Hyderabad’s unsold residential stock at 5-year low

With steady absorption coupled with improving demand, Hyderabad's unsold residential inventory has come down to their lowest point since 2010, bringing some cheer to the lacklustre market, said a report by property consultant Knight Frank. 

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There was absorption of 14,093 units in 2015 as against the 11,197 launched as new launches dropped by 14 percent in 2015, continuing the trend from 2014. 

"The annual trend in launches shows a clear decline. However, the half yearly trend over the last three periods shows supply numbers stabilising gradually," said Vasudevan Iyer, Branch Director, Knight Frank, Hyderabad. 

The report also hinted towards a recovery of 5% in absorption year-on-year during the first half of 2016. According to city developers, price correction is inevitable as Hyderabad property prices are already rock bottom and hence there will be a price appreciation. Residential units witnessed a growth of 3.1 percent year on year during the second half of 2015. 

On the other hand, the office market, despite a minor dip in absorption, posted robust numbers indicating an upward trend in office space absorption. In 2015, there was absorption of 4.6 million square feet as against 4.7 million sqft a year ago. 

Office space absorption is likely to push up by 23% year-on-year in the first half of 2016, while an approximate 1.9 million sqft space is expected to come up, the report said. 

Robust absorption coupled with falling supplies pushed vacancy levels to 14.4 percent at the end of 2015 from 17.7 percent in 2013. Interestingly, the second half of 2015 experienced the highest absorption levels of any half-yearly period in history on the back of big-ticket transactions by Qualcomm, Salesforce, Unitedhealth Group and J.P. Morgan. 

Simultaneously, rentals have been increasing steadily since 2012 and picked up momentum after the second half of 2014, post the resolution of Telangana issue. Also, severe shortage of good quality office space in prime areas has turned the market in favour of landlords, who are asking for higher rents from tenants with each passing quarter. The rentals are expected to rise by 7 percent in the first half of 2016. 

SOurce - ET 

Housing sale down 4% in eight cities in 2015

Housing sales fell by 4 percent to 2,63,720 units last year, lowest since 2010, in the eight major cities of the country on account of demand slowdown in the real estate market despite interest rate cut by the RBI.

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The National Capital Region (NCR) continued to be the worst performing market in India with sales and launches at six year low, property consultant Knight Frank said in its report released on January 29.

Launches of new homes fell by 21 percent in 2015 at 2,44,944 units in the primary market of eight major cities - NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

The unsold inventories have declined marginally to 6.91 lakh units from nearly 7.15 lakh units in 2014. Developers would take more than 2.5 years to exhaust this unsold stock.

Commenting on the report, Knight Frank India CMD Shishir Baijal said: "2015 for Indian real estate had both the good and bad news. While the office market grew from strength to strength, residential did not perform as expected."

Residential segment continued to face slowdown with launches at a five year low, despite the festive season.

"Sales in 2015 were lower than 2014 levels. Despite the 125 bps rate cut by RBI, demand did not see an uptake. Our outlook for 2016 remains muted. To further revive the demand, it is important to transmit the benefits of the rate cuts to consumers," Baijal said.

In the Delhi-NCR market, housing sales fell marginally to 48,503 units in 2015 from 48,630 units in the previous year.

However, launches of new homes fell by 20 percent to 63,458 units in NCR. The unsold inventory in NCR stands at 2.06 lakh units at the end of 2015.

On housing prices, Knight Frank India National Director (Residential Agency) Mudassir Zaidi said the prices grew by an average 3 percent last year. However, he said the rate of growth has come down from 9 percent to 3 percent in the last 36 months.

In contrast to the housing segment, Knight Frank India's Executive Director (North and Capital Markets) Rajeev Bairathi said the office space absorption stood at 40.4 million sq ft, highest since 2012, in six cities - Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

Delhi-NCR witnessed absorption of 7.4 million sq ft of office space last year.

"Supply of quality office space is now a concern with vacancy levels at an eight year low. Rentals have firmed up as a result," he added.

