Income tax officials on Thursday carried out raids at the offices of two leading builders in Chennai at 25 locations, in and outside Tamil Nadu. They said they detected tax evasion to the tune of Rs 22 crore. Special teams raided the office and residential premises of Jain Builders and VGN Homes and seized several documents and Rs 1.5 crore of unaccounted cash, officials said. “We have got evidence of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 22 crore by these two groups,” a senior income tax official said.
The raids were carried out in the residential and business premises of these two groups in Chennai, Coimbatore, Vellore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, Ajmer and Pali in Rajasthan. More than 200 officials were deployed in the search, seizure and survey operations. Sources said the income tax investigation department received information of alleged tax evation and it carried out the raids till late in the evening. Several bank lockers of the two companies were sealed. A detailed examination of the lockers will be carried out in the coming days.
Officials said several undisclosed payments and receipts for purchase of lands, buildings and flats were found in the office premises of the real estate promoters. Officials have also seized jewellery and other assets. Officials said that the actual size of tax evasion and unaccounted transaction could be evaluated only after scrutiny of the seized documents.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/chennai/i-t-raids-offices-of-chennai%e2%80%99s-leading-builders.html
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
New Delhi Retail Rentals continue to decline
Country’s capital New Delhi continued to witness a decline in retail rentals of 25 per cent and ranked 69th in rentals among the list of major cities across the world during the first quarter of 2009, according to global real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis.
Prime retail rentals continued with their downward trajectory worldwide during the period which saw New York maintaining the top slot among cities with high rentals despite a 10 per cent annul decline. New Delhi ranks 69th globally with an average rental of $109 per sq ft each month.
“Demand for retail space has declined in most markets across the world as consumers cut back on spending and unemployment continues to rise in many countries. New Delhi in India saw a 25 per cent decline in a six month period,” CBRE said in its report ‘Global Retail Rents Market View Q1′.
The report said since the end of last year, most major economies barring India and China, have seen significant economic decline. “Rentals in Delhi NCR have corrected further when compared to the beginning of 2008. Retailers feel that rentals have corrected to sustainable levels and are using this period judiciously to take up positions on favourable terms,” CB Richard Ellis Chairman and MD Anshuman Magazine said.
Magaine said rentals are being renegotiated to make retail operations financially viable. “Another trend witnessed during this time is that of developers adopting a renewed stance towards revenue share agreements, as opposed to earlier, when the demand situation was more favourable,” he added.
Among other Asian cities to figure in the list are Hong Kong (ranked number 2 globally), Tokyo (5), Guangzhou (14), Singapore (18), Shanghai (29) and Beijing (35). Globally, New York retained its top slot among the most expensive retail destinations.
“Despite a 10 per cent year-on-year rental decline, New York remains the world’s most expensive retail destination, with rental values totaling USD 1,800 sq ft per annum,” the report said. Buenos Aires (Argentina) saw the largest annual decline in retail rents year-on-year with a drop of 37 per cent, followed by Warsaw (Poland) with a 33 per cent decline and Washington DC with a 26 per cent decline.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/new-delhi-retail-rentals-continue-to-decline.html
Prime retail rentals continued with their downward trajectory worldwide during the period which saw New York maintaining the top slot among cities with high rentals despite a 10 per cent annul decline. New Delhi ranks 69th globally with an average rental of $109 per sq ft each month.
“Demand for retail space has declined in most markets across the world as consumers cut back on spending and unemployment continues to rise in many countries. New Delhi in India saw a 25 per cent decline in a six month period,” CBRE said in its report ‘Global Retail Rents Market View Q1′.
The report said since the end of last year, most major economies barring India and China, have seen significant economic decline. “Rentals in Delhi NCR have corrected further when compared to the beginning of 2008. Retailers feel that rentals have corrected to sustainable levels and are using this period judiciously to take up positions on favourable terms,” CB Richard Ellis Chairman and MD Anshuman Magazine said.
Magaine said rentals are being renegotiated to make retail operations financially viable. “Another trend witnessed during this time is that of developers adopting a renewed stance towards revenue share agreements, as opposed to earlier, when the demand situation was more favourable,” he added.
