Times Property Expo Mumbai 2015

Times Property Expo

Date: 4,5,6 December 2015

Venue: Hotel Sahara Star, Sapphire Hall,
             Mumbai.


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In Space-Starved Mumbai, Big Plans for a Facelift

Mumbai: The redevelopment of Mumbai's mostly derelict docklands will, if a government-appointed panel has its way, create a waterfront where people living in the world's second-most densely-populated city can go to lift their spirits, and the rich can go to play.

"This is a real opportunity to give Mumbai what it doesn't have, to give it open space," said Narinder Nayar, a businessman who sits on the panel, whose recommendations will be unveiled this week.

Owned by Mumbai Port Trust, the largest landowner in India's financial hub, much of the 7 square kilometres up for redevelopment is occupied today by crumbling warehouses, informal housing and workers who eke out a living breaking down disused ships or sorting through scrap metal.

The government, which has valued the land at $12 billion or Rs 73,200 crores, is pitching the project as a shining example of what urban regeneration in India should look like: transport minister Nitin Gadkari wants a giant ferris wheel similar to the London Eye.

"We should be looking towards the examples of New York, London, Sydney...Barcelona as well, to see what can be done with our former industrial areas on the waterfront," Mr Nayar said.

Whereas as Mumbai's western shoreline looks out to the Arabian Sea, this land is located on the protected eastern side of the city's southern tip, affording a view across the harbour to the mainland, where a new deep-sea container port is based.

Mr Nayar says the panel will recommend that about 30 per cent of the land be opened as public space with the construction of a hospital and affordable housing, linked by new train lines.

There are plans for a floating hotel and convention centre too, and a tender is already out to build a luxury marina to cater for the city's super-rich.

With its natural harbour, Bombay, as it was called back then, was rapidly developed during British colonial times, and much of today's city sits on reclaimed land that joined up a string of tiny islands off India's western coast.

Mumbai hasn't got a great track record for urban planning, however. Mounting demographic pressures and long delays for infrastructure projects have often meant that whatever progress takes place has already been overtaken by the population's growing needs.

There are some 12.5 million people crammed on the 'island city', a narrow wedge of land jutting into the sea, and around 21 million in the greater metropolitan area.

Residents and urban experts worry that the Mumbai port project will either fail to get off the ground, or succumb to the same unregulated building sprees seen across the country.

There was a plan in the 1990s to reserve a third of 2.4 square kilometres (0.9 square mile) of defunct mill land in central Mumbai for public space, and a third for affordable housing. It ended with most of the area sold privately and turned into luxury skyscrapers set amid landscaped gated gardens. ($1 = Rs 61)

Lumina at Kalapataru Radiance - Goregaon West

Lumina at Kalpataru Radiance is a residential project at Goregaon West. 
Project offers 2 bedroom and three bedrooms homes.
Project is very well connected to Express highway and other part of the city.


Price:
Start from 2.15 Cr. 

About Developer:
Kalpataru is a well known developer among Mumbaikars.  Kalpataru has developed many residential and commercial projects across Mumbai and Pune. 


Website:
www.kalpataru.com 



Address:
Kalpataru Radiance, Next to Prabhodhan Krida Bhavan,
Off Post Office Road, Siddharth Nagar, Goregaon (West)
Mumbai 14.

PE Investment in Realty Jumps Over Two-Fold to Rs 8,900 Crore: Report

Private equity investment in the real estate sector jumped more than two-fold to Rs. 8,900 crore till September this year as developers were forced to raise funds from PE firms to meet their capital requirements, property consultant Cushman & Wakefield said.

"This year alone PE funds have invested close to Rs. 89 billion ($1.5 billion) in the real estate sector until September 2014, more than double the amount invested during the corresponding period in 2013 (Rs. 42.7 billion/$0.7 billion)," C&W said in a report.

PE investments in the realty sector during the first three quarters of 2014 have surpassed the total investment levels for 2013 by 21 per cent, it added.

"This substantial increase in investments has been predominantly in under construction residential projects followed by acquisitions of leased office assets," the report said.

Total number of deals also increased to 46 in the first three quarters of 2014 compared to 40 in the whole of 2013.

"Post the global economic slowdown in 2008, the RBI had discouraged banks from providing capital to the real estate sector. This led to an increase in cost of capital for developers borrowing from other lending sources, which was quite high and availability for which was limited."

"To meet capital requirements, developers are increasingly partnering with PE funds," C&W said.

The consultant said that investment activity, which was vibrant in the first two quarters of 2014, gained further momentum in the third quarter.

"Investments worth Rs. 49 billion ($0.8 billion) were committed during the third quarter. While domestic funds contributed majorly (57 per cent) to the overall investments in 2013, foreign funds dominated in the first three quarters of 2014 with a 69 per cent share in overall PE investments," the report noted.

