Bangalore Real Estate

On Tuesday, BBMP commissioner, Siddaiah, reiterated his predecessor Bharat Lal Meena's decision to stop the infrastructure works for the time being.

The BBMP had issued a circular in May this year, halting all new project works. After BBMP corporators staunchly opposed that move, the circular was later withdrawn.

"The BBMP is cash-strapped, it has pending bills worth Rs 1,743 crore. That apart, the BBMP has to take care of debt servicing and administrative servicing," the commissioner said, adding that the BBMP owes Rs 2,533 crore to various financial institutions.

BBMP's chief engineers have been instructed to refrain from implementing fresh projects.

Chief engineers of the eight zones would examine the nature of emergency work required, said Siddaiah.

"We are in talks with private equity players, but the discussions are not very serious now," said M R Jaishankar, chairman and managing director, Brigade Group.

The whole project is currently owned by Brigade Enterprises Ltd (BEL), he said. If the talks fructify, the company would divest 25-50 per cent of the stake in both retail and commercial developments at the project level. "We would be looking at two separate special purpose vehicles (SPVs). We are looking at anywhere between $100-200 million for each SPV," he added.

The company has invested about Rs 1,000 crore on the commercial development, which has obtained the "World Trade Centre" licence and would now be called "World Trade Centre Bangalore".

For the commercial development, the funding was through equity and debt, while for the residential part of the project, it was a mix of equity, debt and advances, he said.

The company's current debt equity ratio stands at 0.65:1.

The company plans to come out with its proposed QIP to raise Rs 750 crore "at an opportune time, since the appetite for real estate players is not really great in the markets now," said Jaishankar.

बेंगलुरु से करीब 11 किलोमीटर दूर 16.3 एकड़ में वैभव प्रोजेक्ट तैयार हो रहा है। उद्यमी जयंती तीर्थ राव और सिटी बैंक के उनके पुराने सहयोगी पीएस जयकुमार की नई कंपनी वैल्यू ऐंड बजट हाउसिंग कॉर्पोरेशन अब सिर्फ साढ़े चार लाख रुपए के मकान बनाएगी। ऐसे 1900 मकान बनाए जाएंगे। बाद में यह परियोजना अन्य शहरों में भी लागू होगी।

एचडीएफसी इस प्रोजेक्ट के लिए फाइनेंस की व्यवस्था कर रहा है। उसके चेयरमैन दीपक पारेख ने इसकी सराहना करते हुए कहा कि भारत के शहरों को ऐसे प्रोजेक्टस की बड़े पैमाने पर जरुरत है। इसके लिए राज्य सरकारों को भी आगे आने की जरुरत है।

इस प्रोजेक्ट की तरह एक और प्रोजेक्ट वहां तैयार हो रहा है। एक नॉन चैरिटेबल संगठन जन आग्रह यहां 500 मकान बना रहा है। इन मकानों की कीमत 5-5 लाख रुपए या उससे भी कम होगी। इस प्रोजेक्ट को तैयार कर रहे हैं रामनाथन वैभव ने मकानों की कीमत कम रखने के लिए कंक्रीट की बजाय हल्के एल्यूमिनियम बीम का इस्तेमाल किया है। इसके फ्लैट तीन साइज के होंगे। इनमें स्टूडियो, वन बेडरुम और दो बेडरुम हॉल भी होंगे। कंपनी दो से तीन साल तक इन्हीं कीमतों पर मकान बनाएगी। उसका इरादा कीमतों को और कम करने का है।

The horseshoe-shaped site is spread across the properties of the now defunct TR Mills Pvt. Ltd and Chandra Spinning and Weaving Mills Pvt. Ltd, two of the oldest composite textile mills in south Bangalore. The two properties are owned by the same family.

Dotted with sick mill lands, the stories of both south Bangalore and central Mumbai are quite similar, the rapid transformation of their skylines brought about by textile mill lands giving way to giant shopping malls and high-rises.

"We are expecting in excess of `350 crore and are anticipating interest from not only local firms, but (also) from private equity funds and real estate firms from Delhi and Mumbai," said Alexander Moore, managing director, LJ Hooker India, the local arm of the Australian real estate marketing firm that's involved in the sale process. "There is no question that interest is returning for land deals in good locations."

