Brigade Group Launches Brigade Atmosphere at Devanahalli in Bangalore

Brigade Group, one of India's leading real estate developers, has announced launch of Brigade Atmosphere, a signature villa project at Devanahalli, Bangalore, a high growth corridor in North Bangalore.

 

Brigade Atmosphere offers four bedroom signature villas with sizes ranging from 3010 sq.ft to 3410 sq.ft. The project aims to bring back the concept of courtyard homes, a way of life long forgotten. 

This unique project will have 109 courtyard villas spread across 18 acres of picturesque landscape.

A cluster of eight villas will be surrounding a beautiful courtyard and a series of such clusters will be connected to a central Boulevard. The unique cluster layout ensures optimal utilization of space for recreation while creating a sense of intimacy and harmony.

Brigade Atmosphere offers an ideal lifestyle with the right mix of private, semi-private, semi-public and public spaces.

The project offers a world of amenities like a convenience store, multi-purpose hall, health club, swimming pool, library, amphitheatre, gymnasium, children's play area, billiards, table tennis and basketball courts.

According to Om Ahuja, CEO-Residential, Brigade, "Brigade Atmosphere is truly a unique villa project in North Bangalore. We, at Brigade, have brought back the concept of courtyard homes that faded into oblivion due to urbanization. Each cluster of villas along with the social amenities will act as a keystone of community living." 

MCHI's property fair begins from Oct 2

MUMBAI: Over 150 developers from Maharashtra and also from other states will display more than 1,500 properties at a four-day property fair slated to begin on October 2 at the MMRDA Grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex.

Organised by the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), the property fair, besides showcasing projects in Mumbai and its metropolitan region, also will have pavilions displaying properties in Pune, Ahmedabad, Nashik, Baroda, Bangalore, Goa, Kochi and Chennai.

Over 22 banks and financial institutions such as ICICI Bank, State Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, LIC Housing Finance, Axis Bank and HDFC are participating in the property mega fair.

All the properties to be displayed in the expo will have requisite approvals, besides having clear titles and commencement certificates, said Bandish Ajmera, Chairman, MCHI-CREDAI Exhibition Committee.

Projects of Peninsula Group, Tata Housing, Indiabulls, Jaypee Group and Adani Group will be available for property buyers to choose from at the expo, organisers said.

Separate stalls will be there to highlight properties in central suburbs and extended areas and the island city.

MCHI- CREDAI has also developed a ‘virtual property expo’ in which all projects will be displayed online.

Investor's Guide to Pune Real Estate

When it comes to investment in Pune real estate, smaller investors do not enjoy the same bouquet of options as their institutional counterparts. While the latter category of investors can afford to handle portfolios consisting of many properties, smaller investors are limited by the fact that lending institutions will usually not anything over and above a second home loan.

The RBI has imposed these restrictions because it is trying to curb speculation - which is the opportunistic purchase and disposal of properties (also known as 'flipping' in markets like the US). This is justifiable, since speculation has, in the past, been the main cause of driving up prices unrealistically in many cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi NCR and Pune is no exception to this trend.

Of course, smaller investors can still use their personal funds to invest in more than one property. Where this is possible, such investors tend to plug their funds into rent-generating properties which, depending on their choice of location and project, will potentially yield good, regular income, says Kishor Pate, CMD of Amit Enterprises Housing Ltd.

Is this is wiser option that investing limited funds in gold or the stock market? It certainly is. Investment in a well-chosen residential property in Pune is a perfect way to counter inflation. Neither gold nor real estate relinquishes their intrinsic market value. But while gold does nothing but sit in the bank locker or the home safe while it appreciates, a residential property bought for investment will earn the owner rental income even as it appreciates.

If the market dynamics in the chosen location are favourable, the rental come on the property will increase in line with the growing demand for rental properties there.

 Guidelines to real estate investment

• The first factor to be considered while purchasing an investment property in Pune is location. Pune is a diverse market, and it is possible to get confused by the multitude of options available. Depending on one's budget, one can consider luxury housing in established locations and premium or budget housing in upcoming locations. There are two main criteria for making the right decision - the property needs to be either centrally located, or located close to one of Pune's IT or non-IT commercial hubs.

