Marking a key milestone in the Indian government's fight against black money allegedly stashed abroad, India will get this month the complete information on flats, apartments and condominiums owned by Indians in Switzerland as also on earnings made from such properties to help it look into tax liabilities associated with those assets.
Real estate is a major asset in India and it will be a "big scene" in the next 20-30 years, says investment guru Marc Faber.
Let's take a look at nations that saw biggest change in real estate loans.
With a view to exploit its real estate assets, the Indian Railways plans to lease out some of them and aims to rake-in Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) through this move this fiscal, a senior Railways official said.
The RBI reminded that the primary role of these banks is to lend for activities related to agriculture and rural development. The central bank said it has come to its notice that certain state cooperative and central cooperative banks have extended finance to the sector.
In 2025 banks are in for challenges such as pressure on margins and slowing credit growth. With the likelihood of a repo rate cut in February or April, external benchmark-linked loans of banks will be repriced immediately. However, deposit rates are expected to adjust more gradually, which could impact the net interest margin (NIM) - a key measure of profitability for banks.
Over the last weekend, the central bank has tried to address the biggest near-term concern for property companies --bankruptcy -- says a CLSA report. The one-time move, which will allow banks not to classify commercial real estate loans as non-performing loans, will reduce the near-term risks for some property firms.
'The move to remove indexation benefits on LTCGs presently available for property, gold, and other unlisted assets may have a negative impact as it directly impacts real estate investors.'
Around Rs 1 trillion, or a fifth of the investments made by alternative investment funds (AIFs) are questionable in terms of the intent behind the investments and are under the scanner for circumvention of regulations, said Ananth Narayan, whole-time member of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). AIFs are pooled investment vehicles that invest in a variety of assets including real estate, startups, unlisted companies, and derivative strategies in the listed space.
The national real estate market presents an intriguing picture. Lower volumes and flat pricing serve as dampeners. Sales bookings across the top ten markets have seen 6 per cent growth year-on-year (Y-o-Y) between April and August 2024, but sales volume is down 8 per cent Y-o-Y. Unsold inventory is up.
The US is currently Earth's most powerful country and a certain latitude of understanding -- a world view -- is popularly expected from its leadership. From a country identified with freedom, constitution, debate, democracy and the likes of Abraham Lincoln even as it had the most powerful military around, the US, following Trump's actions, seemed repositioned as militarily powerful with other qualities secondary, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Congress and other opposition parties had opposed the amendments.
Developers such as DLF, Unitech and Orbit are in the process of raising around Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in the current fiscal after they rolled over nearly Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) debt subsequent to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing banks to restructure loans to developers.
With the controversial Land Acquisition Bill pending for long, government on Tuesday made a strong pitch in the Lok Sabha for "some sort of understanding" on it, saying passage of the legislation is necessary to make land available for the programme of 'Housing-for-All' by 2020.
The application, filed by Arsalan Iftikhar's counsel in the supreme court, called for the registration of an FIR against Malik Riaz Hussain, owner of Bahria Town real estate firm, for alleging that he possessed photos and video footage of Iftikhar's visits to London that were allegedly paid for by the tycoon's relatives
Even though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the risk weightage on loans to commercial developers and cut general provisioning for commercial real estate, commercial banks may not start lending to the sector immediately.
'The RBI's MPC will maintain the current policy rates (6.50%) at the policy meeting, given ongoing inflationary pressures.'
Housing prices could drop by up to 30% over 6 to 12 months after demonetisation.
Info Edge (India), the country's leading consumer internet company known for its platforms in recruitment (naukri.com), real estate (99acres.com), matrimony (jeevansathi.com) and education (shiksha.com) space, delivered revenue growth in line with expectations in the April-June quarter (Q1) of FY25.
"We are not slowing down on any of our projects. Jaipur is rocking, Chennai is doing well, city-based projects such as Faridabad are also doing well," Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd Executive Arun Nanda told reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of India Economic Summit. Fundamentals of real estate have not changed. Nanda said, there were no funding issues for its projects and the company's affordable housing projects are not going to disappear.
Gurgaon scores down from previous year but still on top.
Morgan Stanley has big plans to invest in India's real estate.
BRPSE's new chairman Nitish Sengupta has suggested that at least three ailing companies, which have been referred to the board, hive off some of their land and get into real estate development to become profitable again.
Ambani and Adani account for a fifth of the net worth of all billionaire promoters in the country and half the combined net worth of the top 10.
'Indices will remain range bound in 2022 as earnings catch up with the current multiples.'
Analysts have turned bullish after success of some big launches and revival of home sales. There is optimism on rate cuts by RBI and hope for lower inflation; which may renew buyers' interest in real estate in coming months.
Specialised investment fund (SIF), a new asset class, will have the same expense structure as that of mutual funds (MFs), according to rules notified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). SIF, which was first proposed by Sebi in July 2024, aims to fill the gap between MFs and portfolio management services (PMS), and it looks at informed investors, who are willing to take riskier bets.
'The fact that housing units worth a whopping Rs 4.5 lakh crore in top seven cities are stuck under various stages of non-completion indicates that there is a dire need to create stress-asset fund which will help bail out lakhs of distressed homebuyers,' says Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, a real estate services company.
About Rs 2,000 crore of realty money has flown into stocks in the National Capital Region in the months after demonetisation.
The cricketer said a sale agreement was executed between him and his mother on one side and the builder on the other for the purchase of an apartment for over Rs 14 crore in the real estate project initiated by Brilliant Etoile Pvt Ltd in Hauz Khas under the name 'Sky Mansion' and displaying the name 'Risland'.
National Capital Region and Bangalore's property prices are more reasonable.
Urban ministry changes rule before public consultation by environment ministry
After cautioning over an asset bubble in the real estate sector, the Reserve Bank of India has cracked the whip. The apex bank has sought clarification from six real estate companies on their proposal to raise external commercial borrowings.
While Lehman will invest Rs 500 crore and hold 75 per cent in the JV, Peninsula Land will subscribe to the remaining equity at an investment of Rs 200 crore, according to sources.
The clampdown will be part of a package from the central bank to make end-use norms for external commercial borrowing (ECB) funds more stringent for various sectors.
The home rental market is facing a slowdown.
The real estate sector is set to enter a progressive phase in 2015.
In a relief to homebuyers, assets in a real estate project that have been handed over to the allottee would be kept out of the liquidation process of the company, the latest amendment to the rules by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has said. The notification dated February 12 said: "For the purposes of clause (e) of sub-section (4) of section 36, wherever the corporate debtor has given possession to an allottee in a real estate project, such asset shall not form a part of the liquidation estate of the corporate debtor." Real estate experts call it a "pragmatic approach" by the regulator. "However, there are many cases where possession has not been given because the property is stuck in insolvency.
Real estate has much further to fall and you should govern yourself accordingly
Greaves Cotton, for instance, has converted half its holding into commercial real estate (a multiplex) while Elpro plans to follow suit by developing half its 37-acre land at Chinchwad.