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It’s Time For The Youth-Driven Real Estate Market

Being a developing country India currently has rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive market offerings. Thus the career options of the Indian millennial are no longer predictable as it was as straightforward as it was for their parents. Alike the prevalent sectors real estate sector too is influenced by the choice and preferences of the millennial. According to the estimation, the young working population is of 46% of the total workforce of India which means approx 400 million working professionals of our country falls into the category of 20-30 age group.

Mostly, Indian young professionals prefer to rent rather than buying a home. This the main reason which is why the rental market across the prime cities in India is higher scoring than that of the primary real estate market. However, a typical millennial family of today is essentially nuclear for the requirement for compact homes equipped with modern amenities holds the greater market demand. However, the millennial have emerged as the user-base of the country. Accordingly, the investment behaviour and the market appetite are also changing in a tandem.
“Buying a home has been one of the prime requirements of all the time. It’s certainly one of the major financial accomplishments for any individuals. But for the generation of the 21st century, the perennial lifestyle requirements are the cyclical roadblocks for buying their own homes,”-said, Mr Mahesh Somani, Chairman- National RERA Committee, Head- East Zone, National Association of Realtors India (NAR).

Along with the career choice, millennial are experimental with their choice of properties too. For a nuclear family or even for dual-income household social surroundings has the bigger role-play than the size of the apartment. Here are some important facts that have been majorly considered while buying a home–
• Gated housing society with modern day amenities and security measure.
• Distance from the residential place to the workplace and enhanced public transport connectivity.
• Technologically- enabled smart home features and internet connectivity.
• Environmental sustainability of the project.
• Value for money. All-inclusive lifestyle features at a competitive rate.

As we can see that the parameters of choosing a property for the investment of the generation are different from their forebears. Still, the basic idea of buying a home is just the same as it used to be which is stability and setting down and here we have no exception by the age-group or the nature of the investment.

–LNN (Liyans News Network) – Buy/Sell/Rent properties online. Buy property in Kolkata with smart features and ample recreational facilities. Buy flats within 25-35 lac. Visit us.

Is Your Housing Society Well-Protected ?

After a long day of your tiring schedule when you get back home and find everything disorderly? Or what if a gang of people outraged in the society and create some serious rupture? Do you think consider living inside a gated community apartment is safe? Is it safe because there are several amenities to look up your securities; such as- CCTV, 24*7 securities or intercom? If these are the reasons behind choosing a housing community, then here are some advices which you should mull over before choosing your dream home.

Here’s what your need to know before you choose to buy flats in Kolkata–

Safety measurements of housing apartment– When thinking about a luxury property purchase, first things we spot on are the exterior design and the connectivity of the locality. We observe the number of lifestyle facilities that we could avail within our budget limitation. Not only the connectedness of the housing society, one should always double-check majority of the inside and the outside radius of the apartment. This is important because, many a time there are several communal riots shock the entire society. It’s better to avoid these locations, where these kinds of incidents are foreseen, even if the package is lucrative to your lifestyle.

How much your apartment is covered?– If you think CCTV coverage of the entire compound, checkpoints and metal detector at the entrances are the ultimate safety measurement of your apartment, then you are probably having very rough knowledge regarding the safety measurements. These are the facilities just to keep evidence way of living. If anything abhorrent gets noticed, these tools just store those up for future witness. Do you ever think before going to bed, whether these facilities are up and running or whether the security guards belong from a trusted agency? It’s often seen in the mid-budget apartments, the society keeps those people as securities, who are underprivileged and live near-by. They provide basic security knowledge to these people for your protection purpose. So, settling down with low budget might leave out your security determination.

Ways to reduce fraudulence – It’s so obvious that a builder or a realtor will say potential buyers nice things about the apartment and its environs. It’s the buyers’ responsibility to cross-check that saying. Take every essential step to safeguard your lifestyle. Domestic attendants have been one of the major reasons to form brawls. It doesn’t mean you should keep a suspicious overview about those people; again it’s not advisable to take their activities casual. Keeping a maid on your neighbour’s recommendation is not enough. Always take advice from maximum numbers of residents before the final appointment. Make sure, you don’t discuss your personal details before the person is at your service. Always confirm that you lock your apartment well while going out.

It’s suggested to every potential homebuyer, to undergo these basic security checks before deciding home purchase. Know the authority and the administrator of the society well before you come to any agreement. Don’t take any breach lightly when it comes to your lifestyle security.

–LNN (Liyans News Network)

Realty portals push many property brokers out of business

BANGALORE/NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Falling home sales and rising competition from real estate portals has pushed many traditional property brokers out of business while forcing others to work on wafer-thin margins.

The market for property brokers, who had flourished during the real estate boom not so long ago, has shrunk with builders and individual sellers preferring direct sales or the services of real estate portals that are ready to facilitate deals for free. The shrinking market is also driving down the number of applications for real estate broking licences.

In Bangalore, it has fallen by 10% over the last two years, said Rahul Pai, governing body member of Bangalore Realtors Association-India (BRA-I). “At the BRA-I AGM in August, members talked at large about the competition from various sources like internet portals that are posing stiff competition to the traditional brokers,” said Pai.

“This, added to the unfavourable market conditions in real estate, has made it worse for brokers. In fact, several small-time brokers have actually gone out of business and are coming to us looking for jobs.” The gloom is evident in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata too.

In Mumbai, builders are approaching clients and investors directly through in-house marketing teams, which offer dedicated service to prospective investors and help save the 3% commission builders would have paid to property dealers. Developers are increasingly using direct marketing initiatives like e-mails, text messages and pre-launches to push their offerings.