Among other Asian cities to figure in the list are Hong Kong (ranked number 2 globally), Tokyo (5), Guangzhou (14), Singapore (18), Shanghai (29) and Beijing (35). Globally, New York retained its top slot among the most expensive retail destinations.
“Despite a 10 per cent year-on-year rental decline, New York remains the world’s most expensive retail destination, with rental values totaling USD 1,800 sq ft per annum,” the report said. Buenos Aires (Argentina) saw the largest annual decline in retail rents year-on-year with a drop of 37 per cent, followed by Warsaw (Poland) with a 33 per cent decline and Washington DC with a 26 per cent decline.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/new-delhi-retail-rentals-continue-to-decline.html
Real Estate and Infrastructure PE funds worthwhile
With risk appetite of high net worth customers increasing, wealth managers are recommending private equity investment of 5-10 per cent of one’s portfolio with special focus on real estate and infrastructure sectors. The ticket size of such investment varies between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.25 lakh, depending on customer’s risk profile.
Managers expect to generate returns of 18-25 per cent CAGR on such investments. HNIs earlier refused to take wealth managers’ call to invest in PE funds. The current market rally supported by better than expected Q1 results and positive global cues has now prompted HNIs to take higher risk and take to PE investments.
“Discerning customers who foresee stability in global economy coming are currently looking at India and China. They expect both the countries to participate in the recovery first. If this is a year of consolidation, there is also a little bit of optimism that results in higher risk appetite,” mentioned Vikas Agnihotri, CEO, Religare Macquarie Private Wealth.
“Supported by improved sentiment on the back of equity market rally, interest in PE is picking up. What work in favour of PE deals are the cheaper valuations available as compared to 2008,” said Shiv Gupta, head of Private Banking, ABN AMRO India.
Wealth managers are identifying real estate and infrastructure PE funds worthwhile for investment in addition to education and healthcare that are considered to be recession proof. They are however recommending such funds only to moderately aggressive investors to very aggressive investors with a lock-in period of 3-7 years. Two major criteria before such recommendations are higher risk appetite and liquidity of a ‘matured’ investor who according to the yardsticks set by wealth advisories has to have total assets of around Rs. 2.5 crore to Rs 5 crore.
Underscoring the demand potential of real estate sector Rajesh Saluja, CEO, ASK Wealth Advisors, said, “counter cyclical opportunities are available in this sector. There is a requirement of 27 billon housing in India and whereas only 3/4 billion are existing. Prices have corrected to reasonable levels. Time is ripe to invest in PE funds in residential housings.”
Price corrections have also helped PE investors to negotiate with the cash strapped developers and the returns are good.
In March, ASK launched a 500 crore real estate fund to supplement its exiting wealth management business. According to industry sources, Religare Macquarie might take exposure in ASK Real Estate Fund. Further, Religare Macquarie itself runs a PE fund on education and healthcare in association with Mileston Capital Advisors.
The wealth management arm of ABN AMRO is currently eying IDFC Infrastructure Fund, sources said. However, ABN’s Gupta refused to comment. Wealth managers from Karvy Private Wealth, wealth management - Axis Bank too are advocating for PE investment in infrastructure and growth focused PE funds.
Hrishikesh Parandekar, CEO, Karvy Private Wealth, said: “We are looking at largely domestic funds on infrastructure sector and growth focused PE funds. We are in touch with investment bankers to track good PE investment opportunities.”
“HNIs who were averse to taking any risk through PE investment, are now willing to listen to our recommendations,” said Sonu Bhasin, President – Retail Financing Services, who also heads wealth management.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/real-estate-and-infrastructure-pe-funds-worthwhile.html
Managers expect to generate returns of 18-25 per cent CAGR on such investments. HNIs earlier refused to take wealth managers’ call to invest in PE funds. The current market rally supported by better than expected Q1 results and positive global cues has now prompted HNIs to take higher risk and take to PE investments.
