Property price surge across metros

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Property prices across the metros are soaring. In key markets, residential property prices are well past the 2007 peaks. Even land deal valuations have skyrocketed, report CNBC-TV18’s Vivek Law and Shubhro Sen.

Prices here have soared more than 40% since 2009. The national capital region is not far behind, with the price increase well over 30%. Bangalore too has seen a price rise of 10-15% in the first half of FY11.

That's not all, land prices have spooked analysts who have begun indicating that a property bubble is gradually building in cities like Mumbai and NCR. In what is being touted as the largest auction, Mumbai based Lodha Developers bagged a Rs 5700 crore deal recently. Several auctions by national textile corporation are being rescheduled as the company is re-considering an increase in reserve prices

Pranay Vakil, Chairman, Knight Frank India said, “People are buying land for the price of finished product, which surprises all of us and no amount of calculation can justify the price that some of them are paying.”

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South Mumbai bungalow to go for Rs500 cr

The party is on. Keep playing the music as everyone is in a drunken stupor.

Just by the numbers.

Mumbai's population : 2,00,000,00 people

Next year ** projections ** of sale of luxury apartments : 7,000 flats

Ratio 7000/2,00,000,00 = 0.035%

Looks like someone has a vested interest in reporting local news affecting 0.035% of the population.

DNA India reports

Orbit, which owns 50% stake in the property — 25% purchased on its own and 25% through Om Builders — is negotiating for the balance 50% stake with the other family members (about 70-80 signatories) of the well-known philanthropic Kilachand family. Spread across 9,000 sq mt, the spacious bungalow is expected to cost Orbit roughly Rs500 crore.

The Mumbai developer, known for its upscale residential projects, is in the final lap of raising Rs350 crore from a private equity fund for the project. Acknowledging the move, Pujit Aggarwal, managing director of Orbit Corporation, said the bungalow is strategically located on Napeansea Road where flat prices are over Rs40,000-Rs50,000 a sq ft.

According to Aggarwal, his company is also in talks to purchase three other plots on Napean Sea Road for its first block redevelopment project in the tony neighbourhood. The three sea-facing plots will be consolidated for a luxury housing project, generating 300,000 sq ft of saleable area.

Acquiring dilapidated properties and redeveloping them is the only way to build new projects in areas such as south and central Mumbai, due to a paucity of open land there.

According to Knight Frank, a global property advisory, while there is a potential problem of supply overhang of luxury projects in central Mumbai areas such as Lower Parel, there is huge demand for such high-end residential developments in south Mumbai because supply is restricted. Incidentally, consultants have estimated that around 7,000 luxury apartments will be sold within a year in Mumbai, with each unit priced at more than Rs4.7 crore.

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Bharat Bandh, super high inflation and housing prices

It must have become apparent to everyone by now including the Congress government that the Bharat Bandh, called by the opposition has been a stupendous success. The majority of the common people who have meagre earnings have seen essential commodities skyrocket beyond their own mean. Citizens employed by certain private sectors and government sectors which were affected by the sixth pay commission could still manage to buy dal at 120 rs a kg. However the vast majority of the country have rebelled against the policies of the government.

Sonia Gandhi and Mehangai Manmohan Singh have completely lost track of the common man and see the country thru eyes of the G-20 and the IMF , courtesy Montek and Mani Iyer. However off late I see that Mani Shankar Iyer has been distancing himself from the view of the congress government.

If an election were to be held today, there is no doubt that Congress would've been voted out of power just one year after their second term.

Corruption levels are highest in this regime and personally I have been asked to pay exorbiant amounts for measly government procedures regarding my own parent's property.

Over 2004-2010 India has definitely witnessed growth however the price rise and inflation has eaten into the purchasing power of everyone. When I made my first post on this blog I had warned of this where rapid growth will lead to uncontrolled inflation thereby making majority of the people more poor then they were before the growth commenced.

The only people to benefit from this high GDP growth of 2004-2010 is the rich upper class, bureaucrats and politicians all enjoying gains thru corrupt means. Everyone else is just a loser.

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Few flats under Rs 50 lakh...

Skyrocketing property prices over the last few months have taken housing beyond the reach of the salaried class, with barely six per cent of the total new housing stock in Mumbai priced under Rs 50 lakh. On the other hand, a staggering 46 per cent of these flats cost over Rs 1 crore.

