Premium localities sell well in Delhi, Chennai

A weekly snapshot of some big-ticket city deals.

Delhi-NCR
An apartment admeasuring 3,700 sqft located in Malcha Marg was leased out for a monthly rental value of Rs 3,75,000. The rental values in this location range from Rs 2,75,000 4,25,000 per month and this apartment is well within this range and has seen an appreciation of around 12% over the previous year due to restricted supply and high demand, especially from expatriate community.

Malcha Marg is one of the citys most sought-after residential locations, due to its strategic location being equidistant from the established CBD and new business district of Gurgaon. Additionally,the location, due to excellent town planning,offers congestionfree traffic movement.

Chennai
An independent house located at Rambagh, Besant Nagar, was taken on lease by a major corporate. The house admeasuring around 5,000 sqft is located in the prime residential boulevard of the city. The monthly rental of Rs 3,00,000 per month is moderately higher than the prevalent rental for high-end residential units in the area, due to the fact that its location is equidistant from the central business district (CBD) of the city as well as from other emerging business locations. The area, by virtue of being an established residential location, also has good social infrastructure, including retail and entertainment, education and healthcare.

Pune
A three-bedroom apartment unit, admeasuring 1,441 sqft was sold in Chinchwad for a total cost of Rs 49,05,871. The per square foot value of this property is around Rs 3,400 per sq ft, which is in line with the current prevalent values in the location. This mid-ranged apartment complex is located in the suburban location of Pune, which is currently going through a transformation, with many apartment complexes and gated development being planned in the location. The area has been gaining importance due to its convenient location and good access to various office and commercial locations across the city.

Hyderabad
A residential apartment admeasuring 3,170 sq ft was purchased in an under-construction project in Madhapur, Western Hyderabad,at a capital value of Rs 4,250 per sq ft. The property,being built by a prominent national developer,houses apartments ranging from 2,200 sqft to 4,375 sqft in the configuration of three and five-bedroom units. The apartment is located in Madhapur,a part of Mindspace IT Park and adjacent to Westin Mindspace Hotel,in the Western part of Hyderabad. This area has seen a growth in demand for residential units owing to the fact that it is a prominent office location. The location has, due to a steady increase in demand, seen a growth of around 6% in capital values over the past three months. Being located in close proximity to work places, this premium project is expected to garner significant interest from end users. Source: MagicBricks

Mahindra Lifespace to Set up Business Parks in Chennai and Pune

Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Ltd is in the process of acquiring around 4,000 acres in Chennai and Pune, where it intends to set up two more business parks, a top official said late on Monday. The company is acquiring around 1,000 acres of land in Chennai and around 3,000 acres in Pune, its Managing Director and Chief Executive, Anita Arjundas, told Reuters in an interview. Arjundas declined to comment on the cost for land acquisition. The firm, part of the diversified Mahindra Group, specialises in both the residential housing and commercial development segments. A business park is a township with office spaces.

It already has two business parks of about 4,000 acres under its commercial segment. The parks are operated under the brand Mahindra World City’, at Chennai and Jaipur. “Land procurement is underway, so once we are done with a significant part of it, we will start development,” she said. She did not provide a timeframe for completion of the business parks. Mahindra Lifespace is also looking to tap the recovering residential housing market by launching new projects in two tier-1 cities, she said, but did not elaborate. It focuses on the mid market and premium residential customer segments.

It already operates housing projects in Mumbai, National Capital Region (spanning New Delhi and adjoining areas), Pune and Chennai. Mahindra Lifespace has about 8 million square feet of space for ongoing housing projects and new launches. It has already completed construction in 6 million square feet. She said real estate prices in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, has recovered faster, while correction in other cities were much slower. India’s real estate industry, like the sector globally, was hard hit by the 2008 credit crisis after years of booming demand. Property prices doubled in the two years to 2007, fuelled by interest from foreign investors. But the sharp rise was followed by interest rate rises to calm inflation and the global financial turmoil, pulling down sales by more than half.

“Our understanding is that the market is back to the Jan 2008 levels, back to the peak level. General demand in Mumbai seems to be very good, while NCR seems to be a bit of a mixed bag,” she said.

Pune: Focusing on regeneration of city’s urban corridor

13 Mar 2010 12:59 AM PST; Pune

The International Network for Traditional Building Architecture and Urbanism (Intbau) will hold a four-day public collaborative event from March 11 to 14 to develop proposals for the regeneration of the Urban Corridor of the city.

The site area extends from the PMC building to Mandai. The event is called the Pune Urban Regeneration Charrette.

Intbau is an international charitable organisation based in 13 countries with its central office in London.

