Real estate in india

Unitech Ltd, the country’s secnd-largest realty player, has to handle customer ire at one of its premium housing projects in the suburban city of Gurgaon

This comes right after DLF, the largest property developer, brought out a range of measures to soothe restive customrs at a couple of other housing projects at Gurgaon.

The Unitech customer ire is due to alleged delay in completion of World Spa, apartments and villas that carry an average price tag of over Rs 1 cr per unit. “The property was scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2006. Two years later, more than half has no yet been delivered, with no completion date in sight. And the complex is far from finished,” complained a customer.

Customers said their mails and pleas to Unitech had been ignored. World Spa has over 350 apartments in two projecs — Spa East and Spa West. While there are 159 apartments in five towers in the East, the Spa West has six towers that house 208 apartments. Customers say Unitech has collected over Rs 450 cr, constituting 90 per cent of the payment.

Unitech officials, however, deny the charges and say the project is on track. “The release of World Spa has started and all six towers in Spa East have been ofered for possession. One tower in Spa West has also been released. The rest of the towers will be released progressively in the next few months,” said a spokesperson.

Company officials said the delay in Spa West was caused by customers’ demand for structural changes. “The West towers are structurally complete and finishing touches need some more months. The delay happned after a group of buyers approached us in 2007, asking for major changes in the project. We tried to incorporate the changes, hence the delay,” said the officials.

Unitech added the payments were “construction linked”, which suggested that 90 per cent payment would mean that 95 per cent of the project was complete. The company is planning to meet the customers during the week to clear their apprehensions.

The customers are yet to be convinced. They are hinting at beginning with peaceful public demonstrations to “sensitise” Unitech.

Customers complain that cash-strapped realty majors are delaying the completion of residential projects after taking hefty advance payments. To address such feelings, DLF is in the process of announcing project-specific “relief packages” — including pice cuts — for its customers

Courtesy:- BS dt:- 01-04-09

Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has agreed to lend Rs100 crore to cash-strapped
href="http://www.zameen-zaidad.com/Retail%20Space.aspx"> realty firm Emaar MGF to

ensure the Commonwealth Games Village project is completed on time, a DDA official

said.

But the development agency is willing to consider lending more later, he added. DDA

would extend the Rs100-crore loan if Emaar MGF offers apartment worth the same value

either as collateral of for outright sale to the government-run body. The village will

have 1,168 apartments to accommodate 8,500 athletes likely to participate in the

Commonwealth Games.

DDA has setup a committee to decide on the value of apartment in the village. The

panel is expected to submit the valuation report in two weeks. Following this, DDA

will decide if it wants to buy these apartments or give a loan using them as security.

It will be difficult for DDA to justify buying apartments at a steep price because it

will have to sell them later. DDA is known to sell apartment at 30-40% discount to

market rate.

Emaar MGF has been insisting DDA to buy apartment because the purchase can

bring in some cash to the developer, whereas a loan will have to be repaid in a

failing market.

A DDA spokeman said: “We are yet to take a final decision, But DDA will do all

that is required to facilitate the timely competition of Commonwealth Games Village.”

Three months ago, Emaar MGF had requested DDA for
Rs300-crore

loan, saying it would not be able to meet the deadline of April 2010 due to a cash

crunch.

Emaar MGF had bagged the project in 2007 after bidding Rs321 crore for it.

According to its contract with DDA, Emaar MGF can sell two third of the total

apartments. The balance will be handed over to DDA for free. The village located on

the bank of river Yamuna in east Delhi, is almost 45% complete.


A booming realty

market, good location and high-quality features had encouraged Emaar MGF to price

the project aggressively.

With a price tag ranging from Rs1.8-4.8 crore, apartment in the athletes

village are being offered by Emaar MGF for an average price of Rs 13,000 per sq ft.

But, a combination of global and local economic factors have badly impacted

the property market and sent prices crashing. Buyers are staying away, waiting for a

price cut similar to those in some projects is belonging to country’s largest realty

company DLF.

DLF will shortly launch a housing project in Delhi, around 7 km from Cannaught

Place, almost the same distance as Emaar MGF’s village. But DLF’s project is likely to

be priced at almost half Emaar’s rate.

Emaar MGF officials say the company will not lower prices to induce buying as

the project is already competitively priced. Around 260 Apartments have been very sold

so far and last four months have been very bad, they added.

MVL Limited recently launched the first

affordable housing project, ‘MVL Indihomes’ in Bhiwadi. It is on the Bhiwadi-Alwar

Road and comes with an attractive price tag of Rs. 9.38 lakh (all inclusive, no other

charges) for an apartment size of 800 sq ft coupled with freebies like power back-up,

parking and first year maintenance charges.

The civil construction (excavation) commenced on the same day with a mandate to

complete the first phase of ‘MVL Indihomes’ in 24 months.

Courtesy: - HT dtd: - 07-03-09

Real estate projects are suffering from time and cost overruns as cash-crunched builders are finding it difficult to find buyers. This has put pressure on the prices and terms of trade have shifted in favor of the en user. Nonetheless, some basic facts must be borne in mind before deciding to make the down-payment for your dream home. First and foremost, one must be clear about whether the house is being bought for personal use or investment. Further, one needs to look at one’s payment capacity. Going by human nature, one may like a house which is beyond one’s budget. Is it advisable to stretch oneself to buy that dream home? If yes, how much should we borrow and what proportion should be faded internally. As a buyer, one should not be lured to buy a home only because the interest rates are low; rightly priced property must be available at a right location.

Chennai's current residential real estate scenario is considerably depressed. Developers who have projects along the once booming IT corridor are all set to reduce their rates by as much as 20 per cent.

However, the Mogappair-Porur composite region continues to hold mid-to-long term investment potential.

Drivers
1. This overall location is very close to the prime residential catchments of Anand Nagar and also to Chennai railway station and the bus terminus.
2. The fact that it is not near the IT corridor also increases its potential.
3. The rates here are competitive at Rs. 2800-3000 per sq ft.
4. The expected appreciation for residential properties here is between 20-30 per cent long term).