Source: Live Mint Two textile mill plots up for sale in Bangalore for `350-400 crore

However, developers like Sobha, Puravankara and Brigade were able to keep the debt burden under control with signs of stability in their balance sheet in the near future.

"The results posted by the Bangalore-based real estate companies were decent this quarter despite a fall on a sequential basis. This is due to the conscious decision taken by developers to keep the debt component under control," an analyst with Anand Rathi said.

City-based Puravankara Projects posted a net profit of Rs 39.69 crore during the first quarter, a drop of 9 per cent in comparison to the January-March period of FY10.

Similarly, the net profit of Sobha Developers was at Rs 34.3 crore, a fall of 38 per cent in comparison to the fourth quarter of FY10.

Source: Realty Plus Bangalore realtors see drop from Q4 on demand fall

Katta Subramanya Naidu, minister for Bangalore Water Supply Board, said, "We're not in a position to supply water to complexes and multi-storeyed buildings till 2011, November, December. We're not in a position to give connections to new buildings."

It's an announcement that could curb IT city's fast paced growth. The government says new apartments and complexes simply won't get new water connections till the Cauvery Stage Four supply project is completed by the end of 2011.

Irshad Ahmed, secretary, Bangalore Realtors' Association, says, "How can we say the building is ready but we cannot give you the amenities. The basic is electricity and water. If that is not given, the buildings will be ghost-towns."

There are already a few hundred projects under construction, several nearing completion. But the government says it has no choice.

Source: Realty Plus No water connection for new homes in Bangalore

In a note to shareholders, ahead of the annual general meeting on July 23, the company said, "The money will be used to fund the construction cost of ongoing and new projects, acquisition of land, repayment of debts, augmentation of working capital, investment opportunities and for other general corporate purposes."

"We will take resolution of Rs 750 crore but will only raise around Rs 350-400 crore in the first tranche," said RJ Shama Sunder, general manager, finance, Brigade Enterprises.

The realty firm, which primarily focuses on development of residential units in South India, is also seeking shareholder approval to list its stock on the London, Singapore, Luxembourg and New York Stock Exchanges. "We have an option of looking to raise money from the international market by listing the company on foreign stock exchanges," said Mr Sunder.

Shareholders will be called upon to approve the appointment of KR Srinivas Murthy as one of the directors of the company. Mr Murthy is currently on the boards of CMC, National Stock Exchange of India and

Himatsingka Seide. Brigade shares closed up 1.07% to Rs 137.35 on Thursday.

Rajiv Seth, vice president - hospitality, Adarsh Realty and Hotels said, "Adarsh Shangri-La Palm Retreat, Outer Ring Road will have 650+ keys which will be a mix of hotel rooms and serviced apartments. In addition, Adarsh Shangri-La Hotel, Palace Road will have around 400 rooms. However, at present, both the properties are under construction and we aim to open them by the end of 2011."

Presently, Adarsh Realty and Hotels owns and operates Palm Meadows Club on Varthur Road, Bangalore and has recently opened Adarsh Hamilton, a business hotel at Langford Road with 64 rooms in Bangalore.

The three major developers in the city Sobha Developers, Puravankara and Brigade which had not launched any new project over the last one-and-a-half year, are planning to collectively launch 34 million square feet (msf) in the current fiscal.

Baaskaran Subramanian, chief financial officer of Sobha Developers, said the recent trend is driven by higher transaction volumes being registered by city's builders, which had reduced the number of unsold inventory with them.

"With the improving affordability, our existing unsold stock has come down drastically. Besides this, we have also cleaned up our balance-sheet by reducing debt and improving cash flow. That done, we can go ahead with new projects now," he said.

He said Sobha Developers' transaction volume jumped 150% in the first quarter of the fiscal 2011 over the same period last year. On the other hand, its unsold inventory dwindled by 0.625 msf in the last 3 months.

"Beginning of this year, it (unsold inventory) stood at 3.9 msf. We want to reduce it by 3 msf by end of this year," said Subramanian. Ashish Puravankara, director, Puravankara Projects Ltd, also claimed his company's sales had shot up in double digits over the last 4-6 months.

