DELHI AND MUMBAI'S OFFICE SPACES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THOSE IN PARIS, NEW YORK, STOCKHOLM, MILAN, GENEVA, ROME, SHANGHAI AND LOS ANGELES. THIS SIMPLY SUGGESTS THE NON-AVAILABILITY OF SPACE IN INDIA AT COMPETITIVE RATES.
The demand for office space in India continues to be strong, despite fears of some moderation in economic growth. According to the latest report of global consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) on fastest growing occupancy costs of office space in the world, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi featured at 8th, 22nd and 45th positions.
While rentals in Mumbai grew at 40.7% in the last one year, they went up by 22.6% in Bangalore and by 15.3% in Delhi. However, Mumbai slipped from second place in November 2007 to the fourth place at present, on the scale of most expensive office markets in the world. London's West End, Moscow and Tokyo dominate the list of costliest places in the world, in that order. Delhi continues to be at the seventh spot.
According to Anshuman Magazine, CMD of CB Richard Ellis for South Asia, the drop in ranking is not due to rentals in Mumbai falling, but because of a significant increase in rentals in Moscow, where they almost doubled in the last one year. He said that the number four position of Mumbai is still very high and is reflective of the tight supply of prime office space in Mumbai and Delhi, and demand remaining constantly active.
According to the report, office space in Mumbai and Delhi are costlier than in Paris, New York, Stockholm, Milan, Geneva, Rome, Shanghai, Los Angeles, among others. This clearly suggests the nonavailability of space in India at competitive rates. Magazine says: "Although absorption of office space remained brisk in most markets, continuous increases in occupancy costs have driven some companies to relocate beyond prime locations in cities including Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai."
According to the report, rentals in Central Business Districts (CBD) in Mumbai and Delhi are Rs 738 per sq ft per month ($210.97 per sq ft per annum) and Rs 508 per sq ft per month ($ 145.16 per sq ft per annum). As against this, rentals in London are $300 per sq ft per annum, $142 per sq ft per annum in Paris, and $103.43 per sq ft per annum in New York.
Rentals in Tokyo at $220.25 per sq ft per annum eased for the first time in the past three years, falling by less than one percent, as a number of large occupiers put expansion plans on hold. In India, however, the story is a bit different.
Magazine says, "In India, supply remained limited in CBD areas, while facilities in secondary locations like Gurgaon and Noida in National Capital Region of Delhi have attracted office occupiers due to availability of superior quality office space." He said that in New Delhi, prime office rentals remained stable in the first quarter of 2008 and are expected to remain at current levels or increase marginally.
New supply is expected to continue to be dismal in the CBD while the supply situation in the peripheral areas of Gurgaon and Noida is set to improve as a significant amount of supply is set to enter the market over the remainder of 2008, and in 2009.
A clear trend is that when rentals go beyond a point, occupiers think it more prudent to move to secondary market areas rather than stick to the CBD at high costs. As there is hardly any supply going to come in the CBDs in the near future, the rentals in these areas continue to be high. But, in the peripheral and suburban areas, large supply is likely to come in near future.
According to a CBRE report, the demand supply gap is expected to be much closer in 2008, with some micro markets even witnessing surplus stock by end of third quarter in 2008.
"This is a welcome development from an end-user perspective, especially for the large space occupants and would only lead to enhanced take up in the medium to long term.
However, rentals in peripheral markets of Gurgaon showed no sign of a meltdown in the January-March quarter, the report says. Transactions were reported in MG Road for rentals upwards of Rs 135 per sq ft per month and on the Golf Course Road at Rs 125 per sq ft per month. In the area, there is a lot of demand, which is evident from the huge transactions through pre-commitment for space, while it is under development.
According to the report, pre-commitment remained a feature in DLF Cyber city, where rentals ranged from Rs 70 per sq ft per month to Rs 105 per sq ft per month. The report said rentals are expected to remain stable in the next quarter with additional supply on the MG and golf Course Road meeting the huge corporate demand.
Noida continues to attract IT/ITeS companies primarily for back office operations. Rentals in Noida, the report mentions, were marginally higher in the last quarter but are expected to be steady with high supply available, especially in the industrial and institutional sectors. The absorption rates are expected to rise significantly this year with improved infrastructure and affordable rentals in relation to other areas in NCR. This augurs well as it will increase the economic activities in the region.

