Month: January 2014

World’s ultra-rich hold a fifth of their wealth in real estate

The world’s super rich hold a fifth of their wealth in property, estimated at $5,328 billion, while Asia’s ultra-rich have a greater share in real estate, a report says.

According to international real estate advisor Savills, in association with Wealth-X, property accounts for about a fifth of the invested wealth of almost 200,000 ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the world.

Of the total private wealth of $27,770 billion, 19 per cent is held in real estate assets amounting to $5,328 billion, it said.

Europe’s super rich hold the biggest share of all privately owned real estate assets, followed by Asians.
Rich people in Europe hold 31 per cent of their wealth in real estate assets worth $2,391 billion, followed by Asia (27 per cent at $1,800 billion) and the Middle East (26 per cent at $880 billion).

“Global real estate is mostly residential and held by occupiers, but private owners are becoming more important in the world of traded investable property,” according to Yolande Barnes, head of Savills world research.

She said that since the North Atlantic debt crisis of 2008, sovereign wealth funds, wealth management companies, private banks and family offices have stepped into property deals that corporate bankers have deserted.

According to Savills, the total value of the world’s real estate is now around $180 trillion, 72 per cent of which is owner-occupied residential property.

Of the $70 trillion that is ‘investable’ and therefore traded regularly – including $20 trillion of commercial property – over half is being bought by private individuals, companies and organisations.

According to Mykolas D Rambus, CEO of Wealth-X, the UHNW population is expected to grow 22 per cent by 2018 and its combined wealth – currently $27.8 trillion – is expected to total over $36 trillion by 2018.

“This presents huge opportunities for those involved in global real estate investment to create the right product in the right locations,” Rambus said.

About 3 per cent of the world’s total real estate value, or $5.3 trillion, is owned by UHNWIs.

This wealthiest 0.003 per cent of the world’s population has real estate holdings which are worth an average of $26.5 million each, according to the report.

Source: Profit NDTV

Prices May Not Come Down

The Indian real estate sector continues to be a favoured destination for global investors. The urban population will surge in the coming years, which, coupled with growth in employment, education and health care, will push the demand for residential and commercial space.

Urbanisation has been rapid in the past few years, with ‘upwardly-mobile’ buyers keen to invest and reap dividends from the real estate market growth. Increasing migration to the cities will drive this demand. Also anticipate a rise in sales of housing property following the recent stock market rally and a slew of optimistic RBI rules to allow foreign banks into the country’s protected banking ecosystem. Steady housing demand will be a big constant for the Indian economy this year, and the industry will focus on meeting this demand.

However, the real estate sector is burdened with high costs because of which there is little possibility of reduction in home prices in most micromarkets. Construction cost has increased by 40% in two years, while government taxes and premiums have also gone up substantially. This eliminates any scope for reduced prices, despite the weak market. Banks’ reluctance to lend to real estate companies has led to increased cost of borrowing, adding to the overall cost. In fact, these factors will also result in an increase in prices in improved market conditions. The housing industry will revive at a faster pace if a stable government is formed after the general elections in 2014.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has identified demand from tier-II and tier-III cities as an impetus for better real estate solutions. With rapid land and infrastructure development in smaller cities and towns, assisted by bank loans, higher earnings and improved standards of living, housing and construction demand will increase here.

The recent move to introduce Reits, or Real Estate Investment Trusts, is a progressive one as well. Reits are a great instrument to tap cash flow into the Indian economy, and help smaller investors access income-generating real estate assets. It will help both developers and investors, through better financing and investment options. This will give the Indian real estate market more depth. Providing tax incentives to REITs for investment in housing, especially the affordable housing sector, will increase chances of its success.

Source: Business Today

Kolkata property prices up 60%, highest among cities: RBI report

Kolkata property prices have moved up 60% year-on-year, highest among all the Indian cities and much above the national average of 21%, the RBI said in its annual report.

To track real estate price movements, the RBI has compiled quarterly house price indices for nine major cities as well as an aggregate all-India index based on data on property transactions received from registration authorities of state governments.

The RBI, in its annual report, has pointed out that property prices in Kolkata witnessed the highest growth of 60% between the fourth quarter of 2012 fiscal and fourth quarter of 2013 fiscal. It was lowest for Mumbai at 10.6% during the same period.

Although Credai president and managing director of CSR Estates C Sekhar Reddy said the RBI’s assessment is based on presumptive valuation, data available from the West Bengal government show that property prices have sky rocketed mainly because of high value land sale pushed by the state government agencies since 2009.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Kolkata Municipal Development Authority (KMDA) and the West Bengal Housing Board are mainly responsible for land deals and the three agencies together have sold a little above 5,000 acres for R18,000 core in the last four years, a KMDA official said.