“Discerning customers who foresee stability in global economy coming are currently looking at India and China. They expect both the countries to participate in the recovery first. If this is a year of consolidation, there is also a little bit of optimism that results in higher risk appetite,” mentioned Vikas Agnihotri, CEO, Religare Macquarie Private Wealth.
“Supported by improved sentiment on the back of equity market rally, interest in PE is picking up. What work in favour of PE deals are the cheaper valuations available as compared to 2008,” said Shiv Gupta, head of Private Banking, ABN AMRO India.
Wealth managers are identifying real estate and infrastructure PE funds worthwhile for investment in addition to education and healthcare that are considered to be recession proof. They are however recommending such funds only to moderately aggressive investors to very aggressive investors with a lock-in period of 3-7 years. Two major criteria before such recommendations are higher risk appetite and liquidity of a ‘matured’ investor who according to the yardsticks set by wealth advisories has to have total assets of around Rs. 2.5 crore to Rs 5 crore.
Underscoring the demand potential of real estate sector Rajesh Saluja, CEO, ASK Wealth Advisors, said, “counter cyclical opportunities are available in this sector. There is a requirement of 27 billon housing in India and whereas only 3/4 billion are existing. Prices have corrected to reasonable levels. Time is ripe to invest in PE funds in residential housings.”
Price corrections have also helped PE investors to negotiate with the cash strapped developers and the returns are good.
In March, ASK launched a 500 crore real estate fund to supplement its exiting wealth management business. According to industry sources, Religare Macquarie might take exposure in ASK Real Estate Fund. Further, Religare Macquarie itself runs a PE fund on education and healthcare in association with Mileston Capital Advisors.
The wealth management arm of ABN AMRO is currently eying IDFC Infrastructure Fund, sources said. However, ABN’s Gupta refused to comment. Wealth managers from Karvy Private Wealth, wealth management - Axis Bank too are advocating for PE investment in infrastructure and growth focused PE funds.
Hrishikesh Parandekar, CEO, Karvy Private Wealth, said: “We are looking at largely domestic funds on infrastructure sector and growth focused PE funds. We are in touch with investment bankers to track good PE investment opportunities.”
“HNIs who were averse to taking any risk through PE investment, are now willing to listen to our recommendations,” said Sonu Bhasin, President – Retail Financing Services, who also heads wealth management.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/real-estate-and-infrastructure-pe-funds-worthwhile.html
Govt should appoint real estate regulator
Industry body Assocham today said the government should appoint a real estate regulator to help expedite the redressal of consumer grievances. ” There is a need for an efficient and focused regulatory body to overlook functioning of the real estate sector in order to insure the industry development and safeguard of consumer interests in line with international benchmark,”the chamber said.
The real estate regulator would ensure that the consumer grievances against developers, development authorities, real estate agents and financial institutions are addressed without any delay, it said.
The chamber further said that opening of an escrow account for real estate players should be made mandatory to ensure transparency in real estate transactions.
The real estate industry maintains an escrow account for development of a project, purchase of real estate units and honouring property charges.
” This facility needs to be encouraged by asking project developers to open an escrow account.,”it said, adding that such accounts are also maintained for honouring property charges, insurance liabilities and maintenance charges on regular basis.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/govt-should-appoint-real-estate-regulator.html
The real estate regulator would ensure that the consumer grievances against developers, development authorities, real estate agents and financial institutions are addressed without any delay, it said.
The chamber further said that opening of an escrow account for real estate players should be made mandatory to ensure transparency in real estate transactions.
The real estate industry maintains an escrow account for development of a project, purchase of real estate units and honouring property charges.
” This facility needs to be encouraged by asking project developers to open an escrow account.,”it said, adding that such accounts are also maintained for honouring property charges, insurance liabilities and maintenance charges on regular basis.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/govt-should-appoint-real-estate-regulator.html
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Realty Firm Anant Raj Industries to invest Rs 450 cr
Taking advantage of the fall in property prices, real estate firm Anant Raj Industries plans to invest Rs 450 crore to acquire a land bank, which it would use for developing low-cost housing in north India. The Delhi-based firm has Rs 750 crore as cash-in-hand, out of which, it has earmarked Rs 450 crore for land acquisition while the rest would be utilised to complete existing projects.