The few builders that are still working with brokers have reduced brokerage charges to 3%-4% from 6%-8% earlier. Most developers have also withdrawn the preferential location charges that were earlier being promised to brokers.

“All large developers who are members of CREDAI (real estate apex body) have their own marketing team or are in the process of developing their own sales team for better customer service and building direct relationship with customers,” said Harsh Vardhan Patodia, president, CREDAI Bengal and vice-president CREDAI National.

Gaurav Gupta, joint secretary of Raj Nagar Extention Association, said: “With the slowdown happening in the market, most developers are now getting into direct sales and cutting down on the cost of the brokerage.” Referral clients, too, are posing a threat to the broking community.

“Builders are now luring new buyers through their present clientele, eliminating the role of agents and brokers,” said Jyoti Shroff, partner at Bangalore-based real estate consultancy Tirupati Associates. “A reference of a prospective client gets the buyer up to Rs 50,000 discount. This has led to fall in our business by about 50%, especially in the last six months.”

Akhil Kapur of real estate brokerage firm AJ Housing said his revenue is down by 20%-30%. “The number of transactions has not changed but the price band of transactions has come down, which indirectly affects my revenue,” Kapur said. Brokers in Delhi echo the same sentiment.

“Transactions are not happening and there is no movement in the market. Our business has come down by more than 50%,” said Sumit Joshi, director, Real Credit Consultancy, a mid-sized real estate broking firm in Noida. “Brokers who are unable to sustain are relocating from premier locations to smaller offices elsewhere and are also trying their hand at other businesses.”

Websites, too, are playing spoilsport for brokers. “Certain developers are at the moment more bullish on the online sites and social media to promote their properties among NRIs and strengthening their direct sales,” Gupta said.

Bangalore-based Common-Floor.com is sending out chauffer-driven BMWs and Mercedes to pick up premium clients for sight visits—facilities that a broker would never be able to match. “There is now a market trend of online customer enquiries, which are being serviced directly by the builders, and this is picking up to the extent of 15% to 20% of the total sales in the below Rs 50 lakh segment. In this category, the main lead generation takes place through the project publicity and promotion,” CREDAI’s Patodia said.

Unlike the markets of north and south, the role of brokers was elementary in the east. But, over the past few years, the trend of brokers marketing a project had picked up in West Bengal. Following the rough patch now, brokers across the east are in a fix as builders endorse orthodox ways of direct sale.

“Kolkata market is not only run by end users but also salaried speculators, who do not live in the city. The latter generally seek brokers’ help to locate and zero in on a property. As investments have gone down in real estate, the broking market too has invariably seen a crash,” said Sanjay Jain, MD, Siddha Group, which recently sold 70% of its property through direct sales.

Source: The Economic Times

Real estate related cases highest at consumer court

GURGAON: In a city which boasts of highest number of consumer grievances in the state, cases of insurance default and real estate invariably occupy the top slot.

The Times of India get a large number of cases related to real estate. The number of consumers approaching us for non-delivery of flats in times has been increasing. We have a number of cases of cheating by the builders. This includes even the top builders in the city. We have several cases of builders who are repeat offenders. We have issued arrest warrants against them as well,” said an official of the Gurgaon district consumer disputes redressal forum.

The official said consumers also approached the forum with complaints against HUDA relating to disputes of plots.

“In Gurgaon, consumers are more educated about their rights. Of late, we have solved several cases relating their real estate,” said Raghvinder Singh Bahmani, president, district consumer disputes redressal forum, Gurgaon.

Consumer disputes relating to airlines and travel tourism, especially holiday clubs and resorts, is also higher in Gurgaon compared to cities in the state.

“The reason is that large number of technocrats, CEOs and top MNC officials keep visiting different countries. Case relating to airfare, baggage and deficiencies of the services of the resorts are much higher in Gurgaon. We have 19 cases relating to airlines and several cases against top resorts in the country,” said an official from the forum.

Cases relating to mobile phones, automobile, Bank ATM and Postal Delivery are also higher in Gurgaon compared to cities in the state.

Source: The Times of India

Housing prices begin to fall as slowdown bites

NEW DELHI: The rising interest rates, liquidity tightening in the banking system and slowing down of economy have badly affected the real estate sector. As the demand for residential real estate has softened, its prices across the markets in India have started showing a declining trend.

According to National Housing Bank residential index, the prices have shown a declining trend in 22 out of 26 cities in the April-June 2013 quarter compared to the January-March quarter. Real estate prices have softened in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune. (see chart)

Real Estate Price Fall Index in Major Cities

R V Verma, CMD of NHB, said rising interest rates have adversely affected the demand from end-users, which led to rise in the inventory of unsold property. As builders have to meet the loan repayment liability as well as complete the already started projects, they find it more prudent to cut prices to sell the units and generate cash.

Sanjay Dutt, joint MD at Cushman and Wakefield, a property consultancy, said the decline in prices is not sufficient enough to attract the buyers. But, the good thing is that a beginning has happened. He felt if the economic conditions do not change, the trend will continue and it will provide a good opportunity to the end-users to buy a house. Dutt said as the sentiment is subdued the investors are also absent from the market.

Verma too argued that the declining trend in the real estate prices is good for both builders as well as end-users. As the cost of money has gone up and the chances of making money in the short-term are not very bright, the investors are absent. This will be a positive for end-users to buy house.

Verma added that if prices come down, transactions will increase, which would improve the cash flow in the sector. In 2008 and 2009, when the entire country was reeling under the global financial crisis, real estate came out of it unscathed mainly because of its strategy to cut prices and increase turnover.

Source: The Times of India