It’s probably the most expensive piece of real estate in the country. But it’s so small you are bound to miss it if you will not look for it carefully.
The property is a store in a bustling market adjoining Safdarjung hospital, across the road from All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
At 133.37 square feet it’s tiny — possibly no bigger than a modest kitchen — but it went for Rs 9.52 lakh monthly rent at a recent auction by the New Delhi Municipal Council.
More : hindustantimes.com
developers report increasing luxury property sales in india
India property looks set for a strong recovery in 2010 as dozens of developers report surging sales for their luxury developments. Surprisingly the reports of surging sales are not only in Mumbai and Delhi, but also in Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore.
Indiabulls Real Estate has sold 100 apartments in its 65-storey ‘Indiabulls Sky’ in the Lower Parel area of Mumbai in the past four months.
In Hyderabad, Dax Properties Pvt Ltd (part of Countryside Realtors Pvt Ltd) has sold 65 to 70 villas in its Golf Retreat Project since the launch last month. Costing Rs 1.2-2.5 crore each, they vary from 500 sq yards to 2,000 sq yards.
More : property-abroad.com
Awareness programme on Intellectual Property Rights at NID
As a part of its endeavor to facilitate and sensitise design fraternity about Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in accord with the activities of IPR Cell in NID, the institute has started a series of one day awareness programmes on “Industrial Design registration and Protection” jointly with office of Controller General Patents, Designs & Trademarks, Government of India.
While the awareness programme was started in NID, Ahmedabad on Saturday, the programme will also be held in other cities including Pune, Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata with the creative Design Professionals and Innovators in these places.
A key note address from Justice RR Tripathi was followed by special addresses and sessions from various experts from across the country and faculties of NID.
More : dnaindia.com
Delhi ‘enemy’ property land in mafia net
Delhi’s land mafia has grabbed property worth crores of rupees that were evacuated by people who migrated to Pakistan during Partition, it has emerged. This acknowledgement comes from the top brass of the Delhi government in a letter written by state revenue minister Raj Kumar Chauhan. The letter was sent to lieutenant governor (LG) Tejendra Khanna and chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who then instructed the revenue department to probe the matter.
Describing the situation as a very serious matter, Chauhan seconded the Union home ministry’s suggestion to notify and ban any further mutation or registry of enemy properties in Delhi.
All property left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan during Partition are classified as enemy property. They are owned by the Mumbai-based Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) under the Union home ministry. Following the approval of this communiqué by Khanna, Vinay Kumar, joint secretary in the revenue department, issued a notification on January 14, banning the registry or mutation of all enemy property on the list.
More : indiatoday.intoday.in
Cities see boom in sales of luxurious housing
The countrys largest real estate developer, DLF, sold apartments worth Rs 1,000 crore in December. This is the highest monthly sale the company has recorded in its history. There are many developers like DLF who have seen a surge in the sale of apartments across the country in the quarter ended December, especially in the luxury and semi-luxury category.
A large chunk of DLFs sales are also from the luxury and semi-luxury segments. It sold 76 apartments of Rs 5 crore each in The Magnolias, Gurgaon, netting nearly Rs 400 crore. The project has apartments of 5,825 sq ft each and duplexes and penthouses of 9,000 to 10,000 sq ft each.It made another Rs 200-300 crore each in its relaunched projects, DLF Belaire and Park Place, in Gurgaon. Belaire had a price of Rs 2-3 crore each and Park Place of Rs 1.25-1.5 crore.
Indiabulls Real Estate has sold 100 apartments in its 65-storey Indiabulls Sky in the Lower Parel area of Mumbai in the past four months. It has also recently launched Indiabulls Sky Suites with full-age advertisements, promising A head in the clouds experience. While, apartments in Sky were priced at Rs 6.75-22.5 crore, depending on the size, Sky Suites are expected to be higher.Indiabulls is also working on a super-luxury, By invitation only, Indiabulls Sky Forest, where homes are more than 10,000 sq ft each and priced 10-20 per cent higher than Sky projects.Buoyed by response for its premium housing projects, Orbit Corporation, another Mumbai-based developer, says it will launch one luxury project in the city every quarter.