Among sectors driving growth, IT/ITeS continues to lead with start-ups. "This year, however, we saw e-commerce and start-ups contribute to the office space uptake in a major way. Going forward, we have to wait to see if this trend continues," Bairathi said.

Source - ET

Duty-free shops at airports in non-metro cities see uptick in business

MUMBAI: International flyers from smaller Indian cities are thronging duty free shops at airports in large numbers, shopping for single malts and premium perfumes.

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"Nowadays, customers from non-metro cities have become very well informed, and there has been a rise in the number of flyers from such cities over the past two years. A growth in their disposable income fuels their buying behaviour. All these have helped us in boosting sales in non-metro cities such as Lucknow, Amritsar, Jaipur, Mangalore, etc," said Anirban Dutta Chowdhury, CEO, India at Flemingo International, which operates duty free shops at 11 cities in India, including Kolkata, Chennai, Trivandrum, Calicut, Trichy, Goa and Ahmedabad, apart from the ones mentioned earlier.

Flemingo currently gets 55 per cent of its India business from Kolkata and Chennai while the rest comes from non-metro cities.

The latter chunk has "grown substantially" over the past few years and will continue to grow, said Chowdhury without elaborating.

The airports are operated by state-run Airports Authority of India. Its chairman RK Srivastava said there has been an increase in demand for duty free in non-metro airports.

AAI over the next seven years will be investing close to $12 billion for construction of new regional airports and expansion of existing ones. More than ten of these will have bigger duty free areas.

"We are expanding our retail space. We will have stores at both arrival & departure terminals at all the locations where we operate. Departure stores at some locations such as Amritsar and Calicut were closed. Now we are in the process of reopening and making new stores there," said Chowdhury.

More Indian travellers are buying at duty-free stores in local airports instead of overseas, attracted by discounts and a growing range of spirits and perfumes stocked by operators in the country.

Source - TOI 

Not all is lost for state in smart city list

Lucknow

After a debacle in the top 20 Smart Cities list released by the Centre on January 28, Lucknow Municipal Corporation seems to have not lost all and hopes for Lucknow to be soon added in the list. The state capital fell short of few numbers and achieved 29th rank in the survey.

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The Union Ministry of Urban Development has announced to soon release a list of 10 more cities to be taken up from states which could not find a single rank in top 20. The list is expected to come out by February end and Lucknow stands a good chance to appear.

Mayor Dinesh Sharma said, "Lucknow would certainly appear in top 30. We have heard that a special round of competition would be held among states which could not make it to top 20 and 10 top cities will be selected among them. We are keeping fingers crossed for Lucknow."

Notably, Agra too is very close by at 31st rank, followed by Kanpur and Aligarh from UP in decreasing order of scores. Varanasi has been among worse performers in the ranking.

Source - TOI 

Rupee firms up 26 paise against dollar in early trade

MUMBAI: The rupee recovered 26 paise to 67.97 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters.

Besides, dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas and a rebound in domestic equity market in early hours supported the rupee, forex dealers said.

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The local unit had lost 18 paise to close at a fresh 29-month low of 68.23 in yesterday's trade on persistent dollar demand from banks and importers despite a lower greenback overseas after the US Fed kept interest rates unchanged.

The benchmark BSE sensex recovered 153.99 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 24,623.56 in early trade today.

Source - TOI 

Sensex soars 154 points as Feb F&O series takes off in style

MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE Sensex rallied about 154 points to 24,623.56 in early session on Friday on fresh buying push from investors as the February derivatives series was off to a solid start amid positive Asian cues.

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The 30-share Sensex, which lost 22.82 points in the previous choppy session, recouped 153.99 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 24,623.56.

Except banking, all sectoral indices of BSE led by consumer durables, metal and oil and gas were in the positive zone, rising by up to 1.85 per cent.

The NSE Nifty jumped 54.35 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 7,479.
Brokers said build-up of bets following the beginning of the February futures and options (F&O) series led to the rebound.