"Our sales have gone up drastically with improvement in the economic conditions and IT companies giving promotions and increments to employees," he said.

Source: dnaindia.com By Praveena Sharma B'lore realtors ride high on affordability

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, JC Sharma, MD, Sobha Developers, speaks about its impact on realty companies.

Click On Here To Watch Video:-

Source: Moneycontrol

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with JC Sharma on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: At the moment, not all the banks have withdrawn even their teaser loans, SBI told us that they are continuing it till September 30, but ICICI Bank has withdrawn its low price loan and HDFC has made it slightly more expensive for the second year. How does rate hike impact demand for houses?

A: As far as our understanding of real estate market is concerned, we knew that the teaser rates are teaser rates and somewhere as we move forward they are likely to have an upward bias. Even the customers are some or less reconciled.
In 2010, what we are observing that the prices have an upward bias, the interest cost may start moving upwards, but despite that the volumes are not getting impacted, which reflects the underlying strength of this market. We feel that while on one hand this kind of things will be some kind of a dampener, but with all those things whatever we have projected in the industry has been communicated right. It should be showing a better performance this financial year over the previous year.

Source: www.moneycontrol.com RBI rate hike: How will it impact realty cos?

While Puravankara announced `Purva Skywood' will be spread over nearly 13 acres on Haralur Road in HSR Layout containing 730 luxury apartments, Brigade Group said it will be launching Bangalore's tallest residential building with hig-end luxury residential project on Old Madras road.

Puravankara is pricing its project at Rs 3,000 per square feet as a launch offer, while Brigade is pricing its project at Rs 4,000 per square feet during the launch.

Puravankara is offering apartments starting from 1,263 sq ft to 2,340 sq ft and a combination of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom apartments. According to the company this project is located with access to Electronic City, Outer Ring Road and Whitefield, and it will cater to the home needs of people who are working in these belts and also in areas like Koramangala and Bannerghatta Road. The company has planned a roll-out of nearly 18 million square feet this fiscal. Of this 6 million square feet will be with Provident Housing, a value-housing project of Puravankara.

Brigade Group while announcing its projects said the Bangalore's tallest residential building will have 1.5 million square feet of area spread over 10.5 acres of land. It will have a product mix of 3 and 4 BHK and pent houses.

The company also announced a villa project at Devanahalli spread over 120 acres township and the villa will be priced at Rs 4,500 per square feet.

Real estate was the worst hit due to global economic recession, but now slowly things are getting back to normal. With India's economic recovery well under way, the real estate market is also beginning to stabilize. According to a report by the retail estate research firm, Cushman & Wakefield, Bangalore is the top real estate destination for commercial and industrial sectors. It has become third preference for residential and hospitality sectors in India for real estate investment. The report reinforces the result by adding that Bangalore may witness the demand of 34 million sq. ft. for office space in the next three years.

The realty sector is anticipated to grow at the rate of 30 percent annually over the next decade, which will attract foreign investment worth $30 billion, with a number of IT parks and residential townships being constructed across the city, real estate agents feel that this is the right time to invest as the prices aren't too high.

The report suggests a revival of demand in commercial real estate by corporates and multinationals. "Market is improving as of now because of these developments happening because of the booming IT sector, so this is the right time to invest and to buy. Even the IT and ITes industries are considering expansion plans and evaluating opportunities available in Bangalore property market," Said Anil Muthanna, a real estate agent.

The population of Bangalore has increased by 35% in last seven years and is estimated to near 10 million in next two years. Due to the large scale migration and with more and more people job seekers coming to Bangalore; this has opened avenues for many real estate developers to build residential and commercial properties across the city.

Source: www.mybangalore.com Bangalore's realty sector booming bigtime!

Emaar MGF Land and Lodha Developers are among the top real estate companies estimated to raise more than Rs 20,000 crore in initial offers this year, but are yet to open the books despite regulatory approval nearly six months ago.

Investors are loath to buying real estate shares after they got burnt with some of the high priced issues in the past and difficulty in forecasting earnings due to high leverage and rising inventories.

"The market is very volatile at this moment and developers can think of IPO only when the market is stable," said Ambar Maheshwari, director, investments, DTZ, an international property consultant.

