Tag: property market

View: Need measures in Budget 2022 to further incentivise house purchases

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Demand for residential real estate has shown resilience in the last 18 months — particularly in the mid- to high-income segments — despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, on the back of record low interest rates on home loans, pent-up demand, incentives by state governments and a hybrid working model. An increase in the deduction benefit available on interest and principal payments on housing loans for buyers can further support this recovery trend.

Enhanced tax concessions on income from renting of housing properties and a removal of taxation on notional rental income can also boost demand for new properties.

Enhanced tax deductions, government subsidies and GST benefits are currently available for the affordable housing segment. The increase in the cap in the area, currently at 60 square metres, and the value of the units, currently capped at Rs 45 lakh, eligible for the affordable housing benefits will provide incentives to buyers across a wider spectrum, and stimulate demand.

Additionally, the incentives of extra deduction of home loan interest on affordable houses and tax holidays for the affordable housing segment were extended till March 22. A further extension, beyond March 22, will support sales momentum.

Schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) have played a pivotal role in improving home ownership. A continued focus on budgetary and extra budgetary allocations to such schemes can improve the access to housing in the low-to-mid-income segments of the population. The pending expenditure on PMAY is over Rs 1 lakh crore. In FY2022, the allocation was Rs 48,000 crore (BE), and in FY2021, Rs. 41,000 crore (RE). This needs to be ramped up in the upcoming Budget to meet the target of 50 million dwelling units under the PMAY.

On the supply side, small- to medium-sized players faced challenges in terms of reduced cash flows and credit availability owing to the pandemic. Efficient models for targeted credit availability to highly impacted projects can be considered to tackle potential issues such as stalled projects.

The SWAMIH fund was announced in November 2019 with a target fundraise of Rs. 25,000 crore, out of which, Rs 10,000 crore was raised from the government and the remaining from large institutional investors, including LIC, HDFC and SBI. Further augmentation of the budgetary allocation for the SWAMIH fund will support completion of large stuck real estate projects in the country.

After the announcement of the last Budget, multiple SPVs have been set up by the PSUs to unlock land bank potential; Budget 2022 can provide additional thrust and lay down targets on actual monetisation of this land bank, aiding the improvement of land parcel supply for real estate development in the country.

Notwithstanding various industry-specific amendments to the insolvency resolution laws, the implementation of the bankruptcy process for real estate companies remains a challenge. Steps to streamline the insolvency process to achieve faster adoption and implementation of resolution plans will be beneficial to both lenders and homebuyers in such stuck projects. On the commercial real estate segment, incremental steps taken over the past years have resulted in a successful track record of REIT issuances. Steps to improve the ease of access to debt capital and to enhance retail participation can channel more investments into this segment.

–Kapil Banga is Sector Head and Assistant Vice President at ICRA. He has been tracking the real estate sector at ICRA for over a decade. The views expressed in this article are his own.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Budget 2022: From boosting affordable housing to tax sops; here are key expectations of real estate sector

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian real estate has time again proved its mettle regardless of the many adversities it had to deal with during the first and second waves of Covid. Once again, the country seems to be in the thick of the situation. A lot of us have made alterations to our everyday life, but the one thing that has been further reinforced after the second wave is the importance of owning a home.

NoBroker’s annual real estate report suggests that 76 percent of people are considering buying a property in 2022. While banking institutions have made the deal sweeter by reducing home loan interest rates, a few more incentives in the budget could make the deal irresistible and ensure faster recovery of the sector.

Redefine affordable housing

The definition of affordable housing needs to be readjusted as standardization of sizes might work across cities, but the standardisation of prices doesn’t. What one can buy in tier two cities in Rs 45 lakhs is substantially different from what one can buy in the same budget in urban cities.

Incentivising affordable housing

More incentives for affordable housing could be announced in the upcoming budget. SWAMIH fund was created in Sept 2020 to give relief to homebuyers of stalled projects by providing last-mile funding to affordable and middle-income housing projects. SWAMIH funds need to be continued and more capital is required to be allocated to ensure a larger number of projects.

Make real estate an investment class

The NoBroker report indicates that 16 percent of people are looking to buy a property for investment. This is a significant jump from last year. It also suggests that 76 percent of people still consider property as the best investment option against stocks/SIPs, gold and bitcoin! The government could announce measures that would make real estate an investment class by giving tax benefits on a second home purchase. Standard deduction of 30 percent on the net rental income should be revised to increase interest from investor class. Also, there should be quick implementation of the Model Tenancy Act by the states.

