Real estate development in Gurgaon.

The much awaited Gurgaon Master Plan 2021 is bringing high hopes for residents of the fast flourishing cyber city, Gurgaon. It paves the way for 14,930 hectares land for residential and 1,404 hectares of land for commercial development. This will undoubtedly be a step forward in the direction of real estate development in Gurgaon. Moreover, the new supply could be good news for the middle class as the prices of apartments are expected to slip down to 2,000 – 2,500 per sq ft. whereas they were earlier available for no less than Rs 2,700 per sq ft, says sources. Property rates in some newly developed sectors of Gurgaon will be at least 30-40% lower than in existing sectors.
So far, property developers were only concentrating their attention on high end housing. With availability of more land, they can focus on middle and lower segments as well. India’s shabby infrastructure is believed to be a major roadblock to woo potential foreign investors. Containing provisions for all, the New Gurgaon Master Plan will also help infrastructure to develop fast in most new sectors. It may take long time before the first project is on the track but demand is likely to shoot up. For that reason, it is difficult to estimate how prices will fall in sectors.

A number of locations have witnessed a correction in their secondary market prices in real estate Gurgaon.Property rates in Gurgaon-Sohna road have undergone a marked price correction of about 10% in the last six months. General buyers are eyeing the rates to come down further as the supply graph in Gurgaon real estate (residential & commercial) is going up in the newly demarcated sectors and as investors exit closer to the date of delivery of projects.

Property developers who have “land banks” are considered to emerge as major key players, and could be expected to launch projects within the next two to three months. The list includes the big names like DLF, Unitech, Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure, Vatika, Raheja, Vipul, and Emaar-MGF.

Adding to the Gurgaon real estate boom comes the new Gurgaon-Manesar Urban complex Plan 2021. It is known to be unique master plan for the region as it envisages keeping population density in the newly covered areas lower than in the old. The aim is to add to the green belt area, increase the residential units and commercial spaces in Gurgaon real estate, and bringing improvements in connectivity with neighboring Delhi.

Graph and improve the power scenario

The once sleepy town of Gurgaon in Haryana has witnessed a real estate boom since the late 90's following liberalization of the Indian economy. Gurgaon, like Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, attracts IT professionals in droves. Their salaries are comparable to the best in the world. The high disposable income in the hands of employees of the booming service sector in Gurgaon has led to tremendous spurt in demand for properties in Gurgaon both for commercial and residential use.
With a space crunch in national capital Delhi, MNCs plump for nearby Gurgaon and many have made it their corporate headquarters in the country, as it is just 10 km from the Indira Gandhi International airport.
Property in Gurgaon values have skyrocketed over the past decade due to this burgeoning demand. As a result, Gurgaon properties have drawn huge investments both from inland and overseas. The influx of funds has transformed this one-time village into a hi-tech city with multistoried malls and skyscrapers dotting the landscape.
The proposed expressway to Jaipur, metro rail connection to Delhi and the special economic zone to be developed by Reliance Industries has made Gurgaon apartments treasured possessions for builders and owners alike with the rush for bookings still on. All these have contributed to increased construction activity in Gurgaon properties.
Property in Gurgaon also attracts high rental values. Many residents of posh South Delhi areas buy apartments in Gurgaon while some have already shifted lock, stock and barrel there to escape Delhi's congestion and pollution. Those who sell apartments in Gurgaon these days get much higher returns than in the case of flats in other areas of the national capital region. So, Gurgaon property owners are set to witness happy times. However, to keep the cash registers ringing, the city authorities will have to do their bit to check the rising crime graph and improve the power scenario

POWER PACKED PALWAL

With world-class expressways coming up and big industries setting up base their in the area, Palwal is all set to witness a massive industrial and residential boom in the times ahead. Here's an overview to the growth patterns

The national capital region might have become the zone of high-power investments but the Tier-II towns have increasingly become the focus areas of the housing sector. Real estate experts point out that a slight decrease in the real estate market in NCR is also due to the fact that investments and development have been scattered beyond NCR. And, Tier-II towns have massively taken away the share of investment from the NCR - the latest being Palwal, in Haryana.

HUDA has also shown keen interest in developing small Haryana towns. Realising the potential of Palwal, it had recently awarded the construction work of the 135 kmlong KMP Expressway around Palwal to D S Constructions, the company which built the Dhaula Kuan-Gurgaon Expressway. This KMP Expressway will touch Manesar, before terminating at Kundli, NH-1 (G T Road). The expressway is slated for completion by 2009. Another Eastern Peripheral Expressway is underway, which will connect Palwal to Kalindi bypass.

