Friday, December 29, 2006

Ahmedabad property Prices to Rise in 2007

Property prices in Ahmedabad are all set to rise in 2007 with an inflow of more than $3 Billion into Ahmedabad Real Estate.

Ahmedabad has witnessed some major infrastructure spending from the state government. The Ahmedbad Urban Development Authority has spent Rs 2,000 crores on city development. Another Rs 3,200 crores will be spent in developing the city, funded by National Urban Renewal Mission.

Land Shark, DLF which looted small investors is building a supermall in GandhiNagar near Ahmedabad. DLF is also looking for lands on the banks of river Sabarmati. 2000 more hotel rooms will eb added in the city in 2007.

The Vibrant Gujarat conference has also attracted some big IT / ITeS investments into Ahmedabad. Our survey shows that land prices on CG Road have shot up from Rs 35,000 / square yeard to Rs 50,000 per square yard in a year. Also non-resident Gujarathis are building their second home in Ahmedabad.

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Thursday, December 28, 2006

Shapoorji - Shukhobristi housing and IT SEZ in Bengal

Close on the heels when Tata Motors Ltd is involved in a Land Grabbing scam for their SEZ in Singur, another Tata group associate Shapoorji has announced the launch of Rs 2,500 crores housing project in West bengal near Kolkatta.
Shapoorji is building a mass housing project [Shukhobristi Housing] on a 150 acre land at Action Area III, New Town. The mass housing project will have 20,000 dwelling units. The cost of development of this project is Rs 1,500 crores and is expected to be completed by 2011.

Shapoorji Pallonji is no philanthropist, and is also grabbing land for a IT / ITeS SEZ project near Rajarhat. The development cost of this SEZ is Rs 1,000 crores. Looks like the communist leaders have sold West Bengal to powerful Parsi community in Mumbai.

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Wednesday, December 27, 2006

SEZs in West Bengal - A Mess

The Special Economy Zone Policy in the communist ruled state of West Bengal is a total mess. Communist Leader and Hypocrite, Sitaram Yechury called the SEZ policy as a land bank scam and was against the eviction of farmers and other small land owners. However, his own partymen have forcefully evicted farmers in the Singur area for Tata Motors SEZ without adequate compensation and no rehabilitation plans for the displaced.

The story doesn't end there, a woman of Singur area was Rap*d and Murd*red a week ago. With leader of opposition Mamta Banerjee on an indefinite hunger strike, the situation is all set to worsen as her health detiorates.

Communist Party of India members are the BIGGEST Hypocrites in India with some speaking against the SEZ policy while other party members are misusing their power by forcibly snatching fertile green lands from poor farmers. Shame on you.

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Integrated Townships near Bangalore

Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority has planned 5 integrated townships around Bangalore / Bengalooru. What are integrated townships ? Places that will let you work-live-play in a smaller area though you are not far from the Cosmopolitan Air of Bangalore.

The five places chosen by BMRDA for integrated townships are,

  • Bidadi
  • Ramnagaram
  • Sathanur
  • Solur
  • Nandagudi
The cost involved in development of these townships is approximately Rs 30, 000 crores[ $7.5 Billion] which will escalate further as the Karnataka State Government has never completed a single project in scheduled time. BMRDA has received 32 applications for development which includes corporates such as Reliance Energy, Gammon India and Shanghai Urban Construction company.

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Saturday, December 23, 2006

Exclusive: Bangalore Real Estate prices Crash

The realty bubble has burst in the IT corridors of Dirty and Polluted Bangalore City. I spoke to several Realtors and they have confirmed that residential prices are on a downward swing in Whitefield and areas of Kormangala. Some good locations have seen corrections upto 33% while overall the correction has been around 25%.

The Whitefield area presently commands Rs 2500 / SFT against Rs 3,000 / SFT couple of months ago. But why the sudden crash ? Whitefield has been an area of high speculation interest. Around 40% of the homes in Whitefield area were booked by speculators even before construction of the projects had begun. These projects are now completed and ready for occupancy and the early bird owners have to pay the remaining cost and get the registration done which has led them to desperately hunt for BUYERS and to their dismay their are no BUYERS which has led to unload panically at whatever cost they can. No doubt even at Rs 2,500 / SFT the early bird bookies have made Rs 500/ SFT but what is the government doing to curb speculation in real estate ?

Some quoted that the shift in IT companies towards peripheral business districts towards Sarjapur has also led to the decline for properties Whitefield and Earthquake Porn Kormanagla area. "The rentals are likely to rise in Peripheral Business Districts due to easier connectivity and rise of IT companies" said Hamilton , Director of DebenHam Tie Leung.

Real Estate activity is brisk near Devanhalli where the new international airport is coming up. Kankapura road is also seeing lot of activity because of the DeveGowda family factor who are heavily invested in that area. However, the central business district of MG Road, Brigade and Mallya Road which had seen modest increase in 2006 are likely to see an exponential rise in 2007 when UB City opens for business.