A firming trend at other Asian markets led by Japan after the Bank of Japan surprised markets by announcing a negative interest rate policy buoyed sentiment here too, they said.However, shares of ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki fell 3.86 per cent 1.72 per cent, respectively, dragged down by muted third quarter earnings announced after trading hours on Thursday.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 3.21 per cent, Shanghai Composite rose 2 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 2.05 per cent in early trade.

The US markets ended 0.79 per cent higher in yesterday's trade on higher oil prices and strong corporate earnings.

Source - TOI 

Indians Third Biggest Investor in US Property Market: Brokerage

New Delhi: Indians are the third biggest international investor community in the US realty market, global brokerage Sotheby's International Realty said.

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Indians had invested around $8 billion last year in US property market, the US-based brokerage said.
Canadians and Chinese buyers topped the list of foreign nationals in terms of investment in US property market.

"I think and I believe Indians who live in the US are one of the largest group of millionaires in the America... they are already there and therefore they are investing in real estate," Sotheby's International Realty president and CEO Philip A White told Press Trust of India.

Sotheby's International Realty in August 2014 had signed an agreement with Indian firm RealPro Infra Pvt Ltd and established its Indian arm under the name North India Sotheby's International Realty, which caters to the luxury real estate demands of resident and global Indians.

Sharing the details of Indians' investment in the US, North India Sotheby's International Realty founder and president Ashwin Chadha said, "After Canadians and Chinese, Indians are third largest international community in US in terms of real estate investment and had invested around $8 billion last year."

Talking about the Indian market for the global brokerage firm, White said they are optimistic about Indian luxury real estate market and have huge expectations. India as a country has huge potential to be the top nation in terms of business for us and it may take few years to get there, he added.

"Indians searching property globally, I think we all know Indians put big premium on real estate as a tangible asset to protect from inflation or number of things. So I think they keep on looking at the opportunities," Mr White added.

Further elaborating about the brokerage firm's domestic operations so far, North India Sotheby's International Realty founder and CEO Amit Goyal said they have already tied up with some established players in the sector including Tata Housing, Sobha and Max Group's Antara Housing.

According to US-based National Association of Realtors data, Indians had spent $5.8 billion in fiscal 2014 to purchase real estate in that country. China topped the list of foreign nationals with $22 billion in realty for the one year period ended March 2014.

Source - NDTV 

Rupee slides 14 paise against dollar to fresh 29-month low

MUMBAI: Extending losses for the third session, the rupee weakened another 14 paise to a fresh 29-month low of 68.19 against the dollar in early trade on Thursday following month-end demand from importers and banks amid a strengthening American currency overseas.

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Forex dealers said increased demand for the dollar and a lower opening in the domestic equity market kept pressure on the rupee.

The rupee had shed 22 paise to close at a new 29-month low of 68.05 yesterday on sustained demand for the greenback from banks and importers amid a lower value overseas.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell 91.87 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 24,400.52 in early trade.

Source - TOI 

Sensex trips 92 points on derivatives expiry, weak Asian cues

MUMBAI : The sensex fell almost 92 points to 24,400.52 in early trade on Thursday as participants cut down risky bets in view of the January derivatives expiry amid lacklustre Asian cues.

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The rupee dealt a further blow, which fell another 14 paise to trade at a fresh 29-month low of 68.19 against the dollar at the forex market in early hours.

The 30-share barometer fell 91.87 points, or 0.37%, to 24,400.52. The gauge had gained 530.18 points in the previous straight three sessions.

Losses in Bharti Airtel, HDFC Ltd, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, SBI, L&T and ICICI Bank stocks kept the Sensex on edge.The NSE Nifty too declined 28.15 points, or 0.37%, to 7,409.60.

Today being the last trading session of the January futures and options expiry, winding-up of positions and profit-booking at select stocks took their toll.
Other Asian markets got the blues after the US Fed hinted at more interest rate hikes this year despite the lingering economic uncertainty, which also hit sentiment.