“We feel this is the right time to look at low-cost housing and the most important element of low-cost housing is land which is now available at an attractive rate,” the company Director and CEO Amit Sarin told PTI. Sarin noted that land prices have gone down by up to 70 per cent in north India. In prime areas of Delhi and Gurgaon, land prices have declined by 30-40 per cent.
The company is in talks with many small builders to buy distressed assets that are available in plenty at present due to a slowdown in the property market, he said. At present, Anant Raj has a land bank of nearly 1,000 acres, mostly in the NCR region.
Sarin said the company is looking at expansion as it has almost zero debt and a cash balance of Rs 750 crore. He said the land acquisition cost would be key for the success of low-cost housing projects.
To combat the slowdown in the property market the real estate developers are launching affordable housing projects. The government is also providing incentives for such projects in the form of lower interest rates.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/realty-firm-anant-raj-industries-to-invest-rs-450-cr.html
“We feel this is the right time to look at low-cost housing and the most important element of low-cost housing is land which is now available at an attractive rate,” the company Director and CEO Amit Sarin told PTI. Sarin noted that land prices have gone down by up to 70 per cent in north India. In prime areas of Delhi and Gurgaon, land prices have declined by 30-40 per cent.
The company is in talks with many small builders to buy distressed assets that are available in plenty at present due to a slowdown in the property market, he said. At present, Anant Raj has a land bank of nearly 1,000 acres, mostly in the NCR region.
Sarin said the company is looking at expansion as it has almost zero debt and a cash balance of Rs 750 crore. He said the land acquisition cost would be key for the success of low-cost housing projects.
To combat the slowdown in the property market the real estate developers are launching affordable housing projects. The government is also providing incentives for such projects in the form of lower interest rates.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/realty-firm-anant-raj-industries-to-invest-rs-450-cr.html
Indian banks hiked exposure to realty
Despite the global financial meltdown owing to overexposure to the housing sector, Indian banks were quite bullish in their investments to the real estate. The total outstanding credit to the real estate sector by Indian banks, both government-owned and private, at the end of March 2009 was Rs 91,500 crore as against Rs 63,000 crore till March 2008. This was not only an increase of 45% over the previous year but was more than double the amount of Rs 44,000 crore exposure of these banks during the boom period of 2007.
The major portion of this huge lending came from government-owned banks. This despite the fact that RBI had prescribed regulatory limits on banks’ exposure to individual and group borrowers as a preventive measure given the sub-prime crisis in the western world. As if it was out to reap the best out of the crisis, Punjab National Bank (PNB) lent more than Rs 11,000 crore from June 2008 to May 2009, registering an increase of at least 389% over the previous year when its total outstanding credit to real estate sector was merely Rs 2,255 crore.
PNB was closely followed by the State Bank of India which extended credit of Rs 10,467 crore till May 2009 as against its Rs 6,062 crore outstanding till May 2008, an increase of 73%, according to finance ministry data.
ICICI Bank was the third in the list of top 10 banks as per their exposure having lent a little more than Rs 4,900 crore till May this year. It, however, registered a negative growth of 14% as in the previous year its total lending to this sector exceeded Rs 5,700 crore. Other banks that figured in the list of top 10 were: Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Axis Bank, Bank of India, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India and Union Bank of India.
HDFC Bank seemed quite cautious in taking risk, especially during the downturn period. The bank’s total lending till May 2009 was Rs 757 crore as against Rs 250 crore till May 2008.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/indian-banks-hiked-exposure-to-realty.html
The major portion of this huge lending came from government-owned banks. This despite the fact that RBI had prescribed regulatory limits on banks’ exposure to individual and group borrowers as a preventive measure given the sub-prime crisis in the western world. As if it was out to reap the best out of the crisis, Punjab National Bank (PNB) lent more than Rs 11,000 crore from June 2008 to May 2009, registering an increase of at least 389% over the previous year when its total outstanding credit to real estate sector was merely Rs 2,255 crore.