Figures compiled by real estate research agency Liases Foras show that of the 8,000-odd flats that make up the unsold housing stock, hardly 500 are priced below Rs 50 lakh.

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Analysts say these rates are the result not only of increasing prices and sizes of new flats but also of the heavy loading by developers. Most new flats come with frills such as flowerbeds, viewing decks and amenities like clubhouses and swimming pools that are included while calculating the super-built-up area on which flats are sold. This notional loading is as high as 50 to 80 per cent of actual carpet area.

“In case of one-bedroom flats, builders can’t justify a loading of 80 per cent on a flat with a carpet area of 300 sq ft to a buyer who is already hard-pressed for money. It is easier to cover up the discrepancy between actual size and loading in larger flats which is the reason why most developers today are constructing only two to four bedroom flats,” said Sandeep Sadh, CEO of Mumbai Property Exchange.com. The trend is catching on outside Mumbai, too, with developers like Lodha launching Rs 1-crore-plus flats in Dombivli.

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1 bed room flat - 4 crores in Khar(w) Mumbai

Crazy days are here again. Thumbs up :). Good for the residents of this building who can make merry at the expense of the black money of the builders and politicians. However these folks have no other choice but to buy another apt in Mumbai from another building at an exorbitant price. These folks will now drive prices of the neighboring buildings assuming they like to stay in the same area. The music is playing on so keep on dancing :)

MUMBAI: In a bonanza for residents of a Khar housing society, a builder has been buying off their mid-sized flats, paying each family between Rs 4 crore and Rs 5.5 crore.

Mumbai-based Parinee Developers claims to have shelled out between Rs 4 crore to Rs 4.5 crore for a one-BHK flat and Rs 5 crore to Rs 5.5 crore for a twoand-a-half-BHK in the three-decade-old Bharatiya Bhavan Cooperative Housing Society, which is located at the corner of 17th Road in Khar (west). Parinee plans to demolish the buildings and set up a high-end residential tower.

However, there is a word of caution from real estate experts. They warn these huge amounts may send wrong signals in the redevelopment market, unnecessarily create hype and raise expectations of other housing societies in the area. However, Parinee said it is paying this astronomical price only because the society has utilised barely 40% of its floor space index (FSI).

The developer has already bought out 20 of the 37 flats in the society and said it is negotiating with the remaining flat owners. “We are finalising the purchase of the remaining 17 flats. Our acquisition cost for all the flats is around Rs 200 crore,’’ said a spokesperson for the developer.

The society comprising six buildings, each ground plus two floors, is spread over an area of 5,570 square yards (over an acre) with ample open spaces and car parking. The one-BHKs have a carpet area of between 580 to 625 sq ft while the two BHKs are between 800 to 900 sq ft in size.

Tip from expert: Don’t be greedy

The Bharatiya Bhavan CGHS in Khar (West) has been on the block for the past four years. In 2007, TOI was the first to report that the society had invited sealed bids from various developers and that a Navi Mumbai-based builder, APA, had offered Rs 180 crore to the society. There were several other leading builders in the fray, including Tata Housing, Wadhwa Group, Naman Developers and Acme.

However, the builder subsequently withdrew the offer due to recession and also because of infighting between two groups of flat owners. Some residents thought that APA’s offer was not enough. The fight culminated in a legal battle — Parinee Developer now claims it has helped resolve the issue between the two groups.

In 2006-07 , a slew of housing societies in the suburbs had received phenomenal offers from developers if they agreed to redevelop their properties. While some builders wanted flat owners to move out permanently by paying them off handsomely, others agreed to rehouse them in new and larger flats in the redeveloped property.

However, many of these deals failed to take off because either residents became too greedy and kept on demanding more from the developers or the builders themselves backtracked when the property market slowed down two years ago. Sprawling housing colonies like Nutan Nagar near the Bandra (W) station and Khira Nagar in Santa Cruz got stuck after getting offers running into hundreds of crores. In 2007, Khira Nagar housing society entered into agreement with the Pune-based Kumar Developers for a reported Rs 900 crore for the 640 flats in 16 buildings. But the project never took off.

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Where the rich live ?