 

           Courtesy: ET dated:- 13^th June 2008

Pune's booming hospitality sector, which had seen some high-profile announcements being made, has already witnessed a shakeout; with some high profile projects have quietly been shelved. But these are at the top end of the spectrum and industry maintains that Pune is a business or budget hotel city. While occupancy, the measure of viability, is around 65% in the business hotel segment, the expectation is that capacity addition to its existing 250 rooms will happen. At which point, a price correction is expected, as supply increases.

 

 

 

Courtesy: ET dated:- 13^th June 2008

 

Go to just about any town or city in the country and you’ll find real estate entrepreneurs and investors like yourself working far more than they should for the return they are getting. And this despite all the promises of "fast cash" and "easy money" that sold the courses that got them into the business in the first place. You see, the reason many Real Estate Entrepreneurs don’t do so well is not because of lack of intelligence or their willingness to work hard. It is simply due to being focused on the wrong area of their business. We come out our training very "deal" focused, and not motivated seller focused.

 

 

If there is one thing that is the mark of someone experiencing problems in our business, it is that they cling to marginal deals. This is directly related to not having enough qualified leads to work with. You know. You only got two or three interested sellers even talking to you in the first place, so if you want to eat you better close those deals! And that sets up the worst of all scenarios; a desperate buyer chasing a luke-warm seller. The solution to this problem is to have a continuous flow of sellers calling you so that you have a choice of who you want to work with. With so many people calling, you are in the position of not needing any one of them. If any particular seller is inflexible or difficult to deal with, you can legitimately walk away from them knowing that you having another seller to move on to right around the corner.

 

 

Where this leads in your deal-making and business is after a while you only talk to the most motivated people with the nicest houses where there is the most potential for maximum profit, people who are almost pleading with you to take their house! After all, it makes little sense to speak to anybody else. These deals are the cream of the crop. People whose houses have diminished in value in their eyes because they now want something else more, and their continued ownership of the house is preventing them from getting that something else.

 

 

These are your motivated sellers. And they are the only people you should ever consider dealing with. Try calling a seller who is still emotionally attached to their house with an offer involving creative financing. Your offer is an insult to them. But it is a godsend to a seller whose life is elsewhere now and no longer wants his house.

 

 

Well how do we get so many people to call? And how do you get the right people to call? The answer lies in the basic principles of Direct Response Marketing, and Emotional Direct Response Copywriting.

 

 

As business owners our overarching goal is to make the most profit, incurring the least cost, with (preferably) the least effort. As Real Estate Entrepreneurs that means talking to motivated sellers as much as possible, avoiding time-wasting unmotivated people as much as possible, and using a system to deliver those results predictably and consistently for us. Nothing achieves this better than Direct Response Marketing! With Direct Response we decide who our best prospect is first, attract only them, then put a message in front of them that is more difficult to ignore than it is to respond.

 

 

A very successful direct marketer named Gary Halbert sums this up succinctly by asking a question. The question is: "if you were in business, say the restaurant business and you could have one ultimate advantage over the rest of your competition, what would that advantage be?" People usually fumble around with things like best service, best food, etc. But no, that’s not it. The answer? "A starving crowd". So obvious. So simple.

 

 

By targeting precisely the high probability sellers (i.e. the starving crowd) you want to go after, putting a piece of paper in front of those people with a message on it that speaks directly to a burning frustration they are experiencing, and then tells them exactly what to do to get relief from that pain, your odds of being on the phone with a motivated seller go way up, as the odds of you wasting time with unmotivated people still in love with their house go way down. That’s what we want. Only real motivated ("starving") people calling us one after the other, uninterrupted, so we can concentrate on our most profitable business activity; CLOSING DEALS.

 

 

Mastering the basics of Direct Response Marketing will take you from wherever you are now to a rare place in the business world; having predictable, reliable, profitable marketing systems that will provide you with all the deals you want.