More : bignews.biz
CRISIL assigns IPO grade 2/5 to DB Realty
CRISIL has assigned IPO Grade 2/5 to the proposed initial public offer (IPO) of D B Realty (DBRL), in its report dated January 14, 2010. The company plans to raise Rs 1,500 crore via the IPO.
The report says, This grade indicates that the fundamentals of the IPO are below average relative to the other listed equity securities in India. However, this grade is not an opinion on whether the issue price is appropriate in relation to the issue fundamentals. The grade is not a recommendation to buy/sell or hold the graded instrument, or a comment on the graded instrument’s future market price or its suitability for a particular investor.
The report also says, The grading reflects DBRL’s lack of operating history in real estate development. However, the presence of its experienced promoters, Mr Vinod Goenka and Mr Shahid Balwa, in the real estate development business for more than a decade provides execution track record comfort. The promoters have jointly developed nearly 15.9 million sq ft of residential, commercial and retail real estate projects in and around Mumbai. The grading has considered the highly fragmented nature and severe competition in the real estate industry. However, DBRL’s concentration in and around Mumbai is a key positive. Mumbai real estate market is expected to recover faster compared to other markets.
More : moneycontrol.com
Jury seated for ex-reservoir official
Seven men and seven women have been sworn in to hear the federal case against the former executive director of the Poverty Point Reservoir District.
Opening statements are scheduled Tuesday.
The jury was seated Monday in U.S. District Judge Robbie James’ court to hear the charges against Mike Thompson, who is accused of using district employees to perform work on his private property.
There were nearly 150 instances from 1997 to 2002 in which an employee purportedly billed the district for performing personal work for Thompson, prosecutors have said.
More : wxvt.com
Buyers again allot flats to themselves
Frustrated with the slow process of allotment of flats by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, at least 500 more members of housing societies in Dwarka conducted self-draw of lots and allotted flats for themselves on Sunday. This comes after the Registrar of Cooperative Societies declared null and void the self draw of flats by 1,000 members in Dwarka last week. Flat owners said another 1,000 flats are ready for self draw next week.
The three societies for which the draw was held on Sunday were Sant Sundar Das, Naval Technical Officers and Bharat Jagriti group housing societies. ‘We will go ahead with self-allotment. People, who have already made the payment for their flats and are waiting for allotment for long don’t want to take to the street or damage public property in protest against the delay. The government agencies must understand that we have taken this step after exhausting all our resources, said Ashok Kumar, a retired senior executive of a Navaranta PSU who is heading the process of self-allotment of flats.
Kumar said they waited for long but the system failed to deliver. We got frustrated. We knew that we own flats in a particular society, but did not knew which one belonged to whom. After the self draw we have got our flats,’’ he said.
More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Thompson federal trial set to start
Former Poverty Point Reservoir District Executive Director Mike Thompson of Delhi will be in federal court Monday to begin his trial on charges of violating federal law by using district employees to perform work on his private property.
Thompson was indicted by a federal grand jury in Shreveport in June 2007 on one count of violating the Hobbs Act.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Hobbs Act prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce. The Hobbs Act was created to combat racketeering in labor-management disputes but is frequently used in connection with cases involving public corruption, commercial disputes and corruption directed at members of labor unions.
More : thenewsstar.com
Overseas Indians hesitate to take the property plunge on home turf
Even with a vast wealth base, overseas Indians are reluctant to invest in real estate in India. Despite the government having relaxed its property ownership laws for Non Resident Indians (NRIs), on Day 1 of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the NRIs had some horror stories to narrate about investing in property in India.
I waited 20 years before investing in property in Delhi. I was worried that I would get cheated. Even after taking all the requisite precautions, I quickly discovered that the previous owner of my property had sold the same property to two people at the same time. I took the case to court, where there has been no resolution for the last eight years, during which time four different judges looked into the case, said an NRI from Washington DC.