Soft marketing article by the WSJ to pump up real estate in India. Mostly sponsored by the builders. The question to ask is where do the rich get the money , and how much tax do they pay and have paid over the past few years. I dare WSJ to carry out an article on this topic.

Super-luxury apartments are back in vogue and they are bigger and better than ever before.

As India's economy has gained momentum over the past several months, super-wealthy corporate professionals and businessmen are once again ready to pay $1 million or more for their dream homes. That can buy apartments with five bedrooms or more spread over 5,000 to 10,000 square feet and with amenities like personal lap pools and jogging parks in the sky.

From gold tiled bathtubs to sky-high verandas, luxury living is back. Following a market lull in 2008, India's wealthy class is again dishing out top dollar for luxury apartments. WSJ's Shefali Anand reports.

Home builders are rushing to meet this demand. At least a dozen super-luxury apartment complexes are being built across India right now, mostly in the major metro cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

The recent flurry of activity is a sharp reversal from early 2009, when the luxury housing segment was all but abandoned as the Indian economy's growth slowed. Developers had to slash apartment prices by 30% to 40% in February and March 2009, in order to find buyers, says Sanjay Dutt, chief executive officer for business at Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, a real-estate services firm. Developers are trying to outdo each other in breaking fresh ground in luxury.

Some market experts are now getting worried about prices, which they say have reached near peak-2007 levels. Given that, and the huge upcoming supply, there could be downward price pressure on these apartments over the next few months, says Poonam Mahtani, national director of Colliers International (India) Property Services Pvt. Ltd., a real-estate-services firm.

In south Mumbai's Lower Parel neighborhood, for instance, around 10 million square feet of area is likely to be freed up for building high-end apartment buildings, according to an estimate by Religare Capital Markets Ltd. To create enough demand for these apartments, prices need to drop by 20% to 25%, says Suhas Harinarayan, managing director and co-head of research at Religare Capital Markets.

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S.D. Corporation Pvt. Ltd.

While real-estate prices are tough to predict, buyers might benefit by waiting for a few more months. When many of these apartments come to market at the same time, they can get better prices, say consultants.

Buyers who don't want to wait are still getting a better deal than they were before the downturn, because developers are providing more value for the same price.

"Up till now, we didn't have properties which were fully fitted out in terms of closets and woodwork," says Shveta Jain, director, residential services, Cushman & Wakefield India Pvt. Now, however, these fittings are commonplace.

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Pune : More registrations, less permissions

Pune mirror has an article which is bullish on Pune real estate. 21,000 registrations in 2010. It appears the the trend is strong and barring an unforeseen event of great magnitude, volumes will continue to be healthy. Once inventory vanishes I think prices will start rising. I was just checking with some builders and they are not negotiating. In the past they used to say get the checkbook and they will discount the price, now it appears they are not in a mood to bring their price down. Other buyers, end-users or sellers can post their experiences in this thread.

In the past I have always show my bullish stance for Pune vis-a-vis Mumbai and I think in terms of volume we will see more growth. The other number we need from banks is the NPA (non-performing assets) or loans in default. That could pressurize the market if the trend in that number is rising.


Flat sales show good healt- Link

Here is a win-win situation for the government and builders. After the recession-related slump in property deals, figures at the government registration office here show that, compared to last year, more people are purchasing flats in the city. In fact, the registration department has doubled its revenue as compared to the first quarter of 2009.

In Q1 of 2009, the registration office collected Rs 113.9 crore against registration of 13,033 flats in the city, whereas in 2010, revenue shot up to Rs 294.04 crore - more than double. March is the one of busiest months in the registration office.

This year, 8,900 flats were registered in March. Last year, in the same month, the number was 3,553, which translates into a 2.5 per cent increase. When we spoke to V D Dhansheety, joint district registration officer, he said, “In March, there are a lot of festivals.

On the auspicious day of festivals as well as towards the end of the financial year, people are more eager to buy flats. Therefore, in this month, more registrations happened. In mid-2008, the recession started. After that, the number of flats registered came down considerably.”

Dhansheety added that though banks reduced their home loan interest rates, no one came forward to invest in flats. “In 2009, due to improvement in the market, people started purchasing flats. The number is not a satisfactory one. But, in Q1 of 2010, there was an increase in registration of flats.”

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