 

 

Paras Twin Towers, located in Gurgaon, has been inaugurated recently with fanfare. At the nerve center of Gurgaon, in sector-54, this project has developed a commercial space of 2,30,000 sq. ft. GE, American Express, Aviva, Hewitt, Vertex, SAP, Yahoo, are some of the establishments which fill the vicinity of Paras Twin Tower. Paras Twin Towers is developed by Paras Buildtech which is a progressive, future-focused, real estate company. It enjoys a good reputation of conceiving and executing large and stylish real estate projects in both commercial and corporate segments. The company says that an array of the world-class facilities will grant Paras Twin Towers a rare excellence and exclusivity. Rajinder Takhar's, COO, Paras Buildtech, said, "Our project is set to become a landmark commercial space of Gurgaon." High-quality commercial space is indeed need of the hour in Gurgaon, and the arrival of Twin Towers holds promise.

 

 

 

Courtesy: - HT dated: - 14^th June 2008

 

The Bhoomipujan for Phase I of Supertech’s upcoming residential project, Livingston was started of recently by R K Arora, CMD along with the Directors and VPs. The Livingston apartments are a part of Crossings Republik, which is an integrated township spread across a 360acre plot, situated on

National Highway

- 24.

 

 Livingston has been built keeping in mind the importance of space for rejuvenation. The Company will develop 635 units of 2 /3 Bedroom luxurious apartments in Phase I. The area surrounding it is clutter free and pollution free with a lot of natural foliage. There is also very easy access to all the amenities that one needs along with world-class facilities. These flats are especially for Middle Class Category and the price of these flats is starting from 21.60 Lakhs which is very much effective for a Middle Class family. The areas of these flats are from 1000sq.ft to 2075sq.ft. and the possession of Phase I will be on June 2010.Speaking at the ceremony R K Arora said, "Livingston will add value to the trust that Supertech has earned in the past 20 years. We see our aim of changing the face of still developing cities into realty destinations of the future becoming a reality." Livingston is set in the heart of Ghaziabad, a city that has been featured in Newsweek International as one of the top 10 dynamic cities in the world in 2006. It promises to be the perfect investment and housing destination.

 

Courtesy: - HT dated: - 14^th June 2008

 

All across Delhi Extn.NCR Baghpat, there is a wave of excitement and wellbeing as this Land of Tigers is being totally revamped.

 

 

 

Resting gently on the banks of river Yamuna, Delhi Extension NCR Baghpat boasts of its picturesque location. Surrounded by acres of verdant greenery, this enchanting neighborhood enjoys its proximity to Delhi by 22 kms. Strategically located on the Delhi -

Saharanpur Highway

, it is bounded by Meerut in the north, Ghaziabad in the south and river Yamuna and Kondli Sonipat in the west.

 

 

 

Owing to its vast linkage of rail and road network, Delhi Extn.NCR Baghpat attracts a lot of manufacturers and house hunters. Its nearness to the Railway Station (only 2kms.), ISBT (only 25Kms.) and the IGI Airport (only 80 kms.) allows it to make the best resources available.

 

 

 

Delhi Extension NCR Baghpat has grown from a small town trading in the making and selling of jaggery to a major industrial centre. Due to its location on the banks of river Yamuna, the region has rich and fertile agricultural land with a high water table. Owing to its nearness to Delhi and its versatile nature it has been included in the National Capital Region. 

 

The state government of Uttar Pradesh is blending in all vehicles to completely revamp the area. To meet the challenges of the 21st century and to realize the untapped potential of this industrial town, the state government is strengthening its infrastructure and preserving historical sites to promote heritage tourism. Impetus is being given to the development of infrastructure components like road and rail network, electric and water supply, sewer and drainage. For this reason, the Baghpat Development Authority has also been formed.

 

 

 

Courtesy: - HT dated: - 14^th June 2008          

 

Panchsheel Group, the real estate perfectionist has redefined perfection with various dream projects that include Panchsheel Park Colony -Ashok Vatika, Lajpat Nagar, SPS Apartments Phase 1- Main GT Road, SPS Apartments PhaseII-Radhey Shyam Park,

GT Road

, Euro Apartments- Rajendra Nagar, SPS Residency Vaibhav khand, Indirapuram, and SPS Heights- Ahinsa Khand II, Indirapuram.