Source: Economic Times By Sobia Khan & Arun Iyer Realty Cos Wary Of IPO Launch In Volatile mkt, Slow Sales, High Debt & Past Flops Keep Investors Away

Real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield (India) director-development consulting Sandeep Trivedi predicts the demand to grow further in the coming months.

"Bangalore's residential property market largely stabilised in the last quarter of 2009 driven by end users. The quarter witnessed housing demand primarily from home buyers as investors continued to refrain from making purchases in anticipation of further drop in prices," he said.

A recent Cushman & Wakefield (India) report states that housing prices are likely to remain stable in the mid-term because of a decline in vacant stocks over this quarter and fewer project launches. A revival in hiring sentiments, particularly in the IT/ITeS sector, is likely to bring back home buyers, the report said.

Real estate consultancy firm Jone Lang Lassale Meghraj's MD (Bangalore) Karun Verma says the demand has largely been driven by apartments priced between Rs 40 to Rs 60 lakh. "The vacancy level has gone down and upward correction in property prices has triggered the pent-up demand," Mr Verma said.

Source: Economic Times IT sector helps realty get back on track

From a humble city with greenery and tranquillity, to a city buzzing with business, dreams and hope, Bangalore has come a long way. It has been able to carve a niche for itself as the most preferred one with ITES/BPO and other tech companies.

They find the right talent and co-operative authorities, infrastructure may, however, not be the best in class. These factors have proved to be a great boost to the real estate market, residential and commercial.

Real Estate market in Bangalore
Bangalore is the fastest growing major metropolis in India. This "Silicon Valley of India" is prime destination for multiple IT companies which contribute over 33% of India's IT exports. The city is home for HNWIs and is home to over 10,000 dollar millionaires and about 60,000 superrich people who have an investible surplus of Rs. 4.5 crore and Rs. 50 lakh respectively.

So much going for the city, it comes as a little surprise that it commands a significant premium value on rentals and capital for both residential and commercial properties.

The supply is growing in line with the revived commercial real estate demand. Latest report from Cushman & Wakefield suggests that the total projected supply for the year is 12.42 million sq ft of office space, more than double the supply delivered in 2009.

(Anil Rego Founder & CEO, Right Horizons, A Financial Services Advisory FIR)

Source: Economic Times By Anil Rego India's silicon valley's new hotspot for real estate investors

• Bangalore scores over other cities

• Rental Values

• Property prices

• Outlook

According to a report published in Business Line, the project would come up on 325 acres, of which about 100 acres have been already aggregated. The project would offer multiple-sized land plots for manufacturing and ancillary and supporting industries in the pharma sector. The project envisages employment opportunities for over 10,000 people. "We would be completing aggregation and handing over plots in January 2011," said Shashidhar Pai, chief financial officer, Ozonegroup.

According to him, letters of intent have already been received for about 100 acres, out of 300 acres of leasable area.

The project cost is estimated at Rs 2,000 crore, and the company hopes to fund it from internal accruals and bank debts.

For instance, Rajiv Swagruha Corporation Limited, the affordable-housing wing of the state government, has an exclusive project for senior citizens at Bandlaguda on the city outskirts. Its senior marketing manager M Bharat Reddy says: "This is a new concept based on the old-age homes. The project aims at providing maximum comfort to the elderly."

The design to provide a barrier-free access to the elderly residents is the USP here. It has a laundry, kitchen and round-the-clock medical facilities. "There will be panic buttons in the house. They can be used for help in emergencies," Reddy says. The project also has separate guest rooms for visitors to stay in.

Maintenance of the facilities would be done by the corporation itself in the initial period, with plans to engage a non-governmental organisation later through the residents' association. "The project will be ready by September," he says.

Each dwelling unit of roughly 650 sft is priced around Rs 13.15 lakh. Of the 100-plus units coming up at Bandlaguda, 35 have been sold. "The response is picking up. We have about 800 leads," says Reddy. The corporation is hoping to do another 35 units by June. A new, slightly bigger project of 800 sft is on the anvil at Chandanagar.

Source: Business-standard By B Krishna Mohan Realty players bet big on homes for the aged

"As the economy is growing and income levels are rising, there is a rise in demand for high quality and premium housing," J C Sharma, managing director of Sobha Developers, said.