Tax sops

Currently, many investments qualify for deductions under section 80C which has an upper limit of Rs 1.5 lakhs. Increasing this limit could trigger greater demand in real estate. Introducing a separate section for deduction of loan repayment could ensure a more robust demand.

ALSO READ | Views: How to pick the right property for real estate investment

Budget 2022 could also look at revising the limit for deduction of interest on housing loan under Section 24 (b) from the current Rs 200,000 to Rs 10,00,000. The increase in the ceiling limit would incentivise buyers.

Faster clearance of projects to reduce costs

This has been a long-standing demand by the sector. The issue impacts delivery timelines which causes financial losses to the builders and home-buyers. The multiple approvals if processed through single window clearance could significantly cut down construction costs and avoid delays.

ALSO READ | Boost to rental housing a must; expect standard deduction on home loans to be raised to Rs 5 lakhs: Hiranandani

Benefits for tenants

Given that a lot of people have gone back to working from home and although in lesser numbers, the reverse migration has happened, the budget could include higher HRA to boost rental segment. Faster implementation of Model Tenancy Act would also help the rental segment.

A lot of these demands have been long standing. The sector is capable of uplifting the economy like no other and therefore, it makes a lot of sense to adopt as many of the changes as possible.

—The author, Saurabh Garg, is Cofounder and Chief Business Officer, NoBroker.com. Views expressed are personal

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

View: 4 Budget announcements that can boost residential realty demand

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The residential segment made a strong comeback in 2021, with housing sales in the top seven cities rebounding to 90 percent of pre-COVID levels and new launches reaching levels last seen in 2019. The prospects of the housing segment generally look bright in 2022. However, it remains to be seen to what extent, if any, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 impacts real estate activity.

So far, the new variant has not posed any serious impact on realty. However, the sentiment revival in residential real estate during the worst of the first and second waves of the pandemic hinged heavily on policy support. The RBI and the government have proactively aided the sector with various demand boosters. Stamp duty cuts and the extension of tax benefits in affordable housing in 2021’s Budget were key among the moves that made a difference.

Despite rising inflation, the central bank has kept the repo rate unchanged for the last nine straight bi-monthly monetary policy reviews, extending the benefit of low interest rates to homebuyers. These measures have helped the housing segment, which plays a significant role in the overall economy to maintain an even keel during a very rough phase.

The residential segment looks forward to further support beyond the mainstay demands of an industry status, easy availability of finance and lower GST rates.

Here are some moves that would help in spurring residential demand:

• Revision in home loan deduction limit under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act

There is a need to hike the Rs 2 lakh tax limit on deduction on housing loan interest under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act, to at least Rs 5 lakh. This could instantly infuse robust demand for housing, especially in the affordable and mid-segment categories.

ALSO READ: Realty sector expects tax rebates, infra status from Budget

• Revision in deductions for home loan principal repayment over and above the existing 80C limit

A relief in personal income tax, either through a cut in tax rates or though revised tax slabs, would be a welcome move, especially since the last increase in the deduction limit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act to Rs 1.5 lakh a year, which took place in 2014. The time is certainly ripe for a further upward revision, but there is no denying that the government currently lacks the elbow room for such a move.

Instead, it may focus on providing more incentives to the MSMEs and SMEs struggling after the pandemic. Also, the government’s spending on infrastructure may get a further boost.

ALSO READ: Taxpayers’ Budget 2022 wishlist

• Change in the affordable housing criteria to extend the benefit of additional deductions to more buyers

According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, affordable housing is defined on the basis of property size, price and the buyer’s income. For instance, affordable housing is a unit with carpet area up to 90 square metres in non-metropolitan cities and towns, and 60 square metres in major cities, valued up to Rs 45 lakh in both cases.

The government should consider revising city-wise pricing parameters to include a broader customer base. The size of units, according to its definition (60 square metres of carpet area) is relatively appropriate, but the prices of units (up to Rs 45 lakh) are not viable across most cities. For instance, a budget of up to Rs 45 lakh is far too low in case of a city like Mumbai, and needs to be increased to at least Rs 85 lakh.

For other top cities, the budget range should be increased to at least Rs 60-65 Lakh. With this revision, more homes will fall within the affordable price tag, allowing more buyers to avail of multiple benefits like lower GST rates at one percent without input tax credit (ITC), government subsidies and the tax deduction of a total of Rs 3.5 lakh on interest repayment of home loans.