• The second factor to look out for is the legal sanctity of the project. The investor must be sure that there are no litigations or documentation shortfalls involved - either on the project or on the plot on which it has been built.

• The third important factor is the right point at which to invest. Many lay investors prefer to wait indefinitely for prices to fall. However, the fact is that the demand for residential property in the most lucrative locations of Pune is only going to rise. Waiting for the 'magic price point' will invariably mean missing out on very good options which were affordable at one time and will be too expensive to invest in a year or even a few months down the line.

• The fourth factor is how long one intends to stay invested in the property. The minimum period required for avoiding capital gains tax is three years, but certain locations will require a longer time to gain sufficiently in capital value for profitable resale. An investor must know when the right time to sell the property comes around. In Pune, a well-chosen property will continue to gain in intrinsic value as well as rental income generation potential. The temptation to exit and make a tidy profit may be strong at times, but it may make more sense to defer such a decision for yet a while longer.

• The fifth factor is the professionalism and credibility of a developer on Pune's residential real estate market. Even with all the above factors attended to, the fact is that many good investment projects in Pune are still under construction. The developer should have a good record for time-bound project completion. The investor should ensure that he is not dealing with an obscure, unscrupulous and potentially under-funded developer or else the investment could turn into a nightmare situation.

EasyRenting Introduces Verified Listing of Property

EasyRenting,  an online rental property services company, has now come up with a unique feature to guide those hunting for rental accommodation find their perfect choice. 

With verified listing of property module, it is easier and more secure to rent an apartment, flat or house in Delhi, Noida, Bangalore and other major cities across India. 

For students or working professionals who require rented apartments, houses or flats in major cities across India, online search offers a better option. In an ideal property renting site, one can find the exact location of the property with transport facilities along with price listing of each property. EasyRenting possesses all these features and offers convenient search for prospective tenants and they are currently offering the extra advantage of verified listing.

With the launch of verified listing service, EasyRenting has added a new dimension to the concept of online search for rental property in a preferred location. Now, their team goes to the exact location, conducts a video shoot of the property and then the video is uploaded on their site. This helps the prospective tenant conveniently get a clear view of any property before taking any decision.

It has been seen that listing with good images gets a greater number of bookings. It is indeed great when a house owner can offer a virtual tour of his apartment house or flat which he is letting out on rent. 

Vibha Sridhar, CEO of EasyRenting confirms, “When a potential guest can virtually see and get a feel of the property, it builds faith and arouses greater interest. So, house owners who intend to let out their property for rent in major cities across India can get an edge with space listings that incorporate clear videos. We are sure that this service will benefit property owners as well as seekers who intend to rent apartments, houses or flats across India.”

Tenants always look out for convenience, comfort and security when they rent an apartment.

EasyRenting makes it easy to search for a property by impressive and verified listings that create a win-win situation for the tenant and the property owner. 

To begin with, the website gives assistance to landlords and tenants who look to rent a house in Delhi, Gurgaon or Noida.

About EasyRenting

EasyRenting is an online rental property services company offering students and professionals with genuine property listings at the click of a mouse. They help property owners effectively list their properties. Tenants conveniently search for a property in their desired location across Delhi- NCR through EasyRenting.

Lebua Hotels plan four luxury properties in India

New Delhi: Thailand-based luxury hotel chain Lebua Hotels and Resorts in on expansion mode in India with four luxury properties in biggest cities in the next two years for an investment of about Rs.2,000 crore.

Speaking to reporters Deepak Ohri, chief executive, Lebua Hotels, said, “Since we have started the management of three properties in Rajasthan, we expect a strong bottom line that will help the company grow in the country.”

The company has three properties operational in Rajasthan with a total room inventory of 140. The four properties planned for Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa will take Lebua’s total number of rooms to 1,500, Ohri said. The expected investment per room is around Rs.2 crore. Of the four properties, three are new projects.

Lebua has six luxury properties in three countries—Thailand, New Zealand and India.

The company plans an air charter service under the Lebua brand in the next three months in all three countries. To begin with, the hotel operator is looking at three chartered planes.