Usually non-resident Indians (NRIs) and high net worth individuals (HNIs) are the chief buyers of premium properties that range in prices from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3.5 crore depending on property specifics.

"While there seems to be more volatility in western economies, India has shown signs of stability and growth. So, rather than invest anywhere, NRIs and HNIs find it better to invest in premium housing here," Sharma said.

To tap this emerging demand, Sobha Developers is executing `Sobha Lifestyle Project' in Bangalore with plans to launch similar projects in Coimbatore, he added.

Source: Business-standard By Debasis Mohapatra Demand for high-end properties on the rise

After June, the commercial space market is expected to pick up

Following the upswing in the residential real estate market in Bangalore now, it was only in the residential segment that the market was seeing most activity. Industry experts now believe that post-June, the commercial space would also start seeing uptake.

"Post-June, the commercial space market is expected to pick up. This could be attributed primarily to the US economy looking up," says Mr M. R. Jaishankar, Chairman and Managing Director, Brigade Group. The demand, he adds, would be driven by the IT and ITeS sectors, the primary contributors to real estate demand in Bangalore. However, other sectors such as research and development, and aerospace would be fuelling the growth in the future, say industry experts.

Demand rising
Recovery has been pretty much slow in the commercial space market, points out Mr Prakrut Mehta, National Director - Office and Industrial Agencies, Knight Frank India, a real estate consultancy firm. According to him, there is a lot of demand for space from both MNCs -- tier-I and tier-II companies -- and Indian corporates.

The Outer Ring Road micro-market, which contains a strong pipeline of SEZ space, is emerging as a focal area for companies evaluating long-term expansions and consolidation opportunities, says a recent CB Richard Ellis' `India Office Market View' report.

Source:www.thehindubusinessline.com By Anjana Chandramouly Rebound ahead in the commercial space

• More room

• Exploring opportunities

"We are planning to develop six projects by 2013 at an investment of Rs 250-300-crore per mall. Of these, four projects are in a joint venture with Singapore-based CapitaMalls. With this, the total number of our malls will increase to nine by 2013," said S Raghunandhan, CEO, Prestige Group.

Fifty per cent of the funding would be from internal accruals and the rest through a mix of debt and investments from the JV partner, said Raghunandhan.

The new malls would be coming up in Hyderabad, Kochi, Mangalore, Bangalore, Mysore and Shantiniketan, a township developed by the group near Bangalore.

Currently, the group has two malls in Bangalore -- Forum at Koramangala and True Value Mall in Whitefield, which is a discount mall with anchors such as Pantaloons, Tommy Hilfiger, Megamart, Esprit and Louis Vuitton having their factory outlets.

The Group's third mall, Forum Vijaya, will be opened by mid-2011 in Chennai. The mall is being developed in a joint venture with Vijaya Productions and has a floor space of 7,00,000 sq ft.

Currently, the Group has developments spread over 20-million sq ft and about 13-million sq ft is under construction.

The company would be going for an IPO soon and plans to file its DRHP with Sebi soon.

However, present investments are not speculative in nature as they used to be in the pre-recession period.

"There is a fair degree of investor interest in residential projects as of now and it is expected to rise in the near future," Anil Kumar, chief financial officer, Mantri Developers said.

Real estate prices, which underwent a sharp correction during the recession, was yet to see the peak levels and hence, give ample scope for capital appreciation in future, he added.

High net worth individuals (HNIs), non-resident Indians (NRIs), professionals and domestic investors with large disposable incomes are the usual investors in residential properties in India.

"NRIs from West Asia, Europe and the US are showing interest in the segment as there is a vast scope for capital appreciation both in this asset class and rental value in future," he added.

Source: Business-standard By Debasis Mohapatra Investors in residential properties set to return

Space-owners are now "bending over backwards" to get a good client, and consequently, "a lot of hard options are now available for tenants," says Prakrut Mehta, national director - office and industrial agencies, Knight Frank India, a real estate consultancy firm.

These hard options have, in fact, become a way of life, he adds.

Shrinivas Rao, CEO - Asia Pacific, Vestian Workplace Services, says that most landlords are coming up with innovative propositions to attract tenants.