The lackadaisical approach adopted by Indian courts came in for a lot of criticism during a day-long session titled Property Related Issues of NRIs/PIOs held at Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday. After the case was filed, I flew down on three different dates from Washington to attend the hearing, but each time the defendant excused himself from the hearing by offering different excuses through his lawyer. Each time the case was adjourned, the NRI said.
More : expressindia.com
DLF to set up Industrial Park over 1200 acre in Mohali at Rs. 2700 crore
The DLF Home Development Ltd. evinced keen interest to set up an Industrial Park over 1200 acre in Mohali district, Punjab at a cost of Rs. 2700 crore under Super Mega Mixed Use Industrial Park Policy.
Making a presentation to the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Kapurthala house, New Delhi this afternoon, senior General Manager of DLF Group Ajay Chug assured the Chief Minister that the group would complete the entire project by December 2010.He said that the project would provide direct and indirect employment to 275000 persons.
In another presentation made by the Director Amtek Auto Ltd, Sanjeev Bhasin apprised the Chief Minister that Amtek Group had already approached the state government for facilitating in setting up their forthcoming Mega Project “Amtek Railcar Industries Pvt. Ltd. (ARIPL) for manufacture of different type of wagons for Indian Railways, private operator in India, Southeast Asian Market and Middle East Market.
More : punjabnewsline.com
MCD to raise Rs.2,000 cr selling slum properties
The Municipal Cooperation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday said it expects to raise nearly Rs.2,000 crore by selling some of the commercial sites
under its slum department.
There are 11 commercial sites which we are hoping to auction. By selling them we expect to raise an amount of around Rs.2,000 crore, Leader of MCD house Subhash Arya told.
We would entrust their auction to DDA (Delhi Development Authority) which would carry out the procedure to ensure optimum income. The revenue generated out of auction would be deposited in a fixed deposit in a nationalised bank and we would utilise only the interest part of it for development works in the slums, he added.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
JFP Group projects in foreclosure
Four local real estate properties associated with radio mogul Terry Jacobs are in foreclosure, with claims and judgments of unpaid debt totaling $29 million.
Banks filed against the properties in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in November and December. The suits were filed against limited liability corporations associated with Kenwood-based JFP Group, a residential and commercial developer owned by Jacobs and his son Jeff.
The foreclosed properties include McMillan Manor, a 134-unit student apartment complex in Mount Auburn near the University of Cincinnati; Kenwood Pointe, a never-built 24-unit condo development in Madisonville; a vacant 4.5-acre Delhi Pike site that had housed Delhi Flower and Garden; and Anderson Towne Place, a never-built retail, condo and movie theater development adjacent to Anderson Towne Center on Beechmont Avenue.
More : cincinnati.com
Godrej Properties surges on debut, cheers realty
Shares of Godrej Properties surged nearly 20 per cent after listing at a 5.05 per cent premium on its debut on Tuesday, in a first listing by any property firm in over two years.
The strong start would serve to cheer realty firms that had till recently been hard-pressed to raise funds for projects. At least 16 Indian developers have filed papers for public offers since September, looking to raise a total of about $6 billion.
Godrej Properties, a unit of Godrej Industries, had raised about $100 million through its initial public offering of 9.4 million shares, which was subscribed four times. The firm had fixed its issue price at the lower end of Rs 490-530 range.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Model Real Estate Act: boon for buyers, bane for builders
Urban India has seen a boom in the realty market with the prices skyrocketing, largely due to limited spaces and high demand. However, the realty sector in India has been majorly unregulated, leaving customers harassed at the hands of builders and real estate agents in cases of project delays, misrepresentation and fraud by the builders. In majority of the cases the flats/properties do not get constructed and delivered to the buyers in a timely manner, adding to their woes. Whereas in other cases the constructed buildings do not conform to the accepted standards of architecture. At times, the buyers are taken unawares in cases of mortgage or charge created over their properties.
The highly unregulated realty sector in India has impelled the Ministry of Housing & Urban Alleviation to frame a Model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Act, (Model Act) and the respective state governments are expected to enact local laws on the same lines, to regulate the sector. The Model Act seeks to regulate the realty sector by casting detailed obligations and duties on the builders and bring in much needed transparency in the system.