In terms of locations, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Chennai witnessed increased investments from PE funds during the first three quarters of 2014, with an increase in both transaction volume and number of deals from the corresponding period last year. Investment levels in Bengaluru remained stable while it declined in Pune.

About 41 per cent (Rs. 3,670 crore/$0.6 billion) of the total investments during the first three quarters of 2014 was witnessed in Delhi-NCR, which is an increase of close to 6 times compared to the first three quarters of 2013. In NCR, the PE investments were primarily in leased office assets.

Going by asset class, office sector attracted highest PE investments at Rs. 4,420 crore. Residential sector witnessed investments of close to Rs. 4,180 crore while retail sector saw PE investments of Rs. 300 crore.

Investor interest in the hospitality sector remained low with no investments in the segment recorded till September 2014.

Home sales at five-year low but average cost of Mumbai house shoots up to Rs 3 cr

Home sales across top six cities in India saw a quarter-on-quarter drop of 25% in the September quarter, the lowest sales since 2009 while unsold inventory rose to a high of 815,000 apartments as investors are slowly deserting the property market as prices have peaked, according to property research firm Liases Foras.

This is the highest ever unsold stock  implying that the ready but vacant flats will take at least four years to sell, which means home prices have not only peaked in India's financial hub, Mumbai, but in other parts of the country too.  The report covered six cities—Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the National Capital Region (NCR), Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune, which contribute round 70% of the total apartments built in India.

While sales in the national capital region (NCR) have dipped 34 percent to 11.51 million sq feet quarter on quarter, sales in Mumbai were down 9% to 10.22 million sq ft from the last quarter. But get this: the productive markets of Bengaluru and Chennai have been hit the most, with sales dipping by 43% and 46%, respectively, from the previous quarter. The average price increase in the six centres was just 1%.

In Greater Mumbai for instance, weighted average cost of a house has soared to an all-time high of Rs 3 crore (from Rs 2.8 crore last year) even as the unsold inventory pile-up has shot up to 53,856 units. The number of apartments that came into the market this quarter (3,589) is also 53% more that the previous quarter but sales have dipped 6 percent in the same period. According to Pankaj Kapoor, MD at Laises Foras, it will take 65 months ( a little over 5 years) to sell these apartments!

Average cost of house in MMR rises to Rs 1.34 crore

In the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which comprises Mumbai city, its suburban districts and parts of Thane and Raigad, the average cost of a house measuring 1,098 sq feet has risen to Rs 1.34 crore from Rs 1.2 crore a year ago even though the region is saddled with 1.48 lakh apartments.

What's worse is that despite Mumbai topping the list of most expensive, it has in the last three years recorded an average capital values increase of 16% (H1 2011 – H1 2014) and finished the second lowest followed by Hyderabad which recorded an average capital values increase of 14% in the same period, showed another report by Cushman and Wakefield. The report analyses the performance of the residential segment across top seven cities to rank the average capital value appreciations across the cities.

Bengaluru recorded the highest average appreciation of 41% in the mid-end segment, followed by Pune which recorded an average appreciation of 28% in the period 2011 – 2014. Chennai (27%), Delhi-NCR (22%) and Kolkata (17%) also saw noteworthy increases, in the period under consideration.

NCR tops list of unsold homes

The situation is even worse in NCR, which is regarded as the hotbed for investors. Here even though the average cost of a 1,447 square feet apartment is around Rs 75 lakh, the sales have dipped by 45 percent in the last one year while the unsold inventory has shot up to a whopping 318,000 apartments. According to the report, such high unsold inventory will require 83 months or nearly six years to sell! Here 62% of the residential supply is in uninhabitable places without proper infrastructure.

Over the last few years, a number of scams and project related issues have cropped up across NCR. While project delays are a big issue, cases against developers such as the one where the Competition Commission of India slapped a fine of Rs 630 crore on DLF for unfair trade practices in a few of its Gurgaon projects, or environmental concerns such as those around development near the Okhla Bird Sanctuary are other problems buyers have to face.

Secondly, NCR has far more than its fair share of investors who do not really live in flats they buy but use them as an investment they can flip quickly to other buyers. "In NCR over 50% of those who buy property think of it as a short-term investment, pushing builders to launch hundreds of projects over the last few years , undercutting them on price as they do not have the holding capacity," added Kapoor.

Value of unsold properties

While in NCR, the maximum unsold stock is in Rs 25-50 lakh bracket, in MMR it is in the Rs 2 crore and upwards bracket.  Hence while prices have peaked, investors are slowly dumping the property market for equities, hoping for higher returns. But at these prices, the end-user is still unable to enter the real estate market.