 

 

 

The Group has also created Panchsheel Wellington in India's first global city, Crossings Republik. In its series of uncharted success, the Group has now created budget apartments on

Hapur Road, Ghaziabad

, for home seekers who want a complete lifestyle and that too at an affordable price. This living abode is strategically located in the bustling township of Ghaziabad. It is an ultimate destination for people desirous of settling in Delhi and NCR. It has become one of the favourite destinations for living due to easy accessibility from the capital and its other suburbs. 

 

With the proposed Metro Station, World class infrastructure, Residential and Commercial Complexes, Shopping Malls, Multiplexes Schools, Hospitals Community Centre, Parks and Shopping Centres and other luxuries of modern living, Ghaziabad is fast becoming the choice of upwardly families. It has been listed in the top 10 most dynamic cities of the world in'06 by Newsweek international. Catering to the needs of different strata of the society, it has become the most sought-after destination for Business Groups, Industrialists, Technocrats and Home Seekers. These are the advantages why Panchsheel has found Ghaziabad as the most sought after location for their budget apartments. Today the world is fascinated with a culture called Interior Design and Better Living. The lifestyle of the people gets a facelift with contemporary lifestyle that starts at their home and remains with them. The people today are not considered as general buyers but designated as smart home seekers who don't want just homes but a perfect habitat that reflects their attitude and style. Keeping all these minute details and reasons in mind, Panchsheel has created Primrose, the budget apartment that offers luxury with affordability.

 

 

 

Courtesy: - HT dated: - 14^th June 2008                 

 

The Uttarakhand government has agreed to a proposal by Uttar Pradesh to build an expressway from New Delhi to Dehradun that will minimise the travel time to less than 3.5 hours.

 

 

 

The 200-km-long, eight lane expressway along the Hindon River would start from the national capital linking Saharanpur and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. From Saharanpur, an industrial area bordering Uttarakhand, the state government will further extend it up to Dehradun.

 

 

 

Already, two meetings between the top government officials of both the states have been held in this regard. "We are ready for the expressway being proposed by Uttar Pradesh," said Additional Chief Secretary Indus Kant Pandey.

 

 

 

The proposal is being seen as a major infrastructure initiative between Delhi and Uttarakhand that can boost business prospects in the hill state. "If such a proposal materialises, it will give tremendous boost to industrialization and other business activities in the hill state," said Pankaj Gupta, president, Industries Association of Uttarakhand.

 

 

 

At present, traffic congestion is very high on the Delhi Dehradun highway, which is also being widened. But since the pace of work is very slow, the Uttarakhand government has evinced interest to the proposal of Uttar Pradesh to build the expressway.

 

 

 

Plans are also afoot to extend the expressway from Saharanpur to Haridwar, which has also emerged as a major industrial hub with leading companies like M&M, HUL, ITC and Hero Honda setting up their units there.

 

Please visit website any further information real estate www.propertycafeteria.com

 

 

 

           Courtesy: - B.S. dated: - 16^th June 2008

 

 

2% TAX IMPOSED ON VALUE OF PROPERTY, BUT WOMEN HOUSE OWNERS WILL GET TO PAY 1% LESS

 

Gurgaon: While property buyers across Haryana have welcomed the recent government decision to reduce the stamp duty on conveyance deeds and sale deeds from 6% to 5%, it has brought no relief to residents of Gurgaon. The district administration has imposed a new levy of 2% of the value of property to generate revenue for the recently-created Gurgaon Municipal Corporation (GMC).
  
Therefore, the buyer has to now pay 7% of the transaction instead of 6% earlier. On an average, Gurgaon generates daily revenue of about Rs 2 crore from stamp duty and registration fee. However, there is some relief for women buyers who have to pay one per cent less than men i.e. 6%.
  
According to officials of the revenue department, the better deal for women buyers is already having an impact. They pointed out that in places like Gurgaon and Faridabad, or for that matter any NCR city of Haryana, the property transactions are in crores. ''In case, a plot costs Rs 1 crore, the buyer would like to get it registered in the name of a woman since he will save at least Rs 1 lakh on account of stamp duty. So, we are witnessing a major shift in the pattern of property ownership with women becoming landlords,'' said a senior official.
  
Estimates suggest over 60% of properties sold recently have been bought in the name of women. So far as the reduction in stamp duty is concerned, the Haryana cabinet had approved the draft of the Indian Stamp (Haryana Amendment) Ordinance, 2008, and the rates of stamp duty on conveyance deeds and sale deeds were reduced to discourage alienation of property on general power of attorney and to raise more revenue from stamp duty.
  