According to him, from a security deposit structure of 10 months, landlords have reduced the deposit structure to even up to three (0-3) months. For already fitted-out spaces, they offer up to four months' rent-free period subject to longer lock-in tenure.

Source: Realty Plus Bangalore commercial space owners going all out to woo tenants

Big is no longer beautiful for Bangalore-based real estate major Mantri Developers, which is known by its signature upscale development in the city's downtown area called Altius.

The realty developer, which has just thrown open the city's largest mall Mantri Square, is working on a future strategy that centres around "multiple but smaller projects" where the visibility of completion and exits are very high.

This strategic shift is also a precursor to the company's plans of roping in big-ticket private equity funding to fuel its future expansion. Talking to VCCircle, Mantri Developers chairman and managing director Sushil Mantri said, "we are in serious discussions with four or five PE majors for investments at the SPV level. Nothing is finalized yet.

We are looking at raising `line of equity' of Rs 400-500 crore from the PE route."

Source:in.reuters.com By Boby Kurian & J Padmapriya Mantri Developers Tweaks Business Model; On Course To Raise PE Funds

Further, the Central government's commitment to provide `affordable housing for all' and the provision for subsidised land and lower interest rate are expected to give the much needed impetus to this segment.

To tap the market from early stage, some of the players are even entering into technology collaboration with foreign companies for cost advantage.

Bangalore-based Puravankara Projects, recently, formed a joint venture company with Mexico's Homex for catering to this segment. Homex is a home developer specialising in building communities for the affordable and entry level market.

Source: Business-standardAffordable housing gains momentum

"We have earmarked Rs 500 crore for our Bangalore projects. We will give a strong thrust to Bangalore as it is a growing city with a large population of IT professionals," company Chairman Sunil Mantri told PTI here today.

On funding, Mantri said the company has already raised Rs 200 crore from two private equity firms. "Our target is to raise Rs 1,000 crore through the PE route. We have already struck two deals with two PE companies for Rs 100 crore each. The rest will be raised in this fiscal," Mantri said. He, however, refused to reveal the identities of those investors.

It also plans to come up with an iconic structure in the Garden City, he said, adding "if we get ample space in the right location, we will construct an iconic structure there."

The company at present has two ongoing projects in Bangalore with another five in the pipeline, in both the residential and commercial segments.

In the coming years, the company will focus strongly on tier 2 and 3 cities, he said, adding "creating hubs in main locations and growing around that area will form the core of our strategy. Our future projects in Noida, Gurgaon, Amritsar, Kochi, and Gwalior will follow this strategy."

In Maharashtra, it has ongoing projects in Solapur, Kolhapur and Pune, besides three in and around Mumbai--one in the western suburbs, Panvel in Navi Mumbai and in Thane.

As part of the move, Rajesh Agarwal, who spearheaded AIG Global Real Estate in India as its managing director, is joining Shapoorji Pallonji, said the people, who declined to be named. Agarwal is set to formally join the group on Thursday.

The fund is likely to pursue investments in which it will have control over development rights. More details on the fund were not immediately available, but the people did not rule out the possibility of it being a proprietary play akin to Wipro Ltd chairman Azim Premji's private equity vehicle, Premji Invest.

Shapoorji Pallonji has land banks across the country, which will be primed for development as the economic recovery gathers momentum. "Such a fund can come up with a good asset base considering that it will leverage on the group's execution skills," said one of the people.

Source: Live Mint By Boby Kurian and Madhav Chanchani Shapoorji Pallonji to launch realty fund

"For the infrastructure development of Bangalore, the state government will spend a total of Rs 5,325 crore to improve city roads and footpaths, construction of fly-overs, service roads, over/under bridges, water tanks, 10 multi-storey vehicle parking centres and on the ongoing metro rail project," Yeddyurappa said during his Budget presentation.

Noting that about Rs 6,000 crore had been spent on the city's infrastructure during the last two years, the chief minister told the legislative assembly that the state government would invest a whopping Rs 18,872 crore over the next three years to improve the transport system by completing the Metro rail project, launching a mono rail and providing drinking water and drainage facility to new areas.