Also, more of government-controlled land needs to be unlocked to create affordable housing. Some portions of land across cities falling under the Department of Heavy Industries, Indian Railways, Port Trusts etc. can be released by respective government bodies. Increased availability of low-cost land will also help rein in property prices significantly.

ALSO READ: Realty growth sustainable, says Knight Frank

• Extend benefits of affordable housing

Affordable and rental housing got a big boost in the last Union Budget, with the government extending the period for extra deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh for loans up to March 31, 2022. A further extension of this benefit will ensure buoyant demand for affordable housing in 2022.

Further, extending the tax holiday for affordable housing projects by another year will help in bringing in more of new supply within this segment.

According to ANAROCK research, affordable housing in 2021 accounted for approximately 26 percent of the overall supply across the top seven cities. A tax exemption for Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) will also help stave off labour shortage challenges in case of any disruptions in the future.

–Anuj Puri is Chairman of ANAROCK Group. The views expressed in this article are his own.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How property giant Evergrande’s fallout can hit metal prices, explained

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Shares of Evergrande on Monday plunged to over 11-year lows, extending losses as executives try to salvage its business prospects and as default fears grow over a looming deadline for payment obligations this week.

Evergrande has been scrambling to raise funds to pay its many lenders, suppliers and investors, with regulators warning that it’s $305 billion of liabilities could spark broader risks to the country’s financial system if not stabilised.

Last week Chinese authorities told banks to not expect interest payments due this week on their loans to Evergrande. With Evergrande being the second-largest property developer in China, the question is whether a default could lead to contagion.

Also Read | China’s indebted Evergrande Group rings warning bells, experts see opportunity in Asia

Impact on global markets so far

There has been no worldwide contagion due to Evergrande; equities and high yields in the US are reacting slightly in the anticipating of the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week. Even Chinese assets have been quite steady. On the macro front, the Chinese yuan has been stable as well.

Can Evergrande hit China’s property market?

China’s real estate market (including home furnishings) is about 30 percent of its GDP. The sector makes 27 percent of total currency loans, yuan loans in China. Land sales make around 40 percent of revenues as per local Chinese government authorities. So it is pretty big stuff.

The assets of the Evergrande are nearly equal to about 2 percent of China’s GDP, loans are about $300 billion, there are 200 offshore and 2,000 onshore subsidiaries. And Evergrande’s property sales make up for around 4 percent of China’s total property sales. It also employs over 1.2 lakh people and some 38 lakh contractors. Chinese property markets have already been slowing down.

Also Read | Explained: Property giant Evergrande’s debt crisis; what it means for China and beyond

If the slowdown in the China construction and property market is sustained, it’s here to stay for a while. And it will most definitely hit demand for metals. The property construction space in China is a huge consumer of metals.

However, it is a big ‘if’.

“Yes, there could be a contagion, there could certainly be a slowdown as far as to demand picture across many of the metals. So there really is the concern,” Peter McGuire, CEO of XM Australia said.

And if the government bails the company then that is not a big feat either. Evergrande’s business model (consisting of everything from electric cars to theme parks) is a very big one, McGuire said.

He added, “Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised to take a little bit of heat out of markets. That really creates I think, a lot of fear into the markets and that is the issue, investor sentiment. So that is got to be contained or you are going to see further sell-offs and I think the fragility across a lot of the emerging markets and it could certainly roll into India.”

Watch the accompanying video to understand the impact on metals

Text inputs from Reuters

Read Here: China crackdown fallout: In world’s biggest wealth drop, a billionaire loses $27 billion

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

1.7 lakh homes worth Rs 1.4 lakh crore stuck in limbo: Anarock

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Over 1.74 lakh under-construction homes across the country are stuck in limbo with no on-site activity, a study by property consultant Anarock has revealed. These stalled units total to Rs 1,40,613 crore in value and are spread across most metropolises.

The number of stalled units, according to Anarock, is out of a total of 6.26 lakh homes that have already seen inordinate construction delays — residential units that were launched before 2014, but remain incomplete.

“For our earlier tally of stalled and heavily delayed projects released in 2019, we had considered projects launched in 2013 or before. Now, more than 18 months later, we have included projects launched in 2014 as well,” said Prashant Thakur, Director and Head (Research), Anarock, “This has resulted in a rise in the numbers — as of H12021 there are nearly 6.29 lakh units that are yet to be completed across the top seven cities.”