The Government of India has launched three schemes for improvement of infrastructure in urban areas and the Centre is providing substantial assistance to the state for this purpose. One of the conditions for providing this assistance is to reduce stamp duty to 5%. The Haryana finance minister had also made this announcement in his budget presentation early this year. A senior official of the revenue department said the move is also aimed at pushing the sale of properties. ''This is also an encouragement for the buyers since due to the reduction in the stamp duty, they are going to save more, he added.
  
Property dealers said since there has been a slowdown in the real estate market, the government might have taken this decision to push property transactions. Areas in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonepat and Panipat have witnessed increased business in this sector. ''This is a positive development. But in Gurgaon, with the new municipal duty of 2%, while the state government gets only 5% of the stamp duty, buyers pay 7%. So, how much this will help government achieve its goal here remains to be seen,'' said G L Sharma, a property consultant.  
District officials said earlier buyers had to pay 2% extra stamp duty in case of properties falling under the erstwhile Gurgaon Municipal Council. ''Now the additional 2% is being charged on all transactions for properties in the entire urban conglomeration, including the colonies developed by private developers and villages which have been included in the corporation,'' said a senior official.
 

 

 

 

Courtesy: - TOI dated: - 19^th June 2008                         
 

 

India's largest property firm DLF is planning to launch villas in Gurgaon for Rs 1-1.5 crore, reports Sanjeev Choudhary. The company feels villas will score over apartments in offering a value proposition to home buyers in a market hit by slowdown. At a time, when Rs 1-crore apartments have become a commonplace in metros and their suburbs, providing a villa for a similar price will enthuse all potential home buyers, says a DLF executive. The company plans to launch its latest offering in a month. The total number of villas on offer is not clear yet, but the company executive said it could be over 500.
 
                                                                                     Courtesy: - ET dated: - 18^th June 2008

Making it easier for urban cooperative banks to extend housing loans, Reserve Bank has relaxed the risk provisioning norm for purchase of residential properties up to Rs 30 lakh. The central bank issued notification on Monday in pursuance of the annual credit policy announcement made by Reserve Bank governor Y V Reddy on April 29. Earlier on May 15, the central bank had relaxed the risk provisioning norms for housing advances by the commercial banks. "It has been decided to enhance the limit of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh in respect of bank loans for housing in terms of applicability of risk weights for capital adequacy purposes. Accordingly, such loans will carry a risk weight of 50%," Mr Reddy had said. 

Courtesy: - ET dated: - 18^th June 2008         

Instant karma has emerged as the driving force behind the state's multimillion-dollar realty industry, with religious tourism turning the twin towns of Haridwar-Rishikesh into hot spots for developers, industry trackers say. With the two holy cities located some 200 kilometres from the national capital, Haridwar and Rishikesh are fast becoming a favourite with residents of Delhi and its adjoining areas looking for a bit of quick spiritualism. Subsequently, these places have become almost an extension of Delhi-Gurgaon for spending the weekend.
 

 Courtesy: ET dtd. 20/06/08

  
The recent bloodbath in the real estate sector has started taking a toll. Almost all large developers are facing a severe cash crunch and finding it difficult to complete their ongoing projects. The situation is so bad that most of them have reported a 50-70% cash shortfall. Liquidity crunch has forced many developers to pick up cash from the unorganized market at interest rates as high as 35% to 50% annually. The lending rate of banks is between 18% and 20%. The grade A developers which are facing crash crunch include DLF, MGF Emaar, Shobha Developers, Unitech, Omaxe, Parsvnath Developers, Hiranandani Group, Ansal API, BPTP Developers and TDI Group.
 

 

            

             Courtesy: ET dtd. 20/06/08
                    

The realty sector is projected to grow at the rate of 30 per cent annually over the next decade, attracting foreign investments worth USD 30 billion, with a number of IT parks and residential townships being constructed across-India, industry body Assocham said. Currently, the domestic real estate market is expected to be worth 15 billion dollar in which the FDI is estimated to about 6 billion dollar, it said.

 

                                                          

                         Courtesy: ET dtd. 20/06/08