The four-day event will include brainstorming sessions by architects, planners urban designers, local citizens, local government and stakeholders to deliver fresh perspectives for developing a master plan. The recommendations will be submitted to the Pune Municipal Corporation at the end of the event.

The event aims to open up possibilities to grasp ground realities of a vibrant old city core while focusing on site specific concerns surrounding the depletion of rich traditional built environments in a rapidly urbanising city such as Pune.

The objectives of the event are to highlight and give directions to site specific issues at policy level while building on the assets of heritage and intangible aspects of the inner city.

“The charrette shall suggest optimum frameworks for public-private partnerships for maintenance of the character and heritage of the core city area while promoting economic processes. It aims to target improvement in this city zone, by suggesting various quick-win urban developmental possibilities to further help target wider improvement,” the organisers said.

Mumbai, Pune realty markets remain stable

A weekly round-up of some big-ticket city deals

Mumbai

A residential apartment, covering an area of 1, 850 sq ft, was leased out in the plush Altamont Road area for a rental value of Rs 275, 000 per month. The location has been commanding an average rental value of Rs 2, 00, 000-3, 50, 000 per month for mid-segment residential units and has remained stable over the last quarter.

The apartment is fully furnished, including white goods. The current economic stability, coupled with an increase in enquiries and lucrative financing schemes being offered by several banks, will stimulate demand. This is likely to result in some appreciation in capital values in this location. Altamont Road is one of the most highly sought after destinations in Mumbai, and is home to many prominent social and corporate citizens in the city. The area commands a premium due to factors such as high quality of construction, distinguished neighbourhood, adequate social infrastructure, including film and entertainment, education and healthcare, etc.

Pune

An apartment, admeasuring 4, 000 sq ft in Kalyani Nagar, was leased out to a corporate for a monthly rental of Rs 160, 000. This high-end apartment was well within the prevalent range of Rs 1, 10, 000-210, 000. While prices in this micro market have remained stable over the last two quarters, they are expected to appreciate on account of the growing demand from expatriates and corporates due to its proximity to the airport, railway station and central business district.

Another apartment in Kharadi, admeasuring 2935 sq ft, was sold for Rs 14, 381, 500. This mid-segment apartment commanded an average capital value of Rs 4, 900 per sq ft, which is within the expected range of Rs 4, 500-5, 500 per sq ft. The location, which once was an unexplored fringe area of Pune, has seen some hectic development activities in recent times, with infrastructure and connectivity also improving. Its proximity to the airport, Koregaon Park, Kalyani Nagar, Viman Nagar and Ranjangaon is an added advantage.

Delhi-NCR

A residential apartment in a high-end gated community in Gurgaon was leased out for a rental value of Rs 100, 000 per month. This high-end condominium is spread across an area of 3, 890 sq ft, and comes with amenities such as swimming pool, gymnasium, along with two dedicated car parks and a domestic helps quarter.

Gurgaon has been one of the preferred residential locations in NCR, owing to its growing importance as a commercial sector, especially for expatriate and senior officials of corporates as it is in the vicinity of their work places. The residential options are high in quality while being cost-effective compared to other locations in NCR. In addition, Gurgaon has over the years developed excellent social infrastructure like entertainment and retail, healthcare and education. This lease was within the commanded range of Rs 100, 000-175, 000 for high-end residential properties in the area. Source: MagicBricks

Rohan Builders bags 2 prestigious Awards

CNBC AWAAZ Crisil Credai & AESA Award in Real estate segment

Pune, Maharashtra, March 2, 2010 /TREN/ -- Rohan Builders is a renowned name in real estate and has to its credit a string of landmark projects and prestigious awards. Now there are a couple of additions in this long list of accolades. Rohan has bagged two 'Best Practice Awards' at this year's prestigious CNBC AWAAZ Crisil Credai Real Estate Honors.

These honors were bestowed on the Rohan Group for 'Highest Consumer Protection' and 'Best Project Execution'. Rohan was selected for this award after a rigorous two stage selection procedure. The Company has bagged 'Highest Consumer Protection' award on the same platform, consecutively for two years.

CNBC AWAAZ Crisil Credai Real Estate Award is India's biggest, esteemed and most credible real estate platform that serves as a definitive benchmark for industry and consumers. Powered with a robust methodology and selection procedure designed by CRISIL, these awards ensure that the best developers and architects are rewarded for their outstanding work and contribution towards the society, the industry, and the nation as a whole.

The CNBC AWAAZ Crisil Credai Real Estate Award 2009 was graced by the presence of Kumari Selja - Minister of Tourism and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Deepak Parekh - Chairman, HDFC. The ceremony was held in Dunai recently and was graced by Real Estate stalwart who came together to felicitate the excellence in the field.

