A plot of land measuring around 14.8 acres has been acquired by the Godrej Properties in sector 106 of Gurgaon. The plan of the company is to construct a residential project of approximately 1.5 million square feet for high-end homebuyers on this plot of land.

The location of the project is an upcoming one in Gurgaon. This new residential project will be developed with Godrej Residential Investment Program II being in partnership.
The company is really happy to develop the residential project in Gurgaon. The strategy of the company is to become known in all the leading realty markets of the country and this residential project complements the strategy well.

The company has announced on Monday that it is adding two new residential projects in Gurgaon and Bangalore. When combined, both the projects will provide a total of 1.65 million square feet of area which will be saleable.

Currently, Godrej Properties is developing various projects in commercial, township and residential segments in 12 cities.

The District Administration has made the decision of not increasing the circle rates of properties coming under the three development authorities – Noida Authority, Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA).

The decision is taken as a because of the situation of recession prevailing in the real estate market which is a consequence of demonetization.

The circle rate of an area is the minimum rate at which any transfer or sale of property is made. The classification of properties is done in five broad categories – commercial, residential, institutional, IT and industrial.

The difference in circle rates also takes place because of the different categories/sectors.
Circle rates are analyzed and revised by the District Administration as per the submitted rates by the concerned development authorities. The final decision regarding no hike in the circle rates will depend upon the feedback from people (builders, stakeholders and residents) which will be thoroughly analyzed.

People have been asked to give their feedbacks in the registrars’ offices, tehsildars’ offices and sub-divisional magistrates’ offices.

Keeping the benefit of people in mind, the administration is not increasing the circle rates this year. But the same may not be applicable in Jewar as the circle rates are expected to be hiked there. This is because of the upcoming development of an airport in Jewar.

All the developers and residents have highly appreciated the decision as according to them, the circle rates are already higher than the prevailing rate in the market, and any further increase would breakdown the market.

Among all the home launches made in Gurugram this year from January to June, 90% were in the category of affordable housing. In the first half of the year 2017, (HI 2017), most of the homes launched fell into the price bracket of Rs.20-25 Lakh.

The new launches witnessed a huge fall in Gurugram as only 3000 units were launched in HI 2017. 90% of these launches were in sectors near New Gurgaon and Dwarka Expressway areas.

As per the experts, the luxury housing segment will remain at a low even in the remaining months of the year while affordable housing segments will be leading the market.

The process of getting registered under RERA will be initiated in Third Quarter of 2017 and the developers will take a time for about 6 months to get used to the new law and regulation. This is the reason luxury housing segment will be witnessing a fall.

The sales are also expected to increase once the festive season starts specifically in the ready-to-move-in projects as the developers will take advantage of the situation by providing lucrative payment plans and discounts.

The homebuyers are suggested to accurately explore the housing units with developers as they are interested in selling their units with attractive payment plans.

The housing unit prices are likely to remain stable in the areas of Sohna Road, DLF Phase I, II, III, IV and V and Golf Course Road.

But on the other hand, new markets of Golf Course Extension Road and Dwarka Expressway will experience a price correction of 5-7% in the remaining half of the year because of the large stock available in the secondary market.

All the builders and developers who had been planning to surpass the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) have very less time left in their hands because banks have taken the decision of not sanctioning loans to projects which are not registered under RERA, in discussion with the Reserve Bank of India.

There has to be a security check in the entire process and when RERA is especially implemented to throw out the unreliable builders, the decision has been taken to not sanction any kind of loans to projects not registered under it.

Banks have also started inviting additional collateral as warranties while sanctioning loans to real estate developers.

The banks are extremely anxious because if they even extend loans as per the law, their loan will not be protected. If their loan turns into a bad one, the customers are bound to get a refund while the banks have not been provided with any protection under the law.

Not seeing any kind of guarantee, the banks are being very cautious and alert in lending to builders.

Under RERA, it is mandatory for every developer to keep 70% money taken from homebuyers in a different account. By doing this, they will be left with just 30% of the proceeds to be utilized for any other use. Earlier, they could use the entire 100% amount for other uses.

Looking at the success that came from the Smart City Challenge, Union Government is planning to launch a new competition based on similar lines to boost the Housing for All scheme. The competition will be called Housing Challenge and would be held in states to select the most cost-friendly technology for affordable housing projects.

National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) has been given the responsibility of handing over the working model to all the states.

NBCC would shake hands with all the states during the initial phases of Housing Challenges. As per sources, there are a total of 25 cities which have been brought into the picture by the ministry to which they can give out the model on a pilot basis.

As per the decision of the ministry, every competition will be distinctive in its own way.

NBCC would make ‘problem statement’ in the Housing Challenge. That will contain the problem to be solved or any kind of task to be done.

