Dwarka sub-city residents prefer moving to larger homes within locality.

Dwarka sub-city is mainly an end-user driven market with the whole infrastructure up and running. It is well-connected with Metro Rail and airport, and a destination of choice for home buying.

We have seen a trend wherein, existing residents of Dwarka sub-city look for better and bigger apartments within the Dwarka sub-city itself. These are primarily the ones who are residents of the earliest launched societies in the area and are now looking towards societies with better maintenance and construction quality. In a way they are looking for upgrade. Those who are already residing in a 3BHK with twin car parking, power back-up, etc and are looking towards 3BHK+servant’s room with other things remaining the same.

We have seen good inventory available in Sectors 21 and 22 and now Sector 19B being a hot spot. The price range for the 1,500 sq ft, 3BHK apartment, with parking facility and power back-up in Sector 7, is Rs 95 lakh to Rs 1.15 crore, depending upon location of the society, infrastructure quality, internal maintenance and many other factors.

Is it the right time to buy?

For Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway, this is the best time for the first-time home buyers, as they will not only get the property at discounted rates, but also may get further discount of 3-6 per cent, in terms of freebies. The charges like PLC (Preferential Location Charges) and club membership can be waived off, based on the level of negotiation and the type of property.

For Dwarka sub-city, we have seen the prices softening for the past six months, and there is no reason for delaying the decision now.

Is it the time to invest?

For Investors, Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway still holds a lot of opportunities, provided one can spot the properties under distress. We have been seeing the quantum of distress sales and one can have a great bargain in these times, when short term real estate investors are exiting.

It is not recommended to go for investment in the said stretch as far as the newly launched or already launched properties are concerned as better options are already available. An investor could rather consider other alternative such as Sohna in Gurgaon and also Neemrana.

Neemrana provides the best point of price-entry that many have missed at the Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway. This is backed by the whole infrastructural development that is coming up to support it, with Japanese city coming into existence along with many other international firms setting up their base.

Rajat Dhar, managing partner, Cogent Advisory

The views expressed in this article are the author´s own. This article was published on magicbricks.com and can be accessed here.

Read More

Dwarka sub-city residents prefer moving to larger homes within locality

The article was published at MagicBricks.Com and can be accessed at: here.

 
Dwarka sub-city is mainly an end-user driven market with the whole infrastructure up and running. It is well-connected with Metro Rail and airport, and a destination of choice for home buying.

We have seen a trend wherein, existing residents of Dwarka sub-city look for better and bigger apartments within the Dwarka sub-city itself. These are primarily the ones who are residents of the earliest launched societies in the area and are now looking towards societies with better maintenance and construction quality. In a way they are looking for upgrade. Those who are already residing in a 3BHK with twin car parking, power back-up, etc and are looking towards 3BHK+servant’s room with other things remaining the same.

We have seen good inventory available in Sectors 21 and 22 and now Sector 19B being a hot spot. The price range for the 1,500 sq ft, 3BHK apartment, with parking facility and power back-up in Sector 7, is Rs 95 lakh to Rs 1.15 crore, depending upon location of the society, infrastructure quality, internal maintenance and many other factors.

Is it the right time to buy?
For Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway, this is the best time for the first-time home buyers, as they will not only get the property at discounted rates, but also may get further discount of 3-6 per cent, in terms of freebies.

The charges like PLC (Preferential Location Charges) and club membership can be waived off, based on the level of negotiation and the type of property.

For Dwarka sub-city, we have seen the prices softening for the past six months, and there is no reason for delaying the decision now.

Is it the time to invest?
For Investors, Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway still holds a lot of opportunities, provided one can spot the properties under distress. We have been seeing the quantum of distress sales and one can have a great bargain in these times, when short term real estate investors are exiting.

It is not recommended to go for investment in the said stretch as far as the newly launched or already launched properties are concerned as better options are already available. An investor could rather consider other alternative such as Sohna in Gurgaon and also Neemrana.

Neemrana provides the best point of price-entry that many have missed at the Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway. This is backed by the whole infrastructural development that is coming up to support it, with Japanese city coming into existence along with many other international firms setting up their base.

Rajat Dhar, managing partner, Cogent Advisory

The article was published at MagicBricks.Com and can be accessed at: here.

Read More

REIT: A new dimension to real estate investing - Part I

The article got published on MagicBricks.Com, and can be accessed at: here.

Wished to ride the real estate wave for harvesting better returns but have been put off by high real estate prices in India? Introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in India could open up new avenues for you.