NCR tops list of stalled units, Mumbai a distant second
NCR accounts for the lion’s share of stalled homes. The region has 1.14 lakh homes stuck in limbo — 66 percent of all stalled homes across the country — valued at Rs 86,463 crore. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), according to Anarock’s study, has about 41,730 stalled homes valued at Rs 42,417 crore.

Developers in the southern part of the country seem to have completed most projects on time, with Bengaluru and Hyderabad together accounting for only about 8,020 stalled units, while Chennai has no under-construction homes in limbo.

A small percentage of these projects could receive relief thanks to schemes like the Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) fund, and adoption by the National Building Construction Council (NBCC). However, Anarock holds that the outlook for home-buyers of stalled homes is “disastrous”.

“Given the huge funding crunch in the construction industry, the outlook for people who bought units in completely stalled projects is disastrous, while the prospects for buyers in heavily delayed projects are bleak at best,” the report said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Global property markets ready to soar this year: Poll

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Residential property markets in major economies will soar this year on huge monetary and fiscal support and amid a recovery from the pandemic, according to Reuters polls, which showed risks for prices skewed to the upside.

Average home selling prices have hit eye-watering levels in 2021 in some countries. That trend is expected to continue, driven by low mortgage rates, swift vaccine rollouts, and the easing of restrictions after deep pandemic-induced recessions last year.

The global boom in property prices comes alongside soaring stock markets, which quickly bounced back from a slump on pandemic-driven economic damage and devastating job losses, to focus on unprecedented stimulus and the recovery at hand.

Reuters polls of more than 100 property market experts taken May 11-24 showed big upgrades to house price forecasts for the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Dubai compared with just three months back, outpacing expected GDP growth and consumer price inflation.

”Consumer confidence has risen strongly due to the success of vaccination programmes and survey evidence suggests the pandemic has led to more people looking to move home. Supply shortages point to upward pressure on prices in the short term,” said Andrew Harvey, senior economist at Nationwide.

Almost 60 percent of analysts, or 55 of 92, who responded to a separate question on property markets across the globe, said risks to the outlook were skewed to the upside over the coming year. The remaining 37 said more to the downside.

The trend in the latest Reuters polls showed expectations for strong gains this year followed by slower appreciation in the next few years, moderated by increased supply, lower immigration, and as affordability becomes a bigger constraint.

While there has been a higher demand for both single- and multi-family homes in cities and towns, when asked how demand for office space would change more broadly over the next few years, respondents were split. Forty-one of 78 respondents said it would decrease, including five who said decrease significantly, while the remaining 37 said demand for office space would increase, including two who said a significant increase.

”The enforced remote-working experiment of recent months will cause a dramatic demand shift in the office sector, with as many as 50% of office-based employees working from home at least once a week,” said Matthew Pointon, senior property economist at Capital Economics.

”Even with a heroic supply response through substantial conversions and demolitions, we expect vacancy to rise markedly in the next five years and still be elevated in 2030.”

INDIA TO MISS BOOM TIMES

House prices in Australia and Canada were forecast to gain double-digits this year, while in Dubai they were expected to rise for the first time in six years.

Britain’s housing boom was set to roll on too on ongoing government support alongside increased demand for more living space.

US house prices were expected to race ahead, rising at double the rate expected in February, driven by low supply and cushioned by hefty spending by the White House administration and near-zero interest rates.

”Unexpected demand during the pandemic and chronically tight inventories have pushed home prices well above levels warranted by underlying fundamentals such as employment and income,” said Gregory Daco, chief US economist at Oxford Economics.

The outlook for the Indian housing market was one notable exception to the global trend.

Indian house prices were predicted to stagnate this year, hurt by a devastating second wave of the coronavirus which has crushed demand and offset government tax rebates and incentives for property developers.

India is currently accounting for one in every three coronavirus-related deaths reported worldwide each day, according to a Reuters tally.

”Normalcy in mobility and housing would remain muted over the next 18 months. But the larger issue of income and jobs also remains muted,” said Ashish Nainan, assistant professor at Saintgits said of the Indian market.

”While the first wave provided some relief to the sector, post the second wave, buyers would become fence-sitters for an extended period.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Delhi-NCR has maximum stuck housing units at 1.9 lakh worth nearly Rs 1.2 lakh cr: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Delhi-NCR property market has maximum stuck housing units at 1.9 lakh, worth nearly Rs 1.2 lakh crore, that were delayed by at least seven years, according to property consultant Anarock. A total of 1,90,120 housing units, worth Rs 1,19,291 crore, were stuck in the Delhi-NCR as of 2020-end. These flats were launched in 2013 and before.

