In On Andheri – East

Gurugram – The Start-up City

Is 2018 the Turnaround Year for Indian Real Estate?

Chennai Saw Highest Housing Sales Dip In 2017, Bengaluru Lowest – ANAROCK Report

Hyderabad’s Gachibowli – from Anonymity to IT-ITeS / BFSI Hotspot

Declining Housing Sales – The Devil in the Data

Chennai’s Hottest Property Investment Hotspots

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?