The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.51% while Japan's Nikkei eased back 0.04% in early trade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading a tad higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.38% lower in yesterday's trade 

Source - TOI 

Developers demand infra status for realty sector

Delhi/NCR

The real estate sector should be given infrastructure status along with other tax benefits, so that it attracts investments and construction activities increase, Credai (The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India) said.

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At present, despite the fact that the sector is the second largest employer after agriculture, in the unorganized sector, it does not enjoy any status and, consequently, banks are reluctant to give loans to developers for construction activities.

Because of this, unless a developer sells at least 70% of a project, they cannot start construction, which leads to delay in the completion of projects.

Getamber Anand, national president of Credai, said, "Development of an integrated township and group-housing development on more than 10 acres should be given infrastructure status." Anand says that any project involving a provision for construction of roads, water-supply system, water-treatment plant, sanitation, and sewerage systems and solid waste treatment and management systems should be treated as an infrastructure project by the government for all purposes.

To incentivize housing development, infrastructure activities should be included in Section 80IA of the Income Tax Act, which would make the profit from these activities tax free.

After purchasing agricultural land, these companies create most of the infrastructural facilities and only then does the raw land gets converted into developed land, fit for construction of buildings for residential and commercial purposes.

Parveen Jain, president of Naredco (National Real Estate Development Council), said: "The denial of industry status for funding purposes to the real estate sector has created a huge problem. The situation has worsened in the present situation of financial crunch and slowdown in demand."

Source -  Times Property, The Times of India, Delhi/NCR

2016-17 will bring biggest fall in office space vacancy

Hyderabad

Showing faith in India's economic growth, corporate occupiers have been in expansion mode. Companies, especially in the e-commerce, telecom and healthcare sectors, have been snapping up office space across major cities. This expansion is also reflected by the decline in office vacancy levels across the country a trend that started in 2013. By 2015-end, cities such as Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai had a vacancy rate of just 5-12%.

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Vacancy in Bangalore has reduced from 16% in 2011 to 4% today. Chennai's vacancy has come down from 32% in 2010 to 12.5% today. Hyderabad has also seen its vacancy reduce from 17% in 2009 to less than 10% now. Similarly, in Pune, vacancy has reduced from 18% in previous years to 5% today. The sharpest fall in pan-India vacancy is expected between 2016 and 2017 when it will be slightly less than 13%.

India's office space absorption in 2015, at around 36 million sq ft, was the second highest after 2011. Leading this bull-run were cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai. While the absorption in 2015 was similar to 2011, it was distributed across new and old buildings this time unlike 2011 when it was largely limited to newly completed buildings.

Also, while the demand in 2011 was due to lower rentals after the global financial crisis; in 2015, it was largely thanks to implementation of growth plans by corporates. Interestingly, in 2014, demand had surpassed supply for the first time since 2007. Moreover, the demand forecast looks strong in the medium-term.

As demand continues to pick up, occupiers will start taking up spaces in less ideal locations. Grade-B buildings in the good areas will also see good absorption.

Ramesh Nair – COO, Business and International Director, JLL India

Source - TOI 

Rupee drops 15 paise against dollar in early trade

MUMBAI: The rupee was trading lower by 15 paise at 67.98 against the American currency in early trade on Wednesday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market as the dollar firmed up overseas.

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Forex dealers said increased month-end demand for the US currency from importers and dollar's gains against other currencies overseas put pressure on the rupee.

They said, however, a higher opening in the domestic equity market, capped the rupee's losses.

The rupee had ended 20 paise down at 67.83 against the US dollar on Monday following a renewed demand for the greenback.The forex market remained closed yesterday for the Republic Day.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose 159.75 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 24,645.70 in early trade today.

Source - TOI 

Sensex jumps 160 points in early trade as Asia, Europe shine

MUMBAI: Extending gains for the third straight session, the benchmark sensex surged about 160 points to 24,645.70 in early trade on Wednesday amid a firming trend at other Asian markets, tracking overnight gains in the US and Europe.

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The 30-share index, which had gained 523.74 points in the previous two sessions, gained another 159.75 points, or 0.75%, at 24,645.70, with sectoral indices led by power, healthcare, realty, auto and IT trading in the positive zone.