Rohtas Goel, CMD-Omaxe, says: "Palwal has a great potential for real estate development. It enjoys its own natural advantages. It is a key Haryana town situated on the strategic Delhi-Agra Highway, which also has a heavy tourist flow. The town is surrounded by some of the most significant expressways like KMP and Eastern Peripheral. Once completed, the town will also enjoy proximity with the Greater Noida airport. The future of Palwal is bright in every respect. There are also a lot of potential buyers for the projects. Then there is that added advantage offered by Faridabad City."

An Industrial Model Town (IMP) is also being developed by the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) where industries have started coming up.

Says Sameer Gogia, a local property consultant: "Rapid industrialisation is taking place in Palwal. As a result, there has been a sharp demand for housing here. Local industrialists prefer to stay here. Within the next four years, the area will witness a massive industrial and residential boom. The nearly fivelakh strong town is bound to attract heavy population influx in the times to come."

And most importantly, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has cleared the proposal of a metro line to Ballabgarh and land has already been acquired by HUDA for the purpose.

The area will further be beautified with the private mode of development. A world-class integrated township on over 150 acres is currently under construction by real estate major Omaxe, on the Delhi-Agra National Highway-2. The township named 'Omaxe City' will be a complete township within itself, having provisions for hospitals, commercial centres, clubs, nursery-, primary-, middle-, senior-secondary schools and other basic facilities. The real articulation of development is in the construction of a five star hotel by the SRS group on NH-2, about 14 km from Palwal towards Faridabad. The hotel is said to be the first one in the country to have its own helipad.

Anil Jindal of SRS Group says: "A lot of domestic and foreign tourists travel on the Delhi-Agra Highway. But, there are no good hotels in between. There was a need to offer a luxury hotel for the tourists." According to Jindal, the nearly 15-acres-hotel site is being developed in three phases. In the first phase, 5 acres is being undertaken and would be completed by 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Local dealers say that with giants like Omaxe stepping into private housing, other developers are likely to follow suit. Already, Piyush and Era have come up in the area.

Courtesy: ET, dtd: 09^th Nov. 2007

IT AND BPO COMPANIES ABSORB MOST OF THE TOTAL COMMERCIAL OFFICE SPACE

Despite sluggishness in demand for residential property, the commercial office space segment is continuing to spur growth, backed by strong demand for high quality real estate by both Indian and multinational companies.

"As the economy is doing pretty well, almost all companies are vying for good commercial space to expand operations. This is why the demand is pretty high in this segment," said real estate consultant Sunil Bajaj.

According to him there is a good demand for commercial office space property allover the nation. "In Mumbai the office space rentals in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), Navi Mumbai have gone up by 25 to 30 per cent over last year and the demand is increasing," said Bajaj. In Pune too, the rentals have climbed steadily to Rs 50 to Rs 80 per sq ft.

Consultancy firm Ernst & Young in one of its recent reports on Indian real estate stated that continuing the past trend, the commercial real estate segment witnessed a dominance of IT/ITeS- accounting for nearly 70 to 75 per cent of the total commercial office space absorption.

This is followed by banking, financial services, insurance, pharmaceutical and telecom companies in most cities. "Mumbai witnessed more diversified absorption with Banking, Financial Services, Insurance and Telecom contributing evenly," the report said.

According to this report, the total supply of commercial office space in the National Capital Region, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai together was recorded in the range of 40-45 million sq ft.

"Cities like Bangalore witnessed highest ever absorption in their histories. Rentals and capital value of Grade-A commercial space witnessed steady appreciation in most parts of the country, highest appreciation for most cities was witnessed in the last quarter of 2006," the report said.

Due to limited supply in the existing central business districts of cities, rentals in secondary business districts are witnessing high appreciation in rentals and capital value, for example, Nehru Place and Saket in Delhi and Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

According to analysts IT/ITeS companies currently hard pressed with declining earnings due to the steady depreciation of the US dollar are scrambling for low cost office space at suburbs and even at Tire-II cities.

This is why several organised and unorganised players are constructing huge amount of commercial office space for speedy consumption.

But there is a caution for investors. "Indian real estate sector is exposed to global liquidity and interest rate related risks and threat from other emerging markets. The Indian real estate market is hence vulnerable to global risks and any adverse movement could be a dampener to its growth momentum," said the Ernst & Young report.

Courtesy: HT, dtd: 12^th Nov. 2007