The property market of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has the second highest number of stuck housing units at 1,80,250, worth Rs 2,02,145 crore. Across seven major cities, as many as 5,02,340 housing units, worth Rs 4,07,005 crore, were stuck at the end of last year.

As on 2019-end, 1,322 projects comprising 5.76 lakh units were stuck in various stages. Commenting on the report, Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said: “Project delays have been the bane of the Indian real estate sector over the last decade. Even the implementation of RERA had only a little impact on this”.

Among other factors, the liquidity crunch threw up roadblocks for developers, which is why the government intervened with the creation of the Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) in late 2019 with a corpus of Rs 25,000 crore, he said. “This last-mile capitalization mechanism couched in the Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) fund has proved to be effective in getting stuck projects going again,” Puri said.

As many as190 stuck/delayed housing projects accounting for over 73,560 units were completed in 2020, Anarock said. As per the data, 29,850 housing units worth Rs 22,276 crore were stuck in Bengaluru.

Pune has 80,480 units worth Rs 49,667 crore that were delayed as of 2020-end. As many as 9,180 housing units worth Rs 5,436 crore were delayed in Kolkata.

Hyderabad has 6,520 stuck housing units worth Rs 4,305 crore, while Chennai has 5,940 units worth Rs 3,886 crore.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Can fractional ownership heal the ailing Indian real estate sector?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Authored by: Ankush Ahuja

Profitable investment in real estate needs proportionate capital. And to earn a proportionate capital one needs a profitable investment. This is the paradox where most real estate industry players are stuck until the concept of fractional ownership—a newer way to invest in high-yielding commercial real-estate (CRE)—came in knocking on the door. It is compared favourably with the other forms of investments like corporate bonds, fixed deposits, and gold, and yet produce a sizeable profit and considered safe.

The concept of fractional ownership has been evolving for about the last couple of decades worldwide. This evolution in the mode of ownership has occurred by democratising fractional ownership by opening the gates for small investments.

In India, fractional ownership is already a $5 billion beast and is bulking further with each day. It is an established market and anyone with solid mettle in the real estate industry knows the importance of it. First, one needs to identify high-yielding properties based on industry-specific criteria. This includes rigorously performing due diligence about the property and researching about its performance, tenant, cash-flows, and market scenarios.

It is important to invest in a valuable property and partially own it via a trusting platform. One should ideally invest in multiple properties to diversify their ownership, which further drops down one’s risk of investment. One can earn either through monthly rentals from the property or by reselling it with a profitable margin. The rest of the journey is tracking and scaling your investment by consistently looking out for better opportunities.

With the digitalisation of the real estate industry, it has become easier to identify, buy, track, and scale investments through several available online platforms. These platforms allow investors to buy fractions of Grade ‘A’ properties.

Fractional properties like retail spaces, offices, data centers, cold storages, tech parks, and warehouses represent lucrative investment opportunities only if one knows how to access it. Fractional properties offer a plethora of choices since they come in many types and sizes.

In comparison to the residential assets, the rental yields from fractional properties are three times higher. This is because fractional properties are institutional-grade commercial assets, which one generally cannot access as an individual. This non-volatile form of investment grants more flexibility to diversify one’s portfolio to help the investor in scaling his profits upstream.

Fractional ownership allows flexibility in one’s investment choices. At any point during the investment, an investor can receive a return proportionate to the increase in the property’s value by selling their shares. And even after selling them, the investor holds the legal title of the property based on his payment history and the corresponding number of fractional payments.

In this new age of investment, fractional ownership brings in a sustainable change. Especially in these difficult times, where the world and hence the market is struggling through a pandemic; the concept could be a medicine.

It can be a medicine to property developers, to drive them to build more quality properties; for mediators, to sell and earn money in more manageable and transparent platforms; and most importantly, it is a medicine for investors, to get into profitable investments without taking all the risk.

—Ankush Ahuja is Corporate Director & Head: International Business, Investors Clinic. The views expressed are personal

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

HDFC begins month-long India Homes Fair to woo NRIs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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To cash in on festive fervour, mortgage lender HDFC Ltd on Friday said it has started a month-long mega online property show ‘India Homes Fair’ featuring over 350 projects from more than 175 developers located across 50 Indian cities. All Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Orgin (PIO) based in London, Singapore and Middle East can look forward to own their dream home in India through just a click by viting the website.