PNB was closely followed by the State Bank of India which extended credit of Rs 10,467 crore till May 2009 as against its Rs 6,062 crore outstanding till May 2008, an increase of 73%, according to finance ministry data.
ICICI Bank was the third in the list of top 10 banks as per their exposure having lent a little more than Rs 4,900 crore till May this year. It, however, registered a negative growth of 14% as in the previous year its total lending to this sector exceeded Rs 5,700 crore. Other banks that figured in the list of top 10 were: Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Axis Bank, Bank of India, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India and Union Bank of India.
HDFC Bank seemed quite cautious in taking risk, especially during the downturn period. The bank’s total lending till May 2009 was Rs 757 crore as against Rs 250 crore till May 2008.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/indian-banks-hiked-exposure-to-realty.html
Monday, August 3, 2009
Real estate Market, people start buying once again
The booming real estate market that received a jolt during the slowdown last October-November seems to be recovering. People are slowly purchasing, but only for personal use. Not for investment purposes.
“In the last few months the real estate market has undergone major changes. The slowdown that migrated from the US has got corrected in India now. The prices have got corrected. And whatever pent up demand was there in the market has started getting converted into business,” Santosh Rungta, president Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Associations of India (CREDAI), said.
With 4,000 members, CREDAI is the apex body of the organised real estate developers and builders across India, representing pan-India associations of real estate and housing developers. People were virtually not buying during the slowdown as the real estate price was high and insecurity gripped buyers.
“The government made an appeal to us that the prices should be brought down and we (CREDAI) made an appeal to our fellow developers that they should try and bring down prices, and they acted accordingly,” Rungta said. The pan-India price reduction was to the tune of 15-35 per cent depending on various categories and geographies, he said.
“Today flats are being sold, but the pace could be better. Generally things have reversed. In Mumbai also, rightly priced projects have been sold. The major contributor to this is the government policy to generate demand. It brought in stimulus packages, ensured availability of liquidity to the home buyers, interest rates softened,” he said. Another real estate player Indrajit De, chairman of Eden, also said housing loan lending rates cut may attract a few more buyers into the market.
“If the lending rate falls further by 50 basis points, the sales figure will climb up,” he said, adding, “Certainly the market is looking up now. Sales have also improved. “We are selling around 25-30 units (flats) per month. But it was much higher in the range of 55-60 units per month before the recession actually hit India.”
Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty Group, told IANS: “Sales have picked up in the last two-three months. There is more offtake now than what it was six months back. But now the buyers are genuine users and not just investors. These are the people who really need housing. They are lot more quality conscious and they look for the right products.”
He said there was a drop of 10-15 per cent in the price during the recession period. In the last two-three months the company has sold around 200 flats, he said. Reacting to the recent announcement by union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on interest subsidy on new home loans and extension of deadline in tax holidays on projects approved by March 2008 if they are completed by March 2012, Rungta said: “One must understand that extending the tax holiday under 80 I B (10) for a mere one year to projects approved by March 2008 will fail to create a significant positive impact on the real estate market. It will only benefit a few micro markets with a handful of projects.”
CREDAI has suggested the centre consider extending the dateline to March 2012 for providing tax holidays to projects irrespective of the date of approval. “This will be of greater benefit to the sector and encourage developers to take up new projects and expedite ongoing projects as well.” Rungta further said: “Even the proposed interest subsidy of one per cent to home loan borrowers for loan taken for houses costing up to Rs 20 lakh is also not justified.”
CREDAI has proposed that the centre increase the subsidy to home loan interest rates by another one per cent to two per cent and extend the scheme for houses costing upto Rs 30 lakh from the currently proposed valuation of Rs 20 lakh.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/real-estate-market-people-start-buying-once-again.html
“In the last few months the real estate market has undergone major changes. The slowdown that migrated from the US has got corrected in India now. The prices have got corrected. And whatever pent up demand was there in the market has started getting converted into business,” Santosh Rungta, president Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Associations of India (CREDAI), said.
With 4,000 members, CREDAI is the apex body of the organised real estate developers and builders across India, representing pan-India associations of real estate and housing developers. People were virtually not buying during the slowdown as the real estate price was high and insecurity gripped buyers.