"The state government is prepared to share 50 per cent of the capital required to operate local trains in the city with the central government through the railway ministry by connecting the various stations catering to long-distance trains and building new stations to provide faster and hassle-free travel for the people," Yeddyurappa told the members.

The budget has allocated Rs 600 crore as the state's share of the Metro project, which is in addition to Rs 1,600 crore spent over the last two years in the form of capital and loan. With 34 per cent of the people in the state living in cities and the urban-rural ratio widening every year, the chief minister said there was a need to formulate a systematic plan for providing infrastructure facilities in urban areas.

The budget proposes to spend Rs 600 crore to improve civic amenities in towns and cities across the state under the 'Mukhyamanthri Nagarothana Yojane'.

The best part is, to just share one's knowledge of the real estate scenario in a city like Bangalore, the consultants/experts get paid anywhere between $300 and $500 an hour. Over and above that, if they are required to fill in a market survey, he gets paid around $200 per survey form.

Farook Mahmood, CMD of Silverline Group and the president of the Bangalore Realtors' Association, has been flooded with calls from overseas buyers, who pay $500 an hour for an update on what's happening in the city.

Mahmood, who has been dealing in Bangalore's real estate market for the past 30 years, says that "this trend of overseas clients paying per hour or for a service is a recent phenomenon." According to investment bankers, this demand for knowledge from local real estate consultants is also happening in other markets such as Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

Real estate consultants say they receive around two/ three calls a month, with some consultants doing more. "I get calls one month in advance, where a date and time is fixed for telephonic interview to happen," says Mahmood.

Questions frequently asked are about the real estate climate whether or not it's a suitable time to invest; about specific micro markets within the city; about developers and their standing in the market; and the trends in the commercial and residential space.

One such global firm actively calling real estate consultants is Gerson Lehrman Group. The company is a network of consultants, physicians, scientists, engineers, attorneys, market researchers, and other professionals from around the world.

"Most of the local property consultants and experts have a very sound knowledge of the local market, they have great access to developers and know what's going on," says an investment banker.

Godrej Industries' real estate arm has lined up Rs 2,000 crore of investments for developing five projects over 30 million sq ft in Bangalore, the DNA has reported.

According to the report, these projects will be a mix of residential and commercial ventures and would be developed in partnership with other investors. The company has already launched its 2 million sq ft residential project -- Woodsman Estate -- and will soon start its second one, which is joint venture with late actor Feroze Khan and his son Fardeen Khan for gated villas.

"Property development is a major focus area for us. We are also betting big on affordable housing costing less than Rs 20 lakh," said Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej group.

The firm, which operates on a JV model with land owners, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop 50 acres of land in North Bangalore. Godrej, however, did not share details of the project. The company is also developing a project with actor Sanjay Khan's Skystar group.

Source: Realty Plus Godrej Properties in Rs 2,000 crore Bangalore plan

The company wants to keep the asset monetisation option open through sale of land. "We don't mind buying land, creating a basic infrastructure, both legally and physically, and making it marketable," said J C Sharma, managing director, Sobha Developers.

The company plans to look at it as a normal business activity. "Since we know how to buy land, we could also look at selling lands as a normal business activity," Sharma added.

With sales picking up this year, the company's liquidity position too looks better. The company has sold 2.5 lakh sq ft in the first quarter, 3.9 lakh sq ft in the second quarter and 8 lakh sq ft in the third quarter, said Sharma. "Incremental sales have resulted in an improved liquidity position, and this coupled with improved cash flows has given us the comfort of not only meeting our obligation but also launch new projects," Sharma added.

Meanwhile, the company plans to launch eight projects -- four in Bangalore, two in Coimbatore and one each in Chennai and Pune.

Only 3,000 units are expected to come up in the first phase and the company plans to invest Rs 3,000 crore on the projects, said Sushil Mantri, MD, Mantri Developers.

Mantri also plans to launch four new projects in Bangalore to address the mid-income segment in the next six months. Demand for apartments in the Rs 30-40 lakh range is expected to spurt by 10-15 per cent in Bangalore alone, said Mantri.

With only 1,200 apartments expected to hit the market in the coming months, Mantri hopes to cash in on this demand spurt. "There has been a change in customer profile. Earlier, demand was driven mainly by IT professionals, which led to a price rise," Mantri added.