The NSE Nifty was also trading higher by 39.90 points, or 0.53%, at 7,476.05.

The market was closed yesterday for the Republic Day.

Brokers said buying activity picked up momentum largely in step with a firming trend at other Asian bourses and overnight gains in the US and European markets on the back of a rally in crude oil which kept mood upbeat.Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei climbed 2.02% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading higher by 0.47% in early trade. Shanghai's Composite index was up 0.23%.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.78% higher in yesterday's trade.

Source - TOI 

How to maximise returns from commercial realty

With over 70% of investors expecting improvement in sales over the next 12 months, the Indian realty market may be heading towards a revival in 2016, a research report by property consultant JLL India and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says. And surprisingly, Bengaluru has pipped the Natonal Capital Region to become the second preferred investment destination for the investors after Mumbai. But the positive sentiment is driven by rising demand for commercial realty, not for residential areas.

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The average price growth in Bengaluru's residential areas over the last three years have been 23%, which is higher than the average price growth in all other major destinations -Delhi-NCR (18%), Mumbai (22%) and Pune (17%). Areas like Hebbal has seen a 67% growth with average price rising from Rs 4,250 per sq ft in 2012 to Rs 7,100 per sq ft in 2015.However, going forward, experts expect the price growth in residential properties to be muted compared to the previous years.

Alternative: Commercial Properties

Office space is where the new demand and price escalation is expected. To boot, low vacancy levels and availability of good-quality Grade A spaces for end users combined with stabilised rental agreements, top quality asset management and steady rent escalations is what makes Bengaluru a top choice for private equity nevstors in realty.

"PE investors are attracted to Bengaluru as it is a highly corporatised market with good quality tenancies. The IT firms pay decent rents, the lease terms are good and it's a stabilised market where demand and supply has always been kept neck-toneck," says Juggy Marwaha, who heads real estate consultant JLL's South India operations.

Interest from high networth individual is also high in the office space segment as they too want safe rental yielding assets. "The rentals in the residential market is sub-3%. While equity and gold are fluctuating, they are getting stable 8-12% returns from commercial property in Bengaluru," says Marwaha.

Although there is interest from retail investors to buy office space as well, the opportunities may be less.This is because of office space is institutionalised and developers are consolidating their portfolios for REITs.Hence, offloading square footage to retail investors by the Grade-A player's is very limited right now.

"Developers want to hold on to all the investments as they want rentyielding assets in their books. They want to hold on till the REITs come in and encash them only via that route," says Marwaha.

So, in case you want to invest in a good-quality commercial property in Bengaluru, you may have to wait for the REITs to come in, which is not going to happen in 2016. The JLL-RICS survey says most PE investors (66.7%) say the first REIT listings will not be witnessed this year due to issues related to taxation and other concerns.

 But you will still find quite a few affordable and smaller parcels in North Bengaluru which may be good investments especially for retail investors, backed by demand from ecommerce and startups in the the area.

Whitefield, mainly because of its infrastructural issues, is not a favourite any more and there is hardly any space left in Sarjapur-Outer-Ring Road stretch. North Bengaluru -from Manyata Tech Park to Hebbal and Yelahanka is the upcoming destination where the investment opportunities are. " North bengaluru (Thanisandra & Hebbal) has better prospects than East Bangalore (Whitefield & Brookfield) owing to better infrastructure and metro connectivity ," says Satish BN, executive director, South India, Knight Frank.

Mid-Segment Residential Growth

The uniqueness about Bengaluru's residential market is that it is a purely end-user driven market where, unlike in Mumbai and NCR, people buy to live. So, investor interest in the market has always been low. "There are no speculative investments in residential properties and the category has to compete with other investment avenues, such as equities, commercial office space and commodities," says Satish B N.

However, mid-range residential projects are a sweet spot. "Owing to the new set of people joining the city's IT brigade, the mid-range segment is doing better than other project and investors can also looking at renting out the properties after purchase," says Marwaha of JLL India.

The price appreciation in midrange segment is high because of the demand and availability of customers in the market. Thanisandra and Yelahanka are the upcoming areas in this region.

"You can expect up to 35% price escalation in Thanisandra and up to 30% in Yelahanka if you buy now and can hold on for next 4-5 years," says Marwaha. Other areas in the North of the city such as Nagawara, Hoskote and Kanakpura are also good areas to invest in, if you are looking at the affordable segment.

Source - ET 

Net Office Space Leasing Drops 44% in Delhi NCR During 2015

New Delhi: Net office space absorption fell sharply by 44 per cent in Delhi-NCR during last year to 3.83 million sq ft as leasing transactions largely pertained to relocation, consolidation and renewals of spaces.

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According to property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, the total office space leasing increased by 2 per cent in the Delhi-NCR in 2015 at 7.76 million sq ft, but incremental absorption of space by the corporates declined.

In 2014, total office space leasing stood at 7.63 million sq ft, out of which net absorption was 6.81 million sq ft.

"While the incremental space absorption in 2015 saw a decline of 44 per cent in 2015 over the previous year, the leasing activities recorded a marginal increase of 2 per cent in the same period, indicating that a larger proportion of office space leasing activities concentrated on relocation, consolidation or renewals," C&W said in a report.

Of the total leasing, approximately 50 per cent was attributed to relocation, consolidation and renewals, it said, adding that the first and the fourth quarter, in particular, witnessed low net absorption levels in Delhi-NCR region.

Meanwhile, the total office space leasing in the eight major cities --Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune -- went up by 15 per cent to 50.9 million sq ft during last year from 44.38 million sq ft in calendar year 2014.

Net absorption of office space dropped marginally by one per cent in these eight cities in 2015 at 33.91 million sq ft from 33.47 million sq ft during the previous year.

Apart from Delhi-NCR, net absorption of office space fell in Ahmedabad and Mumbai at 59 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, during 2015 compared with the previous year.

The other five cities recorded positive net absorption of office space, with Pune witnessing the maximum incremental rise of 61 per cent in leasing activities at 6.24 million sq ft during 2015.

Real estate market, particularly housing segment, is facing a huge slowdown in last 3-4 years, leading to multi-year delays in project deliveries. However, office segment, of late, has picked up, being reflected in increase in leasing activities.

Source - NDTV 

Rupee advances 10 paise against dollar

The rupee appreciated 10 paise to 67.53 against the dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange in early trade on Monday on increased selling of the US currency by banks and exporters.

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Forex dealers said that apart from increased selling of the American unit by exporters and banks, dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas supported the domestic currency.A higher opening in domestic stock markets also helped the rupee strengthen against the dollar, they added.

The rupee had recovered from its 29-month lows by rising 39 paise to close at 67.63 in Friday's trade on fresh selling of dollars on the back of recovery in equities.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE sensex surged 159.47 points, or 0.65 per cent, to trade at 24,595.13 in early session.

Source - TOI 

Sensex builds on gains, surges 159 points in early trade

MUMBAI : The benchmark BSE Sensex climbed over 159 points in early trade on Monday, extending its weekend rally on continued buying amid a firming trend at other Asian bourses on indications of additional central bank stimulus.

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Besides, covering-up of short positions in view of an approaching January expiry in the derivatives segment on Thursday influenced mood.

The 30-share index rose 159.47 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 24,595.13, with all sectoral indices led by auto, healthcare, capital goods, metal and banking trading higher by up to 1.12 per cent.

The gauge had rallied 473.45 points in the previous session.

The NSE index Nifty too edged higher by 60.40 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 7,482.85.

Brokers said investors speculated over the possibility that central banks will unleash more stimulus measures to bolster financial markets, which led to a firm trend at other Asian markets, lifting spirits here.

Stock markets will remain closed tomorrow for the Republic Day.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 2.47 per cent and Japan's Nikkei gained 0.67 per cent while the Shanghai Composite index was trading higher 0.60 per cent in early trade today.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.33 per cent higher in Friday's trade.

Source - TOI