Across India, the number of new flats built dropped by 7% from the previous quarter. Of the new supply, 36% was in the cost range of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore, and 29% was in the range of Rs 25 Lakh to Rs 50 Lakh. This means that most of the unsold flats are still too unaffordable for the aam aadmi. And with the government easing norms to allow foreign investors to invest in real estate, prices are going nowhere but up

Urban areas in and around Delhi constitute 40% of unsold real estate in top eight cities

NEW DELHI: Guess who probably had a terrible Diwali? The capital's builders. Just look at one simple statistic. Urban areas in and around Delhi account for a stunning 40% of unsold real estate in India's top eight cities. So, why is it so gloomy in NCR? Why does Bangalore and even Mumbai look better?

THE PROBLEM

The NCR has a total of 303.48 million sq ft (about 303,000 apartments) of unsold real estate, according to property research firm Liases Foras. At the current pace of sales, this stock requires another 53 months to be completely sold off. In comparison, for the Mumbai region, the figure is about 48 months while it is the lowest for Bangalore at 19 months. For the top eight cities combined, the 765 m sq ft of unsold space will require at least 35 months to be sold.

The festive season this year has failed to bring cheer to builders despite many of them doling out offers which include ones where buyers have to pay 10% of the apartment cost upfront and the rest at the time of possession. Brokers say they are getting a lot of enquiries from buyers but not too many conversions.Riding on improved sentiments, home sales in the NCR are up about 10% over the previous quarter, but sales are still not happening at the pace that is usually associated with the festive period. In good years, builders were able to garner almost 30-40% of their sales for the entire year during this threemonth period.

BUILDING NOWHERE

But it's not just the size of the unsold 'inventory' that makes Delhi the worst off among the real estate markets of larger cities. 56% of the unsold real estate in NCR is in areas which are currently uninhabitable. In other words, while the apartments have come up, the other essential infrastructure — roads, sewage systems, or water connections — have not. In comparison, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has 168 m sq ft (168,000 apartments) and Bangalore has 113 m sq ft (113,000 apartments) of unsold space of which just 2% of the inventory is in undeveloped areas in each city. While sales have slowed down in Mumbai as well, the real reason is more to do with high prices.

"NCR is a very inefficient market where a lot of projects were launched in undeveloped areas," says Pankaj Kapoor, MD of Liases Foras. Take for instance the Dwarka-Manesar Expressway. Its location in Gurgaon is closest to Delhi and several projects were launched here a few years back but work on the expressway has not been completed yet though some builders are close to giving possession to buyers.

"As the level of sales dropped, the interest of developers in creating social infrastructure also reduced," says Samarjit Singh, managing director of IndiaHomes, a real estate brokerage firm. Over the last few years, a number of scams and project related issues that have cropped up across NCR have also scared buyers. While project delays are a big issue, cases against developers such as the one where the Competition Commission of India slapped a fine of Rs 630 crore on DLF for unfair trade practices in a few of its Gurgaon projects, or environmental concerns such as those around development near the Okhla Bird Sanctuary, have added to the gloom.

HSBC buys duplex for Rs 60 crore in South Mumbai locality

MUMBAI: HSBC has bought a luxury duplex apartment overlooking the Arabian Sea in south Mumbai's Mahalaxmi locality for around Rs 60 crore, said two persons familiar with the development, making it one of the most expensive such purchases in the country. While the hottest property market in the country does have apartments valued at Rs 100 crore under construction, this is the highest reported transaction for a flat so far in terms of absolute numbers.

"The deal is concluded and the registration was done recently. Total consideration for the apartment also includes stamp duty and registration charges," said one of the persons mentioned above. The 8,000 sq ft apartment located in the Raheja Viverea development overlooks the Mahalaxmi racecourse and golf course has been bought by the bank to house its India chief executive officer, currently Stuart Milne.

On the basis of built-up area, the deal is valued at Rs 75,000 per sq ft. Going by carpet area—5,000 sq ft—it's almost Rs 1.10 lakh per sq ft. The deal is in the list of costliest transactions on a per sq ft basis on both these measures. The apartment is located on the 40th and 41st floors—the top two—of one of the three wings of the complex, which was completed in 2012. HSBC bought the apartment directly from developer K Raheja Corp.

HSBC India declined to comment as did the transaction advisor CBRE. Although the realty market has been sluggish for nearly two years, high-value deals have continued to defy the trend in the last few quarters. In one such trans action, private equity firm Xander's founder and chairman Siddharth Yog bought a sea-facing apartment at the famous Samudra Mahal building in Worli for Rs 40.5 crore.

Last year, another sea-facing duplex apartment in a building on Mount Pleasant Road in south Mumbai's Malabar Hill locality was sold for Rs 57 crore, or around Rs 1.35 lakh a sq ft, making it the most expensive residential property transaction on a per sq ft basis.