Among the major changes that the Model Act proposes to implement, includes the provision for compulsory registration of the project. The registration shall not be required in cases where the area to be developed does not exceed 1000 square meters or where the number of flats to be constructed does not exceed four.
More : business-standard.com
Area government bodies learned to work together
Even though economic development districts have been around for decades, most cities and parishes in Louisiana sought new business and industry separately for years, often competing with one another.
This decade has been a different story in northeastern Louisiana, where city officials, police juries and chambers of commerce realized that a regional team effort was sorely needed after losses of core businesses like State Farm, Guide Corp., International Paper in Bastrop and the Pilgrim Pride plant in Farmerville, the latter was rescued when Foster Farms of California purchased the facility with help from the Louisiana Department of Economic Development and supported regionally.
Northeast Louisiana Economic Alliance President Tana Trichel said she believes the turning point came when the late George B. Franklin Jr. agreed to sell the state 1,425 acres of farmland near Holly Ridge in Richland Parish.
More : thenewsstar.com
India asks Pakistan to take action over gurdwara land sale
Conveying concern over the reported sale of land belonging to gurdwaras in Pakistan, India Tuesday said it has asked the Pakistan government to look into the issue and take corrective action.
The reported incidents of sale of some of the land attached to gurdwaras in Pakistan has caused concern in India, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said.
The government has conveyed the concerns in this regard to the government of Pakistan, and requested it to look into the matter and take appropriate remedial action, he said.
More : sindhtoday.net
Developers shelve commercial projects, opt for residential schemes
The real-estate market is witnessing a new trend. Most information technology parks and commercial office projects are now being converted into residential projects, as most developers are not feeling confident over the projected revival in the commercial segment.
In the commercial segment, there is a huge oversupply and absorption is very low in the market. A lot of commercial and IT park spaces are now being converted into residential projects. Approximately two million sq ft of commercial projects have recently been converted into residential projects in the island city (mainly at Lower Parel). You can witness many such similar trends in the real-estate market now, said Pankaj Kapoor, founder, Liases Foras.
Orbit Corporation Ltd, a Mumbai-based developer, has converted its IT park project at Andheri, a Mumbai suburb, into a residential project called Orbit Residency Park. It will be constructing one bedroom, hall & kitchen (BHK) apartments of approximately 600 sq ft–700 sq ft, one-and-a-half BHK of approximately 700 sq ft–800 sq ft, two BHK of approximately 900 sq ft–985 sq ft, two-and-a-half BHK of approximately 1,000 sq ft, three BHK of approximately 1,300 sq ft-1,400 sq ft and three-and-a- half BHK of approximately 1,350 sq ft-1,450 sq ft.
More : moneylife.in
Home loans to be linked to progress of project
Home loan providers are now insisting on construction-linked disbursal of funds to new projects, as they look to make developers more accountable after getting stuck in several stalled projects.
A number of developers have either stopped construction midway or slowed down due to shortage of funds and poor sales in 2008 and the first half of 2009. Lending institutions expect the move to help them monitor the progress of construction and make developers accountable, said a senior executive with a public sector bank.
Buyers in such projects are in a difficult situation. They have to pay monthly installments towards the loan without getting the possession of house. They also end up shelling out monthly rents during the period, he said, requesting anonymity.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
2009: Realty companies found friends in bankers
Wiser from last year’s free fall, realty companies discovered a new mantra in ‘affordable housing and found help from banks that offered low-interest home loans to build their businesses in 2009.
Prices continued to fall by 25-30 per cent even this year and the virtual shutdown in the property market, which began in late 2008, forced cash-starved realty firms to go for distress sale of assets and shares to repay their mounting debts.
Yet, the appetite to raise funds was so high that as soon as the stock market bounced back to a reasonable level, about 10 realty firms announced their plans to launch initial public offer (IPO) to raise over Rs 12,000 crore together.
More : business-standard.com