Traditionally, an investor intending to venture into real estate would scout for the best residential or commercial properties with an intention of growth or regular income from the real estate investment.

For majority of investors, rising real estate prices have put them out of the market. This adds on to the fact that the investment would also be limited to one or two properties, and thus in this case a ‘Real Estate Portfolio Management’ can not be executed in the truest sense. On the other hand, consider the case where you have invested in a real estate project in Noida, and the land on which the project is being constructed comes under dispute between landowners and builders (like the case in Noida extension). With Real Estate Funds, your investment is not placed into one single project and hence your investment basket is protected.

There is a silver lining amid these high real estate costs. The answer lies in Real Estate Mutual Funds (ReMFs), ReITs and Real Estate PE (Private Equity) funds. The real estate investment scenario got a drastic change with the sector getting opened for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2005.

While ReITs & ReMFs will take some time to get structured in India, Real Estate PE funds have already made their way in the said space. Some of the funds active in the market include Tata Realty and Infrastructure, Indiareit Fund Advisors, HDFC Real Estate Fund, ICICI Venture; ASK Property Investment Advisors, ArthVeda STAR Fund from DHFL and Kotak Realty Fund.

What are ReMFs and ReITs, and what differentiates one from the other?
ReITs are popular and prevalent in developed markets. They are listed on stock exchanges and governed by transparent norms. ReMFs invest in commercial properties and own them. They make gains by renting out or selling their holdings; like mutual funds and share profits with investors.

Real estate PE funds are, however, different. These funds invest in real estate projects by tying up with the developer, wherein the developer sells a portion of the project to the fund. Some funds tie up with companies also. These funds are primarily for HNIs, for real estate investment purposes.

The PE advantage: PE takes care of all the due diligence required for selecting the properties to invest into; and there is a specialised team that does the valuation, assessment and screening before investments can be committed to the project. Moreover, investors’ amount is spread out over multiple properties, so that diversification plays out well over here.

Rajat Dhar, Managing Partner, Cogent Advisory

The article got published on MagicBricks.Com, and can be accessed at: here.

Read More

Pointers On Real Estate Bill Passed By Cabinet.

Finally, much awaited bill finds an approval with the Cabinet. It is beter late than never, wil real estate customer woes being over for now. Atleast, the process has been sent in motion.

The Union Cabinet approved the bill to set up a regulator for the real estate sector with provisions for jail term for the developer for putting out misleading advertisements about projects.

Here are 10 things you need to know about the bill:

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development), Bill 2013, seeks to make it mandatory for developers to launch projects only after acquiring all the statutory clearances from relevant authorities.
It also has provisions under which all relevant clearances for real estate projects would have to be submitted to the regulator and also displayed on a website before starting the construction.
 

The proposed legislation has certain tough provisions to deter builders from putting out misleading advertisements related to the projects carrying photographs of actual site. Failure to do so for the first time would attract a penalty which may be up to 10 percent of the project cost and a repeat offence could land the developer in jail. Moreover, any false advertising implies that buyers will get full refund of the money deposited with interest.
 

The bill also seeks to make it mandatory for a developer to maintain a separate bank account for every project to ensure that the money raised for a particular project is not diverted elsewhere. According to a CNBC-TV18 report, developers have to keep aside 70 percent of the buyers’ funds in a separate bank account to ensure timely completion of projects. The buyers are entitled to full refund with interest in case of delay in projects.
 

The proposed legislation provides for clear definition of the ‘carpet area’ and would prohibit private developers from selling houses or flats on the basis of ambiguous ‘super area’.
 

Under the proposed new law, builders will be able to sell property only after getting all necessary clearances. Registrations of projects with the regulatory authority is a must. This means developers cannot offer any pre-launch sales without the regulatory approvals. Moreover the authority must approve or reject projects within 15 days.
 

Developers will also be barred from collecting any money from buyers before completing all necessary permits to start construction on the project.
 

Builders cannot take more than 10 percent of the advance from buyers without a written agreement.

The bill also seeks setting up of a real estate appellate tribunal for adjudicating disputes. The tribunal will be headed either by a sitting or a retired judge.

 
It also suggests setting up of a national advisory council to be headed by housing minister Ajay Maken to suggest ways to advise the regulator on crucial matters.

Now, much of the transparency will come into the system that was long due. 

We are following up and keeping track of developments. Stay connected for the updates.

Read More