With Inputs from Business Standard, 22-Dec-2006.

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Mukesh Ambani SEZ skyrockets Jamnagar Real Estate

Mukesh Ambani's dream to build a petroleum refining SEZ at Jamnagar has led to the skyrocketting of Real Estate prices in Jamnagar.

Reliance Retail
is also building a shopping malls with multiplex. Pantaloon Retail India, Niho Constructions and Crystal have lined up their shopping mall projects. Reliance is also building a highway supermall just opposite to the existing refinery complex.

Despite Gujarat earthquake, Jamnagar has witnessed constructon of high rise buildings. Reliance has also built a township for its employees 'Reliance Green'. However, other who cannot be accomodated in Reliance Green have to shed out higher rentals. Rentals in Jamnagar are comparable to South Bangalore. A 2 BHK flat costs somewhere between Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 / month while a 3 BHK apartment rents out between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000.

DLF, Parsvnath and Rahejas are on lookout for land to establish their townships but have had little luck till now with Mukesh Ambani's group buying ever piece of land on sale.

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Friday, December 22, 2006

Ansal Properties $4 Billion Greater Noida Township

Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd will build a $4.5 Billion township in Greater Noida to take advantage of the economic growth.

The township will be built on an area of 2500 acres. The township will house more than 30,000 people and have 18 hole golf course, hotels, shopping mall, service apartment and a convention center.

The company in October raised $10 Million from HDFC Ventures and another $30 Million from Citigroup. Earlier this month the company raised another $150 Million by means of qualified institutional placement.

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Sunday, December 17, 2006

Bangalore 3rd largest office real estate space in the world

I was wondering where the IT/ITeS and BPO companies were expanding their operations in Bangalore / Bengalooru and here are our findings.

Most office space additions in 2006 has happened in Outer Ring Road, Sarjapura, Hosur Road, Bellary Road and Electronics City. Together this forms the Bangalore Peripheral Business District. In the Downtown / Primary business district Vijay Mallya's contributions are the highest.

In 2005, Bangalore / Bengalooru witnessed absorption of 9.5 million sft of commercial and office real estate, only behind Tokyo [12.33 Million sft] and London [ 9.96 Million sft] beating all the American cities. Bangalore's commercial real estate is the fastest growing space in the world.

In the first three quarters additional 9 Million sft of office space was absorbed in Bangalore / Bengalooru and is all set to be the leader global leader by the end of 2006.

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Saturday, December 16, 2006

Chennai Real Estate Prices Update

The southern Metro of India Chennai has been witnessing huge MNC inflows lately, Thanks to IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

We went to Chennai the Real Estate scenario and here are our findings.
  • In Shollinganallur the rates are between rs 5.75 to Rs 6.25 crores / hectare.
  • Since 2004, price of land in industrial estates of Guindy and Ambattur have escalated between 50% - 60%
  • Current land prices in Guindy are in the range Rs 18,000 - Rs 22,500 / sq mt
  • Current Land prices in Ambattur are between Rs 3,700 - Rs 4,500 / sq mt
  • We found that the old part of GeorgeTown is now transforming into Commercial Hub
  • Old Mahabalipuram Road has attracted most of the Real Estate activity after being inducted in the IT corridor 3 years ago.
  • The main factors contributing to the growth of Real Estate is the presence of IT/ITeS/BPO services and Chennai has doubled the value of software exports in last 3 years.
Residential Real Estate Update in Chennai:
  • Prices of Premium properties have zoomed over 200-300% in central and south chennai over the past 12-18 months [It's ridiculous]
  • Apartments on Kasturi Ranga Road in upmarket Alwarpet were sold at Rs 12,000 / sft
  • High end flats in upmarket area od Rutland Gate, Nungambakkam were sold at Rs 4.25 crores.
  • Average residential flats in RA Puram are fetching Rs 8,000 / sft which was quoted at Rs 2,500 just 18 months ago.
  • Prices on Harrington Road have shot up from Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 sft from Rs 3,000 / sft a year ago
  • Prices in Pycrofts Garden Road are hovering around Rs 7,000 / sft
  • Poes Garden, high end residential apartments are now quoted at Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 / sft
We feel the prices are insane and are abnormally high. IMHO, you should wait for sometime before you enter the mad rush.

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Nitesh Estates raises $55 Million

Bangalore / Bengalooru based Nitesh Estates has raised $ 55 Million by diluting 25% stake in the company. Och-Ziff, UK based hedge fund manager is the investor.

Nitesh Estate is promoted by Nitesh Shetty and is developing several projects including a 5 star hotel in Bangalore at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crores. The developer is also building a SEZ in Mangalore and several residential projects.

Earlier, JP Morgan invested $60 million in Lodha Bellissimo in Mumbai.