“We will start Lebua Air in the next 90 days which will cater to all our properties across the three countries,” said Ohri. Industry analysts said small foreign hospitality companies may face hurdles in the short term.

“Currently, the industry is facing a liquidity crunch that may force many developers to stick with their core business area of real estate, so we may see more of these deals falling through, but it will be a short-term scenario,” said Chintan Patel, director, real estate and hospitality services, Ernst and Young.

No more mala-mall for India

Over 55% of the malls in Delhi-NCR region are vacant partly due to economic slowdown, poor designing, lack of robust revenue generation model and located in unattracted location, reveals the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) recent survey.

As per ASSOCHAM estimates, the total rate of vacancy in malls in Delhi-NCR is 55%, while in Mumbai it is 52% followed by Ahmedabad (51%), Chennai (50%), Hyderabad (48%), Bangalore (45%) etc. The position in the nearby town of these locations is much disturbing. 

ASSOCHAM conducted a random survey of all the shopping malls in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Dehradun, Chennai etc between October and December 2012. The survey found that many upcoming malls have significantly been delayed and withdrawn due to lukewarm response from retailers. They will also face manifold hike in construction cost.

Commenting on the malls scenario, ASSOHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said that vacancy levels are due to poor location, poor design and poor parking facilities while some are operating at 60% occupancy others are struggling at less than 20% occupancy. The occupiers are finding difficult to manage economically.

The survey also highlighted some of the challenges the industry is facing, which include inadequate infrastructure, unavailability of retail space, multiple taxes, lack of clarity in policies and shortage of experts in areas such as supply chain and store management. Now, they are shifting from lease/rentals models to revenue sharing models and this is encouraging large number of branding showrooms to open shops in malls.

“Biggest shopping mall can feel like a pretty lonely place, majority of retailers said that they are holding back on new store openings and focusing on existing stores,” adds the survey. 

The sharpest decline in mall rental values are also recorded high in Delhi-NCR by 60%, while Mumbai also dropped by 58% in rentals followed by Ahmedabad (55%), Chennai (54%), Hyderabad (52%), Bangalore (49%), Kolkata (45%), Pune (42%) and Dehradun (40%), points the ASSOCHAM survey.

Nearly 82% of the retailers said that they are shutting down some of stores in areas where rentals are too high, and with the slowdown in consumption complicating things further, point out the survey.

Nationally, the vacant rates of shopping malls are 55% and will likely rise to 70% by 2015, according to the ASSOCHM analysis. More than 90 percent of shopping in India is still done at unorganised one-off shops, adds the survey.

Sunil Kumar Dhaiya, Co-Chairperson of ASSOCHAM Real Estate committee also specialising in malls said that the real estate prices and construction costs are rising but the retail business is not growing enough to absorb this. There are just not enough footfalls.

Retail rents are down 60-65% from peaks in 2010 and that's especially painful for developers, when servicing loans is expensive at 12-13 percent interest," said Rawat.

Nearly 76% of the shop owner’s said that increasing rents will not work because at the end of the day it has to be affordable for retailers to do business and the fate of the retail realty segment is intertwined with the retail industry.

The retail sector is forecast to grow rapidly, but mall rentals and valuations are not rising in of most markets, added Rawat.

According to the ASSOCHAM estimates, rental values of malls remained stagnant across Delhi-NCR, Ahemdabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata in the October-December 2012 quarter. However, certain micro markets in Ludhiana, Indore witnessed a growth over the quarter in the range of 10-15%.

There are approximately 1,200 shopping malls in India, the growth in the retail sector has driven a mall building boom across the country, with the total number of malls expected to increase to 1,500 by 2015 from 1,200 in 2012," added the ASSOCHAM report.

The malaise of high vacant malls can be seen in micro markets, such as Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurgaon, where retail has not picked up. Clubbing this with the fact that spending was really low, the demand for malls is likely to remain dull for the coming next 2013, commented Rawat.

The survey adds demand for mall space across most micro markets remained slow because of lack of fresh supply, conservative approaches from retailers and overall slowdown in consumer demand. Slowdown in retail demand in many micro markets has led to rental values either remaining stable or correcting marginally in the range of 10 to 15% over the previous quarter.