Buying one's dream home requires planning, funds, and these days, putting on an AI-enabled virtual reality (VR) headset. Realtors are increasingly providing customers an immersive experience, courtesy generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), mixed reality, and metaverse. For realty consultancy Anarock group, AI and machine learning (ML) are enabling predictive market analysis, facilitating virtual property tours, and improving property management through predictive maintenance.
There's no place like home, but even for the affluent buying one in India is difficult. On top of that, the coronavirus pandemic-now in its eighteenth month-has made life uncertain. A hopeful thing is buying a house looks alluring as loan interest rates fall below 7 per cent, their multi-decadal lows. The slow decline in GDP growth after demonetisation, followed by the economic shock caused by Covid-19 waves, has hurt us unevenly.
The ongoing West Asia conflict is expected to severely impact the supply of affordable housing in India, as rising input costs further erode already thin developer margins. Fluctuations in crude oil and gas prices, coupled with higher freight costs, are driving up prices of essential construction materials like cement and steel, making new projects increasingly unviable for developers.
Sapne vs Everyone is dark, and often depressing. At the same time, it is not completely hopeless, notes Deepa Gahlot.
Platform-style partnerships between global investors and Indian developers are expected to gain further traction over the next few years. This comes as institutional capital increasingly shifts from one-off asset acquisitions to scalable, long-term strategies.
The real estate sector wants "high-impact" measures, like special schemes and tax breaks for developers, to revive the fortunes of the affordable housing segment in the country, multiple executives told Business Standard. This segment has been struggling since the Covid-19 outbreak, in contrast to larger and costlier homes which have been selling like hot cakes. The demand comes at a time when the government is taking suggestions from industry players before tabling the General Budget in the Parliament next month.
In a deadly twist to what would have been a dream wedding, police on Tuesday said 26-year-old Ketan, who died while on a trek on June 18, was allegedly pushed into the gorge by his fiancee Siya (20) and her lover Chetan (22).
In the second part of this series that identifies fastest emerging real estate hotspots in India, Estatelister.com explains why Kharadi, close to Pune Airport in Maharashtra, is emerging as a new investment hub.
Gurugram has overtaken Mumbai to become India's biggest luxury housing market in 2025, recording 24,120 crore in sales of homes priced above 10 crore.
If the real estate sector is properly managed, it could drive not just finance but demand for a range of products and services, observes T N Ninan.
Pune police have revealed that Ketan Agarwal's fiancee, Siya Goyal, and her lover, Chetan Chaudhary, exchanged 2,004 calls and spent 238 hours on the phone in the six months leading up to Agarwal's alleged murder at Lohagad Fort, suggesting extensive planning for the crime.
Here's what's buzzing in Mumbai if you are looking out for real estate appreciation...
Also, LBS Marg provides easy accessibility to other parts of Mumbai.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of a stake in AI acceleration cloud provider Neysa Networks by Blackstone-backed private equity funds and other investors, following Neysa's announcement of a USD 1.2 billion capital raise.
The industry describes projects priced beyond Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) in Delhi and the National Capital Region region as luxury, but the benchmark is Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) for Mumbai.
Indian airports are rapidly becoming a significant growth avenue for the country's retail sector, with brands across various consumer segments actively opening stores to tap into the increasing number of flyers and strong domestic tourism momentum.
The total demand has remained subdued mainly due to high interest rates and property prices.
As real estate is about a tenth of the Indian economy, the extent of black money floating around in the sector is huge.
The average home prices in Mumbai have touched Rs 12,000 per sq ft
After years of living with his family in a poky 110 sq. ft. 'house', textile worker Sambhaji Surve dreams of moving into a home four times the size once the Maharashtra government starts its ambitious redevelopment of the 39-acre Kamathipura shanty town in south-central Mumbai. Sharing his dream are about 8,000 other families hoping for a better life when the redevelopment project, part of the government's effort to redevelop old settlements and make life more livable for some residents, gets underway. The Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party aims to redevelop BDD Chawl and Dharavi but for Surve all the matters is Kamathipura where he arrived in the 1970s from Nasik to work in a textile mill. Kamathipura was originally built 150 years ago following construction of a causeway to connect the seven islands of Mumbai. From the British Raj to post-independence, it became infamous for slums and brothels.
Demonitisation will facilitate transparency in the real estate industry, which has had a notorious reputation as a safe locker for black money, says Saket Mohta.
Telecom major Reliance Communications plans to monetise its real estate assets as it looks to pare debt.
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.
PE funds have invested Rs 13,000 cr into the property market in Bengaluru.
In opaque, complicated markets like real estate, its best to stay away from generalisations.
We must not allow another cycle of crazy price rises to set in. Or land banking to become the next new hot industry.
Indian property market and its regulations need to be reformed further to attract foreign direct investment while the demand for space for business process outsourcing is expected to cross over two crore square feet in the next three-five years.
India's residential real estate market experienced a 4 per cent year-on-year decline in sales during Q1CY26, while office leasing reached a quarterly high, rising 6 per cent year-on-year to 29.9 million square feet, according to Knight Frank India.
'When I look at India's relative valuations, these are by far the lowest I have seen in my 35-year career.' 'The relative 12-month trailing performance is among the weakest I have seen, and foreign investor positioning is at a 16-17 year low.'
'The inflection point that really happened in the sector was during the pandemic when buyers' perception changed towards consumption and that gave a trigger to pent-up demand with the increased affordability.'
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.
After a long time, real estate companies could hit the fund-raising trail. The reason is improvement in investor sentiment.
Siddhesh Joglekar, founder of Estatelister.com lists out reasons why these five cities could emerge as the best real estate investments in the New Year.
Leading diamond jewellery manufacturer and retailer Gitanjali Gems Ltd is entering into real estate business through its maiden residential project at Borivli, in Mumbai's western suburb.
'The government has to stop trying to fix things for lenders, projects, homeowners and developers and think instead about how to fix the market for houses,' says Mihir S Sharma.
Despite the absence of any notable price growth, transaction volumes are picking up in major Indian cities. The surge in sentiments is also backed by a significant rise in transparency in the industry.
A Delhi court has granted Amit Katyal, a businessman linked to Lalu Prasad's family, permission to travel for religious purposes and modified his bail conditions in a money laundering case.
'I own a few cars that I have had specified minutely to my taste, and it does feel nice to know that there are no other vehicles like them anywhere in the world.'
Govt should take steps to monetise real estate investment schemes.