KMC this June auctioned a 2-acre plot on the EM bypass for R115 crore, the biggest land deal in Kolkata so far with price per cottah translating to R96 lakh. In an earlier land deal in 2009 KMC sold a 3.35-acre plot on the same EM bypass for R135 crore via the auction route and this translated to R70 lakh per cottah. Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) auctioned a 2.25-acre plot in the IT township of Rajarhat for Rs 51.13 crore.

The government agencies have set the trend, Harsh Vardhan Patodia, of Credai Bengal said. He however didn’t agree with the RBI figure saying property prices in Kolkata have gone up 18% in the last one year but prices in the city crashed during the fourth quarter last fiscal.

The latest National Housing Bank residex (for quarter to March 13) shows that property prices in Kolkata have dipped 5.57% quarter-to-quarter, the third most decline after Guwahati and Ludhiana among the eight cities that have shown a declining trend. According to the NHB data Jaipur witnessed the highest quarter-to-quarter increase 28.74% in the last quarter, FY13 with 10 other cities showing an increasing trend.

However, SS Bagaria, owner of AHW Steels, who won the bid in KMC’s recent auction, said land prices in Kolkata was sky rocketing because of an acute crunch in land availability. A number of infrastructure projects like the east- west metro corridor have occupied most of the land and the scarcity has created a good market for properties. He expects that his R400 crore ultra luxurious apartment project would fetch good returns with each apartments to be sold at prices between R5 crore and R6 crore.

Reddy said tracking real estate price movement on the basis of data received from registration authorities of state governments would not be perfect since the circle rate adopted for computation of gains is based on presumptive value.

The government has proposed taxation on property deals inserting section 43 CA of the Income Tax Act.

The taxation would be done on the assessed valuation of a property at the time of transfer instead of on the sale price fixed when the project was initiated. This has a cascading effect on the realty prices with buyers finally having to pay more; Reddy said adding that Credai was talking to the finance ministry on the issue.

Alchemist to invest in Kolkata realty project

Alchemist Township India, a Delhi-based realty firm, is planning to develop a realty project in Kolkata, West Bengal.

To acquire the required land for the proposed project, the company has inked a deal with a local builder, Highland Group. As per the deal, Alchemist Township has purchased two million sq ft of prime residential land from Highland Group at Kolkata Riverside, a satellite township development encompassing 262 acre being developed on the banks of the Hooghly River. Property consultant, Jones Lang LaSalle India, facilitated the transaction.

The company will invest Rs 600 crore to develop a realty project. The project will include a 25 acre IT Park, various commercial establishments catering to the services sector, physical infrastructure and advanced lifestyle features such as a golf course.

Source: Projects Today

Major real estate projects stalled in Kolkata and State since April

Real estate business in Kolkata has come to a standstill as major projects in the city and rest of the state are stalled since April since the mechanism to clear them has been lying dormant for almost six months. The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the State-level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), which clear large-scale projects, remain defunct with no members on board.

At least 40 multi-crore projects have not moved beyond the planning stage. Developers are unable to apply for the mandatory environmental clearance in absence of the twin committees. Government also appears to be in no hurry and developers have to bear the brunt of time- and cost-overrun.

The impasse is inflicted by the delay of ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) in clearing names of members proposed by the state for the committees. Reports indicate that the state too was late in forwarding the names late. The term of the previous panels expired in April 2013. Since this was known, the environment department should have got the members for the next panel approved by April. But it was not done.

The robust mechanism was been put in place to ensure that norms are followed by developers and no major environmental damage is caused by the construction of multi-storied buildings. According to norms, all projects above 20,000 sq metre must first submit the conceptual plan before the SEIAA. Once the form is approved, the proposal has to be sent to the SEAC. If the proposal is approved, the developer has to submit the building plan to the SEAC. Following the recommendations of the SEAC, the SEIAA then issues the environment clearance for the project.

According to the Bengal chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Association of India (Credai-Bengal) since there has been vacuum for some time now, developers should be allowed to start the projects and construct up to 20,000 sq metre to prevent further wastage of time and resources. “Since the requirement is for SEIAA and SEAC clearance for projects above 20,000 sq metre, we want the KMC and other municipalities concerned to allow us to construct till the threshold. Thereafter, further construction should be allowed once the environmental clearances are in place,” said Credai-Bengal president Harsh Patodia

Source: infrawindow.com