“The government made an appeal to us that the prices should be brought down and we (CREDAI) made an appeal to our fellow developers that they should try and bring down prices, and they acted accordingly,” Rungta said. The pan-India price reduction was to the tune of 15-35 per cent depending on various categories and geographies, he said.
“Today flats are being sold, but the pace could be better. Generally things have reversed. In Mumbai also, rightly priced projects have been sold. The major contributor to this is the government policy to generate demand. It brought in stimulus packages, ensured availability of liquidity to the home buyers, interest rates softened,” he said. Another real estate player Indrajit De, chairman of Eden, also said housing loan lending rates cut may attract a few more buyers into the market.
“If the lending rate falls further by 50 basis points, the sales figure will climb up,” he said, adding, “Certainly the market is looking up now. Sales have also improved. “We are selling around 25-30 units (flats) per month. But it was much higher in the range of 55-60 units per month before the recession actually hit India.”
Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty Group, told IANS: “Sales have picked up in the last two-three months. There is more offtake now than what it was six months back. But now the buyers are genuine users and not just investors. These are the people who really need housing. They are lot more quality conscious and they look for the right products.”
He said there was a drop of 10-15 per cent in the price during the recession period. In the last two-three months the company has sold around 200 flats, he said. Reacting to the recent announcement by union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on interest subsidy on new home loans and extension of deadline in tax holidays on projects approved by March 2008 if they are completed by March 2012, Rungta said: “One must understand that extending the tax holiday under 80 I B (10) for a mere one year to projects approved by March 2008 will fail to create a significant positive impact on the real estate market. It will only benefit a few micro markets with a handful of projects.”
CREDAI has suggested the centre consider extending the dateline to March 2012 for providing tax holidays to projects irrespective of the date of approval. “This will be of greater benefit to the sector and encourage developers to take up new projects and expedite ongoing projects as well.” Rungta further said: “Even the proposed interest subsidy of one per cent to home loan borrowers for loan taken for houses costing up to Rs 20 lakh is also not justified.”
CREDAI has proposed that the centre increase the subsidy to home loan interest rates by another one per cent to two per cent and extend the scheme for houses costing upto Rs 30 lakh from the currently proposed valuation of Rs 20 lakh.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/real-estate-market-people-start-buying-once-again.html
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Lower Interest Rates cheers Gurgaon real estate market
Encouraged by price correction and lowering of interest rates, the real estate market, after a period of relative inactivity lasting the first few months of the year, witnessed improved levels of activity on the part of retail investors in the residential sector, especially in the low to mid-end housing segment, said experts as well as market analysis reports of the second quarter in 2009.
CBRE Market View, India Office , published for the second quarter, said: “Level of enquiries went up and, more significantly, transaction velocity also increased marginally as compared to Q1 (first quarter) of 2009… However with most of the activity confined to smaller format offices, vacancy levels remain high. Most developers deferred plans for launching any new projects, the focus being on deploying the scarce resources on completing projects in hand.”
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/lower-interest-rates-cheers-gurgaon-real-estate-market.html
CBRE Market View, India Office , published for the second quarter, said: “Level of enquiries went up and, more significantly, transaction velocity also increased marginally as compared to Q1 (first quarter) of 2009… However with most of the activity confined to smaller format offices, vacancy levels remain high. Most developers deferred plans for launching any new projects, the focus being on deploying the scarce resources on completing projects in hand.”
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/lower-interest-rates-cheers-gurgaon-real-estate-market.html
Western Names New trend in Residential properties
What’s in a name, you may ask. Lots, if you believe the nation’s property developers and go by the latest trend in the real estate industry as well. Gone are the days when residential properties in India used to have names in Hindi or other Indian languages, such as Ekta Garden, Dhruva Apartment and Tara Apartment . Now more than 80% apartments and residential towns, basically those built by builders, have western names such as Hamilton Heights, C a s a Essenza, Mayfield Garden and Panache Homes, among others.