The virtual fair not only offers the ease and convenience of browsing through a wide variety of projects but also helps to compare, shortlist and get in touch with multiple developers on one platform, HDFC Ltd said in a statement. Visitors can view the project photo gallery, access detailed information, explore different configurations and take advantage of various offers provided by the developers, it said.

It further said over 350 projects from cities, including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Vishakhapatnam and Ludhiana, will be on display with varying options like flats, villas and plots worth Rs 35 lakh onwards. Customers can also avail of exclusive offers and value-added benefits during the exhibition, it said.

“We at HDFC have seen demand coming back. In July 2020, HDFC achieved 81 per cent of July 2019 disbursements, better than what we had expected given the lockdown and other restrictions and the subsequent months have been even better,” HDFC Managing Director Renu Sud Karnad said. The recent reports by agencies indicate that sales have been improving and this festive season should be much better, it said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19 and the evolution of property management services

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Authored by: Amit Agarwal

One could not imagine a more appropriate time than the current one to reminisce Dickens’ words “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. If one were to look around, so much has changed in the way everyday chores are conducted. Start with buying groceries for example. The biggest problem until just a few months ago was forgetting to carry a carry bag to the grocery store and having to buy one each time even though you had it back at home. Today, you almost have to gear up for that with a mask, gloves, sanitizers, and a whole laundry list of precautionary measures. Or remember the simpler times of visiting a mall or catching a movie that constituted small joys of life?

These are just some examples that pop in the mind when one thinks of how much has changed and how the new normal has seeped in our everyday lives. But could you ever imagine managing a property in another city, country, or continent remotely? That is the scale of change we are in the midst of experiencing. Managing a property in another geography was never easy as the owner would have to travel each time he had to onboard a new tenant. But with COVID-19 catching everyone off-guard, it became even more difficult. While owners were in a fix on how to do that with so many travel restrictions, tenants leaving for hometown and not being able to pay rent on time, added to their woes. Both parties were victims of circumstances.

Leading real estate players such as NoBroker.com have launched tailor-made services to suit the requirements of remote property management. One can avail 360-degree property management services that help to manage the property remotely. If you are an NRI who has a property in India or if you have a property in a city other than where you reside in, it is difficult to manage the property and come down every time for inspections, repair damages, tenant vacating and onboarding, etc. so you can avail a service whereby all the property management work such as finding and onboarding a tenant, half-yearly inspection, collection of rent, repair work is taken care by the platform in lieu of a tiny portion of rent percentage. This is not all. The service includes uninterrupted payment of rent even for the months that a house is vacated until a new tenant is found. The search is free of cost for the owner as well as the tenant.

Over the last 4 months, it has onboarded over 2500 properties on the platform to be managed under property management service across Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Delhi-NCR. It received more than 250 queries per day expressing interest in this service. In fact, ever since the service was launched, the number of NRI customers on our platform has increased by 65 percent. In addition to NRIs, it is receiving a good response from the property owners who are staying in a different city and the owner owning multiple properties. Out of the total customers that the platform currently services, 40 percent are NRIs, 25 percent are owning multiple properties and the remaining 35 percent are either staying in a different city or are staying in the same city but want a hassle-free experience with respect to managing their tenants

This solves the problem for an owner who could be living out-of-city or out-of-country or simply busy enough and hence requires help in managing his/her property. Property management is gradually becoming an extremely relevant service. Real estate players have really been finding an opportunity in adversity and brainstorming on the next big thing for the sector. Innovating online and technological solutions for a sector that has predominantly been an offline play for generations is a huge leap for the industry.

Until the world was hit by COVID-19, a lot of technological advancements and upgradations were not thought of. The crisis has ironically catapulted us towards more organised ways of managing tasks. Property management services would have never included “remote” management to this extent until travel restrictions became a reality. But come to think of it. Solutions save time, effort, and money. The times have necessitated never imagined and never thought of solutions. We only have to gain from these.

Video walkthroughs to find homes, online rent payments, and society apps doubling up as security providers are just some examples of how quickly and wonderfully the sector has adapted to the “new normal”. It is poised to emerge stronger from this blow.

This is why, Dickens’ lines resonate so much with the current situation making it the “age of wisdom, and foolishness, an epoch of belief and incredulity, a spring of hope and a winter of despair”, all at once.

—Amit Agarwal is the CEO and Cofounder of NoBroker.com. The views expressed are personal

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow