Mumbai property: Will prices fall in 2012?

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To be sure, record home prices and higher interest rates have hit demand badly: Mumbai’s residential home sales dropped to a three-year low in the quarter ended December, according to a Bloomberg report.

According to data provided by Liases Foras Real Estate Rating and Research, sales fell 17 percent from the previous quarter to 7.59 million square feet, the report added.

Unsold inventory, or the number of months needed to clear stock at the existing absorption rate, also climbed to 44 months.

The figures elicited a rather predictable response from the founder of Liases Foras, Pankaj Kapoor: “The likely scenario looks like we will see a dip in prices seeing the dismal sales and as liquidity remains tight,” he told Bloomberg.

Unfortunately, we believe there is no guarantee that property prices will fall, no matter what the experts say.

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Sobha Signature, RIP

Sobha developers were supposed to build their super expensive highly "exclusive" penthouses for "high net worth individuals". Rs. 5 Crores to Rs.10 Crores for 6800 Sq ft to 8000 Sq ft exclusive apartments. This project called, Sobha Signature, located along the congested Harlur Road, was supposed to be their best thingamagic ever.

"Our CEO is going to live here". "Think about it". "O U R CEO. He is the person who will live here" - peddled a salesman.

Turns out, there aren't enough suckers to pay Rs.5 Crores to Rs.10 Crores in Bangalore. Sobha Signature project has been shelved and will be replaced by Sobha Classic Phase II, which is a "poor man's" luxury apartments. Sobha Classic 3 BRs run between 90 lakhs and 1.15 Crores today.

May be this is the start, the super high end is bursting in Bangalore.

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India's housing market stalls amid high interest rates

Article Link on BBC website

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Ignore warnings at own Peril

Article link, Emerging Markets

The collapse of the emerging markets, especially China, India, and Brazil, will have a huge ripple effect on the rest of the world’s economies, and will plunge most countries back into a global recession.

It is our view that emerging market growth has reached an unsustainable level and that a slowdown is taking place. A slowdown is generally not such a calamitous situation, but with expectations for China, and emerging markets at such extremes, the failure to meet or beat these lofty forecasts could mean big shocks to global economies and stocks.

Emerging Market Warning Signs

Surging inflation that threatens sustainable growth

Soaring money supply that fuels bubbles in stocks and real estate

Credit bubbles

Massive and understated loan exposure

Tightening monetary policy that could “put the brakes” on the economy

Inverted yield curves that usually appear before recessions

Real estate bubbles evident in ghost towns and empty malls

Overconfidence buying at auctions

The infamous “skyscraper indicator”

Fraudulent companies that have attracted investment from around the world when they are nothing but “shell” companies with unproven financials

Most importantly: The stock markets of China, Brazil, and others have been deep into bear-market territory in 2011 – down between 20 percent and 30 percent from their peaks

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Laughing Waters is no Laughing Matter

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=1&contentid=2011020420110204081607853b53eeb38

An IT czar, two top-notch cricketers and a leading fashion designer have one more thing in common besides being super-achievers in their respective fields: All four, along with some 400 affluent Bangaloreans, seem to have been taken for a royal ride while attempting to purchase posh villas.

Another major issue is the ambiguity over who the developer-cum-owner of the land really is. The name that has repeatedly cropped up is that of Prestige. According to Balasubramanian, the property was jointly developed by O G Ragulu’s son, Shrivatsa Rajulu, P S Developers (Prestige) and Laughing Waters. The permission for the layout from the administrator of Ramagondanahalli was obtained by Irfan Razack, chairman and managing director, Prestige Group. Razack held the power of attorney for O G Rajulu, the original owner of the land. Razack’s address mentioned in the documents is Copper Arch, Infantry Road — the official address of Prestige before it moved to the current office on Guard Cross Road.

However, Prestige maintained that P S Developers was never a part of it. In a letter to the Laughing Waters Owners and Residents Association on November 9, 2010, Prestige Group’s senior vice president, T Arvind Pai, clarified: “We maintain that P S Developers is not part of the Prestige Group and to our knowledge is no longer in existence.” Pai stated that as per the grant khata issued by the thasildar’s office on March 13, 1967, “There is a kharab land of 4.36 acres which has to be reserved for road and drains. It is very clearly established that Laughing Waters is not a Gomala land or government land, and it is therefore incorrect to state that this is a Gomala land.”

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