At present, Mantri has six projects in different stages of construction in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

Meanwhile, the company launched its high-end residential project -- Prestige White Meadows -- at Whitefield, Bangalore on Thursday. Sprawled over 28 acres, the project comprises 214 sky villas in four high rise towers and 66 villas set in scenic grounds.

Speaking on the occasion, Irfan Razack, chairman and managing director, Prestige Group, said, "We are launching several projects within the next two quarters this year across sectors including residential, commercial, retail and hospitality. We are targeting cities in south India like Chennai, Mysore, Mangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Total investment of about Rs 7,000 crore will be made for these projects and the funds will be generated through internal accruals (almost 50-60 per cent), bank debt and IPO."

In the residential domain the group has seven projects in the pipeline with a total investment of about Rs 2,000 crore. These projects will be a mix of luxury, mid-segment and affordable housing.

Source: Realty plus Prestige earmarks Rs 7,000 crore to launch new projects

Bangalore's real estate has seen it all... the IT boom of the early 90s, the stabilisation at the turn of the century and more recently the real estate crash. Not unscathed, the industry now is steadily climbing the growth charts. A home of a crore is no longer the privilege of the rich but rather the want of the average IT manager. Apartments rule the roost and to give the average builder competition, big names in the development fraternity now incorporate shopping complexes, multiplexes and even schools and clinics into their projects. Present day real estate present independent homes styled on European and western world lines... your very own piece of the world in Namma Bengaluru.

A step up for developers
The construction industry is not a fledgling one. Until recently the sector was filled with fragmented players and lacked a corporate approach and look. It is only now that the construction industry has taken on a more corporate and organised approach. This gives it better potential to get into real estate funding venture.

Those observing the real estate market find that the market for real estate finance has grown in leaps and bounds in the recent past. Funding for construction of newer housing projects was earlier accrued by developers pre-selling their houses. Potential buyers had to shell out the money, often times before the ground-breaking ceremony even took place.

Source: www.deccanherald.com By Ruth Dsouza Prabhu Now, tie-ups a realty

• A win-win situation

• Minimising risks

• Cost involved

In the next financial year, it plans to raise another Rs 250 crore through further monetisation of its land assets, the DNA has reported.

JC Sharma, managing director of Sobha Developers Ltd, said his company was able to sell 431 units in last quarter and 1.45 million sq ft in the nine-month ended December. For the current fiscal, Shobha is expecting to sell 2.2 million sq ft and another 2 million sq ft in the next.

"We will have six residential projects in the next 12 months over 8 million sq ft. These will be in Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore and the NCR districts. Total worth of the projects would be around Rs 1,500-1,600 crore. We plan to monetise around 100-125 acres through land sale," Sharma was quoted as saying.

According to the report, the company is currently working on 27 projects and expects to complete 1.4 million sq ft of residential projects in the next 3-4 months. The cash required to complete the ongoing projects would be close to Rs 971 crore.

The company, which primarily focuses on premium segment, is planning to launch projects in the value home segment by changing its specifications, the report added.

"The firm has decided not to go ahead with the mall project. It had earlier planned to build a retail mall on this particular land parcel, but has now decided to hive it off," the official added.

According to the report, the move once again highlights the Gurgaon-based company's travails in the southern states. DLF has had a run in the two states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where it had announced projects in the heady days of 2006-07. The developer had pulled out of Bidadi Knowledge City project, estimated to cost a whopping Rs 60,000 crore, last year, citing difficult market conditions. With the project failing to take off, Karnataka government returned Rs 400 crore on May Day last year to DLF.

DLF has other projects in Karnataka such as a township in Bidadi (9,000 acres), development project in Jigani Industrial area (100 acres), 2 hotels in Mysore (around 5acres) and a retail mall in Whitefield (around 15 acres). Difficult market conditions have made the realty major's Chennai project `Garden City' run into trouble, with the realtor announcing price cuts. In February 2009, DLF had reduced sticker prices for its existing customers to Rs 2,500-Rs 2,600 per sq ft against the launch price of Rs 2,800-Rs 3,200. DLF had to refund money to around 200 buyers last year.

Source: Realty Plus DLF sells 15-acre Bangalore property for 120 crore