Another recent achievement by Rohan Builders & Developers Pvt. Ltd (RBDPL) was their felicitated with two awards by AESA (Architects, Engineers & Surveyors Association, and Pune) for the project Rohan Madhuban.

They were also presented with 5 Certificates in the Group Housing Category namely, M/s Rohan Builders & Developers Pvt. Ltd. (Owner) with AESA Kumar Award 2010 in Group Housing category. M/s Rohan Builders & Developers Pvt. Ltd. (Constructor) was given the AESA Kumar Award 2010 in Group Housing category. Ar. Sanjay Mohe (Architect of M/s. Mindspace Architects) with AESA Kumar Award 2010 in Group Housing category.Er. Y.S. Sane (Structural Designer of M/s. J+W Consultants(Y.S. Sane Associates) with AESA Kumar Award 2010 in Group Housing category. M/s. PDAA Designs, Singapore (Landscape Designer) with AESA Kumar Award 2010 in Group Housing category.

The AESA award has been instituted to recognize excellence in the building industry. AESA's aim is not only to encourage, stimulate and inspire creativity in Architecture, Team work in Building Industry but also to generate greater architectural awareness in the Society. The AESA was founded in 1970 All the facets of the building industry comprising architects, civil engineers, contractors and structural consultants find representation in the AESA forum

Sobha Developers to reduce debt via land sale

Sobha Developers Ltd plans to cut debt by the end of FY11, banking on cash inflows and monetisation of land sales, a top official said on Tuesday.

"We used to have a debt equity (ratio) of 2:1 earlier. This has been brought down to 0.85:1, going forward it will be further brought down to 0.5:1, before the end of next financial year (FY11)," Managing Director J.C. Sharma told Reuters Trading India chatroom. Sobha Developers has around 3,000 acres of land spread across 10 cities, of which Bangalore accounts for about 31 percent of the total land bank.

The company expects to monetise around 1-1.5 billion rupees from sales of land, he said, but did not provide the location of land which the company intends to sell. It had received 540 million rupees from sale of land in the quarter ended Dec. 2009.

Sobha is also confident of selling 2-million square feet of space in FY10, he said. It has sold 166 units till date out of a total 310 apartments at the recently launched Sobha Garrison, a luxury residential complex for army personnel, in Bangalore. He said there is a revival in the realty industry, even though it would take another two-three quarters for it to come back to normal situation. There could be also some price corrections by the end of the year in "some pockets", like "Mumbai market, where office space costs more than in Manhattan", Sharma added.

The company is also planing to launch about 8 million square feet of space in the next 12-15 months time across four cities, Bangalore, Pune, Coimbatore and a new location in Chennai. Sobha has currently 5.6 million square feet of contracts on hand, he said. 

(Reporting by Rajesh Kurup; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu). Source: Yahoo News

Residential market to lead realty recovery in 2010: CRISIL Research

A recent 10-city CRISIL Research report on the real estate market indicates that demand in the residential market is expected to turn positive in 2010 owing to improvement in affordability, steady economic growth and greater liquidity. However a decline in the currently over-priced capital values of all the three real estate segments - residential, commercial and retail - will persist through 2009. Further the commercial and retail markets will continue to witness erosion in lease rentals through the next two years.

The CRISIL Research City Real(i)ty Report provides comprehensive information and analysis of more than 400 areas across 88 micro markets in 10 cities - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai-MMR, NCR and Pune.

Mr. Sudhir Nair, Head, CRISIL Research says, “Accelerated growth of Indian economy, recovery of global
economy, improved liquidity and expected fall in interest rates are key factors that will signal demand revival in the residential segment. This segment is likely to see a much faster revival due to strong underlying demand for housing and supply coming at attractive price points.”

Sudhir further adds, “Demand in the commercial and retail segment is likely to remain under stress for the next two years owing to excess supply and weak offtake.” The CRISIL Research City Real(i)ty report indicates that capital values for residential sector and lease rentals for commercial and retail properties have substantially corrected till March 2009 due to a slowdown in both the domestic and global economies, and also due to real estate becoming unaffordable. Cities such as Kochi, Chandigarh and Pune, which have greater investor presence as against end-users, witnessed a greater fall in capital values compared to other cities.

The situation is expected to continue through 2009 and 2010, particularly so for the commercial and retail segments. However CRISIL Research believes that demand for houses will improve in 2010, backed by lower home loan interest rates as well as better job security owing to higher growth in the economy. Hence, capital values are likely to stabilise in the first half of 2010, and increase during the second half of the year.
CRISIL Research feels that the pace of economic recovery and confidence revival will have an impact on
sentiments across all the real estate categories and will be an important variable to watch out for.