Housing prices up in 9 cities, down in 11 places: NHB

Showing a mixed trend, housing prices in 11 cities, including Bangalore and Kolkata, declined by up to 5 per cent in July-September, while rates in nine other places increased by up to 10 per cent, according to National Housing Bank (NHB).

Kochi saw the highest price rise of 10.1 per cent, followed by Jaipur with 9 per cent during the second quarter of this fiscal compared with the previous quarter.

In Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Chennai, prices rose by 3.8 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively, NHB data showed.

NHB RESIDEX tracks the movement in prices of residential properties on a quarterly basis. It covers 20 cities. From January next year, it plans to cover 6 more cities.

"Overall, there is a price correction. Even in nine cities where prices have gone up, there will be net decline if we factor in the rise in input cost and inflation," NHB Chairman and Managing Director R V Verma said.

Asked about falling prices, he said, "Builders cannot sustain at current prices because of oversupply. So, they are decreasing the price to clear inventory and boost sales."

Housing demand has been affected for last few years due to high interest rates on home loans. "The movement in prices of residential properties has shown marginally declining trend in eleven cities, ranging from -0.4 per cent in Faridabad to -4.8 per cent in Surat, and rise in nine cities ranging from 0.5 per cent in Mumbai to 10.1 per cent in Kochi during July-September, 2012 in comparison to the previous quarter April-June 2012," NHB said.

Ahmedabad saw 3 per cent rise, Bhubaneshwar 2.3 per cent, Lucknow 2.2 per cent, Chennai 0.8 per cent, Pune 0.7 per cent.

Prices fell the maximum in Surat (-4.8 per cent), followed by Indore at -3.54 per cent, Kolkata -2.4 per cent, Vijayawada -2.4 per cent, Patna -1.8 per cent, Ludhiana -1.7 per cent, Bangalore -1.7 per cent, Hyderabad -1.3 per cent, Guwahati -0.7 per cent, Bhopal -0.5 per cent and Faridabad -0.4 per cent.

On the overall trend, NHB said that prices have started to decline in some smaller towns and the increase in other cities is mostly marginal, barring Kochi and Jaipur.

"There is some signs of convergence of prices around this level across the 20 cities," it added.

PTI

West Bengal to amend Urban Land Ceiling Act

The West Bengal government is contemplating making critical amendments to the Urban Land Ceiling Act which will provide new incentives to developers

By Chandrabindu; igovernment

Kolkata, Nov 7th: With a view towards promoting commercial activities in upcoming residential colonies, the West Bengal government is contemplating making critical amendments to the Urban Land Ceiling Act. The proposed amendments will aim to provide incentives to developers who agree to integrate housing projects with commercial activities.

Confirming the plan, Mr. Debashis Sen, Chairman and Managing Director of West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation, said “We are looking at framing a policy by which we can facilitate housing-cum-commercial projects.” Mr. Sen added that that the revised Act could be announced by the end of this fiscal year.

Other officials also added that the amendments will not only encourage commercial activities in metropolitan townships, but also allow the state to earn revenue in terms of duties and other taxes. As per the proposed policy, which is in draft stage, developers could be offered some relaxation in stamp fees as well as allowed the ability to purchase land that was prohibited under the existing ceiling act.

“However, construction companies will be required to dedicate 51 percent of their land for commercial activities, under this act and nearly one-fourth of the houses to be developed on the remaining 49 percent of land will be allocated to economically weaker sections under the proposed amendments,” Mr. Sen added.

Under the existing West Bengal Land Ceiling Act, private ownership of agricultural land in the State is restricted to 17.5 acres for irrigated land and 24.5 acres for areas that are rainfed. In urban areas, private ownership is capped at only 0.125 acres.

Officials of the Urban Development Department said that the proposed policy would also seek to allow conversion of agricultural land for housing purpose. “Through this proposed policy we will try to provide some relaxation in the conversion process as well as easing the approval of building plans,” they maintained.

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Delhi clears Rs.1,100 crore for housing projects

Delhi's State-Level Steering Committee on Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Friday cleared five dwelling projects worth Rs.1,136 crore. 

Under the projects, 7,672 rooms offering ten-bedded and five-bedded dormitories would be constructed by the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation at an estimated cost of Rs.906.30 crore.

Under other two projects, two sets of 3,052 and 3,600 rooms will be constructed at Kanjhawala and under two more projects 4,620 rooms will be constructed at Samaspur at a total cost of Rs.229.83 crore.

The accommodations will be rented out to firms, contractors for industrial workers and to other migrant workers who cannot afford to rent homes at market rates.

JNNURM is a massive city-modernisation scheme launched by the ministry of urban development.

The meeting was chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Sobha Developers gives new sales guidance of $363M for FY13

BY  Pooja Sarkar; VCCircle

Has recorded drop in sales in sequential basis, but up 26 per cent year on year at 0.84 million square feet.

Bangalore based realty company Sobha Developers has seen growth in its first quarter operational numbers as compared to last year. For the quarter ended June 30, it managed to sell 0.84 million sq.ft of new space, which is valued at $87million (Rs 4,79 crore), with an average realisation rate of Rs 5,737 per square feet. Though year-on-year there is a growth in sales realisation of 26 percent, sequentially there is a decline. In Q4FY12, the realtor had sold 0.863 million square feet.

In the same period last year, Sobha had managed to sell 0.67 million square feet, for an average price realisation of Rs 4,547 per square feet.

The company has also given a new sales guidance for the year of $363 million (Rs 2,000 crore) for this fiscal for the period last year the developer managed sales of $309 million (Rs 1,700 crore). In the last quarter the developer managed to launch a new villa project called Sobha West Hill in Coimbatore with a total saleable area of 0.14 million square feet.

At present it is accruing money from projects across Bangalore, NCR, Chennai, Pune, Thrissur, Coimbatore and Mysore.

Kejal Mehta and Dhrushil Jhaveri real estate analyst from Prabhudas Liladher wrote in their report to their client “on account of strong launches and monetization of old sales, coupled with a steady execution, the company has brought its net debt down from $220 million (Rs1,210 crore) in FY11 to $207 million (Rs 1,140 crore ) in FY12. We further expect net debt to reduce to $161 million (Rs 890 crore) in FY13, resulting in a DER of 0.56, down from 0.67 in FY11.”

Sales from its Gurgaon project witnessed a strong sequential increase of 24 per cent.