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Thursday, December 14, 2006

Bangalore SEZ & Real Estate Update

Bangalore - Garden City to most Polluted and Dirty city in India has attracted a textile SEZ and four large housing projects from Prestige Constructions.

Bangalore based Gokaldas Exports Ltd is setting up an apparels SEZ near Kanakapura 44 kms from Bangalore. Gokaldas has acquired 400 acres of land for the same. Kanakpura is DeveGowda family constituency and the family owns large chunks of land between Bangalore and Kanakapura. CNBC TV 18 had also reported that most of the real estate development in Bangalore is now taking place on Kanakapura road, mainly because of the DeveGowda factor.

Prestige Group has lined up four mega projects in Sarjapura and Whitefield areas. Presitge Ozone is located in Whitefield and will be spread on 46 acres of land constructing 290 villas. Prestige Palms is another housing project located in Whitfield. Prestige Tech Park is a commercial IT park spread on 16 acre plot and will house JP Morgan, Nokia, Airtel and others will be built on Sarjapura Road. Prestige Featherlite will be located in Whitefield and will house BPO companies.

Thanks Prestige and Gokaldas for helping get Bangalore more dirty and polluted.

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India Real Estate Sector Update.

The Insane and abnormal Real Estate boom in India is expected to last for a decade said Kamlesh Chanda Chakrbarty, CMD, Indian Bank.

Those who enter real estate with their own money will never lose the money inspite of changing business cycles. [Buy High and Hold when the market crashes, example folks who bought property in Bangalore in 1996 could sell in profits only in 2005]

The Indian real estate sector is currently valued at $12 Billion and growing at a rate of 30%.

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Friday, December 08, 2006

JP Morgan Invests $60 Million in Lodha Bellissimo

J P Morgan and other foreign funds are chasing the Indian real estate space as if their is no tomorrow.

Lodha Builders, Mumbai based realty company has just informed us that J P Morgan will invest $60 Million [Rs 275 crores] in their upcoming project on erstwhile Apollo Mills Land in Mahalakshmi.

Lodha Bellissimo is a premium residential complex coming up in Mahalkshmi. J P Morgan said,
"We have invested significant time and effort in understanding the local market and market players and have found Lodha's worthy of investment".

Yesterday, Uday Kotak, CMD of Kotak Mahindra Bank has said that Real Estate Prices in Mumbai made no sense to him and is looking for a revolution in real estate market where the middle class could easily afford to BUY.

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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

RBI cut backs lending to Realty and Retail in India

Atlast the banks have taken the cue from RBI's credit policy and have slowed down their lending to Real Estate and Retail sectors. The banks have been advised to rebalance their folio such that their lending to small and medium enterprises and farm sector takes off.

Sucheta Dalal has warned that the realty bubble can spoil the growing economy of India. Sucheta warns that FIIs are illegally investing heavy sums of money into NBFCs and companies registered in Mauritius that have significant interest in the Indian Real Estate sector.

We have been telling from day one that India needs manufacturing base to grow and not unrealistic Real Estate or Lands Sharks to build SEZs . The Economic Times has an article which says what we have said 6 months ago and they further add that 70% of Chinese exports are by Small and Medium sized enterprises. However, in India, the small and medium enterprises have no scope from the Government as the commerce ministry is busy clearing SEZ proposals of Land Sharks instead of focusing on developing industries that can export.

Commerce ministry is not copying the Chinese model in its entirety but just the SEZs fined tuned to suit Rich Indians which can be dangerous to the Indian economy.

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Supreme Court notice on Reliance SEZ Land Acquistion

Earlier we had reported about Reliance SEZ being dragged to Haryana High Court. The Supreme Court of India today issued notices to the centarl government seeking an explanation as to why fertile agricultural lands were acquired on behalf of industrialists for SEZs without proper compensation to farmers.

Kuldeep Bishnoi in a public interest litigation has urged the court to quash all the acquisitions that had already taken place and direct that the land be returned to the respective farmers. Bishnoi has also sought to declare the SEZ act as unconstitutional.

SEZ Act in India is the largest land bank scam and should be scrapped with immediate effect. Every big industrial house including the house of Tatas are involved in SEZ controversy.

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Monday, December 04, 2006

Tata Motors Singur SEZ in Big Problem

Tata Motors Ltd, Singur SEZ which will build Ratan Tata's small car priced at Rs 100,000 is in big trouble. Looks like the state government is going an extra mile to protect Tatas.

State Chief Minister, Budadeb Bhatacharya forcibly acquired land. Yes, farmeres are given the checks and pushd out of their lands using Police force. [The constitution of India, lists that the State Police should protect the fundamental rights of Indian, but they are doing the opposite] Leader of Opposition, Mamta Banerjee tried to meet the farmers when her saree was torn and taken out of the Singur area.

The Congress and BJP two other political parties are now opposing TATA SEZ at Singur and are all set to go on a strike from today.

Enough of this Land Grab, why can't the Tata's go and start it at some remote area ? Why Singur ?

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