So, is this just for the sake of name change or is there more than meets the eye? Industry experts believe this shift is apparently more by design than just for the sake of changing names, primarily to reflect western lifestyle and modernity.
Brotin Banerjee, CEO and MD of Tata Housing Development Company Ltd, thinks along similar lines. According to him, consumer aspirations and psychographics in India have, over the years, undergone a seminal change. With increased consumerism and other cultural changes, India is also changing - from Hindi to Hinglish, from ethnic wear to fusion dressing, from joint families to nuclear ones, from arranged marriages to arranged ‘love’ marriages, to name a few.
“In the real estate sector, this is depicted through western-sounding names and to a large extent in the design and architecture of various residential , commercial and retail spaces. Depending on the type of property, the project name is developed. For premium properties, since the design and master planning is primarily done by international architects , project names also need to reflect and compliment the same,” he says.
Citing an example, Banerjee says, “Our premium residential property in Gurgaon is developed on the theme of ‘art and culture’ and that is the reason for it being named ‘Raisina Residency’ , as it is located on the foothills of Raisina ridges.” Palnitkar agrees. “The names of residential projects today also tend to align with the architecture of the building which are rendered in a more westernized manner, ie, tall apartment blocks with spires, arches, alcoves etc, or low height villas based on Spanish, Venetian, Italian themes,” he says.
This is, however, just the beginning and many new trends are likely to be witnessed in the future. For instance , the concept of branding or brand associations with a name is prevalent in the international real estate market - for instance, ‘Donald Trump Residences’ is a brand associated with luxury housing, which could be franchised by the brand owner to a developer for a franchisee fee.
“A similar trend is imminent in the Indian real estate with celebrity endorsements already catching up in the construction industry. We could even expect a transformation in names associated with the ‘parts’ or ‘blocks’ in a building. Hence, a trend of a block simply identified with an alphabet or numeral ‘A , B, C’ or ‘1, 2, 3′ being replaced with the names of international cities/ towns/flowers is fast catching up,” says Gupta.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/western-names-new-trend-in-residential-properties.html
So, is this just for the sake of name change or is there more than meets the eye? Industry experts believe this shift is apparently more by design than just for the sake of changing names, primarily to reflect western lifestyle and modernity.
Brotin Banerjee, CEO and MD of Tata Housing Development Company Ltd, thinks along similar lines. According to him, consumer aspirations and psychographics in India have, over the years, undergone a seminal change. With increased consumerism and other cultural changes, India is also changing - from Hindi to Hinglish, from ethnic wear to fusion dressing, from joint families to nuclear ones, from arranged marriages to arranged ‘love’ marriages, to name a few.
“In the real estate sector, this is depicted through western-sounding names and to a large extent in the design and architecture of various residential , commercial and retail spaces. Depending on the type of property, the project name is developed. For premium properties, since the design and master planning is primarily done by international architects , project names also need to reflect and compliment the same,” he says.
Citing an example, Banerjee says, “Our premium residential property in Gurgaon is developed on the theme of ‘art and culture’ and that is the reason for it being named ‘Raisina Residency’ , as it is located on the foothills of Raisina ridges.” Palnitkar agrees. “The names of residential projects today also tend to align with the architecture of the building which are rendered in a more westernized manner, ie, tall apartment blocks with spires, arches, alcoves etc, or low height villas based on Spanish, Venetian, Italian themes,” he says.
This is, however, just the beginning and many new trends are likely to be witnessed in the future. For instance , the concept of branding or brand associations with a name is prevalent in the international real estate market - for instance, ‘Donald Trump Residences’ is a brand associated with luxury housing, which could be franchised by the brand owner to a developer for a franchisee fee.
“A similar trend is imminent in the Indian real estate with celebrity endorsements already catching up in the construction industry. We could even expect a transformation in names associated with the ‘parts’ or ‘blocks’ in a building. Hence, a trend of a block simply identified with an alphabet or numeral ‘A , B, C’ or ‘1, 2, 3′ being replaced with the names of international cities/ towns/flowers is fast catching up,” says Gupta.
Ref:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/western-names-new-trend-in-residential-properties.html
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