The challenge will clearly mention the number of units that have to be developed in the project and the financial modes that would provide funds. Then the bidders will have to put forward a technology that will achieve the objective in the most cost effective way.

The plan has been made after the Smart City Challenge, in which cities had to compete among each other to win and be developed as smart cities.

The reduction made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) just before the arrival of festive season will help in augmenting the demand in the housing sector, categorically in the affordable housing segment, as expected by the experts and real estate developers.

Reduced inflation numbers, improved monsoon, beneficial global situation and a general boost in the industry scenario are the motivating factors in this reduction of rate by RBI.

RBI has reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points bringing it down to 6% during its bimonthly policy review.

The Managing Director of SARE Homes says that this reduction by 25 basis points in repo rate will complement the recent policies of government like GST and RERA augmenting the demanding in housing sector.

On the other side, some are of the opinion that a higher lending rate would have provided the needed push to stimulate growth of India.

Since December 2014, RBI has reduced the lending rate by 175 basis points but the banks have not made much reduction in lending rates on their part.

The doubt in the form and way rules of RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Act) will be implemented across the country and the execution of Goods and Services Tax since 1st July has created a great amount of chaos in the minds of stakeholders, specifically in reference to the meaning of on-going projects.

The wait-and-see policy is still prevalent in the sentiments of the sector. Various stakeholders are patiently waiting to get transparency and precision on the policies and changes over the coming six months.

But the industry does have some kind of hope. The prospects in the future seem to be positive in the hope that the troubles caused by GST and RERA will soon settle down.
As per the index, it has been witnessed that in the second quarter of 2017, new residential projects which have launched have recovered. Further also, the new launches are expected to improve in the coming six months. It is also possible that the positive prospects are due to the coming up of the festival season.

But the situation of sale of residential units in second quarter of 2017 has not been optimistic. It will take a long time before the buyers show interest in the market, according to 68 percent of respondents. Confidence of the buyers, which had been ruined by delay in deliveries of projects, non-deliveries of projects and litigations, will only gained back if the effectiveness of the changes in policies made by the government is at par.

On the other hand, 59 percent respondents said that the residential prices will witness an increase in the remaining half of 2017 as there is an increase in agreement costs for GST and RERA.

But our belief is that the current negative situation is temporary. As the stakeholders will get clarity on the policies, their sentiments will become positive.

The special status that has been given to the affordable housing sector and bringing transparency in the sector will definitely help to increase the flow of institutional funds at reasonable rates in the sector.

In the market of office, the coming six months will see a limitation in new supplies. This scarcity in supply will ultimately increase the rentals.

The real estate rules in Uttar Pradesh government have modified the meaning of an ‘ongoing project’, which will now allow the developer to be exempted from the ambit of RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) even when he has just submitted his application for the license or has been given a part-completion certificate before RERA was implemented. This entirely states that developers who are not able to complete their projects and ditch homebuyers will not be chastised as per the guidelines of RERA.

The conditions which prevailed for penalties for any kind of violation by builders have also been toned down. On one hand, Central RERA approves an imprisonment for as long as three years or fine which may reach up to an amount of 10% of the cost of the project, while on the other hand, Uttar Pradesh has combined offence clause to refrain from imprisonment. Even the combining has been made limited to ‘maximum 10% of the cost of the project’, which indicates that the cost can also be zero in some situations.

Uttar Pradesh government has taken the step of keeping those projects away from the ambit of RERA which have either sent their applications or have been issued occupancy certificates. The biggest issue which is being faced here is delayed possession. Many projects which were started even 7-10 years back have still not been completed.

As per the Delhi High Court, Municipal Corporations cannot emphasize over an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from remaining floor owners if one of them is getting an additional floor constructed.

The Delhi High Court had repeatedly stated that asking for these NOCs is completely baseless in situations where a partition of the property has been done and one of the floor owners want to develop additional floor on top.

A bench with members as Justice Anu Malhotra and Chief Justice Gita Mittal crushed the instruction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation where it had declined a request for sanctioning of an additional floor construction plan on the terrace by the owners of first floor of a house only on the basis that they did not have an NOC given by the owners of ground floor.

As per the observations of the bench, the claimants, who are the co-owners of the house where the construction of an additional floor will take place, had applied for a sanction of the same. The bench made it clear that in these cases, it is not mandatory to show NOCs from other floor owners.

Giving the claimants a relief, the bench has clearly said that the municipal authorities have to concentrate on the fact that the construction that will be carried out should abide by every municipal law laid down.

The North Corporation has been asked to reconsider the requests of the floor owners and the court has quoted a single judge order that says, “Principal purpose for framing building by-laws is to ensure that the buildings are constructed in conformity with the norms and parameters stipulated for planned development.”