Ascott secures management contract for serviced residence in Gurgaon

The Ascott has secured a contract in Gurgaon to manage its first Somerset-branded serviced residence in the region.

The Somerset Diplomatic Greens Gurgaon will have 174 units, scheduled to open by 2019. It will be Ascott’s second serviced residence in the city, following Ascott Ireo City Gurgaon due to open in 2017.

Somerset Diplomatic Greens Gurgaon’s management contract was granted by Puri Constructions who focuses on Northern India real estate development.

The Ascott chief corporate officer who is overseeing the company’s business in India, Tony Soh claimed of viewing strong growth potential for Ascott in India. This is as delivering the Somerset brand to Gurgaon through partnership with Puri Constructions will increase Ascott’s footprint in India to over 1,400 apartment units in eight serviced residences across five cities.

Metro India motivating growth

Indian real estate is at the tip of a recovery as Knight Frank have reported of a visible turn around in sentiment since the general elections and a pro-housing Union Budget.

According to Knight Frank, Mumbai's housing market is forecasted to lead the recovery in the Indian real estate market with a 10% price appreciation during the second half of this year, plus a staggering 49% rise in sales. The report claims demand in Mumbai had slipped by 25% year-on-year, resulting in a pile-up of 2.13 lakh unsold homes during the first half of 2014. Knight Frank believes the remaining half of the year will reboot the trend.

Prospects also seem to be looking up for India's second largest property market - the national capital region. Regardless of an unsold inventory of 1.67 lakh homes, developers in the region have continued to launch projects and have kept prices the same. The weighted average price of Rs 4500 per square feet is expected to remain stable throughout all of 2014.

Bangalore, India’s IT capital, is another housing market of the country to outperform for a recovery. According to the Knight Frank report, the Bangalore market appreciated at the most rapid pace of 11% during the former half of this year.

Hyderabad, known as India's most affordable city, followed in second with a 9% price appreciation. The revitalisation of Hyderabad's property market owes largely to the back of Telengana's creation and the end of a long political strife. 

Sahara Group selling three properties

Four months following the sale of 104 acre land at Ahmedabad, the Sahara Group is said to have reached an agreement to sell three of its other properties across India. 

The group is in final negotiations to sell 265 acres of land in Vasai suburb, Mumbai, to city based Atul Projects, for approximately Rs800crore. A formal deal will be signed upon receipt of the sale price. It has been a few years since Sahara acquired this land to establish as a township. 

Top five cities with the highest valued property market

With the rise of urbanisation, numerous inhabitants of India are now rushing towards urban areas for settlement. As such, property rates within major Indian cities are experiencing a surge between June 2012 and May 2014, according to real estate research firm, PropEquity’s latest data. Below are the top five cities with the highest valued property market cities. 

5) Bangalore

Bangalore is the Silicon Valley and major IT destination of India, proving to be an excellent location for any investor contemplating investments within the real estate sector. This has opened unvalued demand and supply for both commercial and residential properties in Bangalore.

Hyderabad to establish India's largest incubation hub

India's largest incubation centre is to be established in Hyderabad by towards the end of the year or early next year.

The Telangana government are developing the centre, collaborating with Indian School of Business (ISB), International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad and NALSAR University of Law.

T-Hub, the name given to the new incubation centre, is being developed at IIIT campus. The facility will span over 80,000 square feet, accommodating 400 start-ups. The first phase is scheduled to be ready towards the end of the year or between January and February next year with this phase itself being India's largest incubation hub.

International investors look towards India market

Overseas property investors are capitalising on India’s new regime’s policies in pursuit of various real estate ventures throughout the country.

Donald Trump, American real estate icon, announced plans to invest towards India’s hospitality and property sectors. He recently visited India to attend the Trump Tower development launch in Mumbai, currently being constructed in partnership with Lodha Group, local developer.

During the launch event, Trump revealed to local media that it has been his desire for several years to be part of a major project in Mumbai, taking honour in delivering the Trump lifestyle to the truly global metropolis with the Trump Tower Mumbai.

He claimed India is a great place to invest, with the election making it even better, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who assumed his post following the May elections.

India plans to open REIT market

India is placing the groundwork in an attempt to make real estate investment trusts tax-exempt, enabling trades on public exchanges, a move which may help unlock as much as $20billion of listings.

Regulations on taxation are to be amended, as announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 10^th July. The stock-market regulator is in preparations to allow REITs to be traded on exchanges, as reported by Edelweiss Securities Ltd.

The establishment of REITs will provide a new funding source to Indian developers who have struggled to reduce debt, as well as give investors the ability to purchase into the country’s property market. Property broker Cushman & Wakeman have estimated assets which may qualify to be included in REITs could reach $20billion by 2020. In the first three to five years, as much as $12billion may be raised.

RBI to allow Non-Resident Indians to purchase property in joint with foreign spouse

Non-resident Indians (NRI) with hopes to purchase property in India in joint with their spouse holding foreign passports may soon be allowed to do so.

The Reserve Bank of India has plans to relax the restrictions under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which currently make such acquisitions difficult.

At present, if an NRI wishes to purchase a house or any other real estate as a joint property with a foreign citizen spouse, it is processed specially, requiring prior permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a case-by-case basis.

Art sellers shifting towards property selling in luxury India

Affluent buyers looking into India's most exclusive homes may not have to worry about being closed off from deals occurring behind closed doors. This is as art auctioneers, Sotheby's plans to sell around 40 choice properties at list prices of Rs 15-200 crore. Included is a bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi (Rs 150 crore), as well as 'private residences' with ancient forts of Rajasthan.

As India is rising as a real estate destination and the number of high networth Indians is rocketing, the international auction house has readied a list of marketable and sellable properties. The president and chief executive of Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC explained expansion in India was one of the group’s main goals for 2014 as Northern India is one of the most rapid growing and beautiful markets in the world, with an evolving luxury real estate market.

Real estate company developing 100 megawatt solar property project

Pune based Indian real estate company, D.S. Kulkarni Developers Ltd., has plans to build 100 megawatts of solar capacity by 2019 to prevent increasing electricity costs.

9billion rupees ($148million) will be invested towards the project, to be developed in Neemuch in the central Madhya Pradesh state. This is according to Chairman and Managing Director D.S. Kulkarni from Delhi.

It is expected that electricity will be generated at an average of 5.5 rupees a kilowatt-hour during the 25 year lifetime of the project. This is equivalent to as little as half the commercial power tariff that is currently being paid by D.S. Kulkarni.

125 acres (505,857 square metres) of land has been acquired. Construction will commence on the first 24-megawatts this year.

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