HDFC Reduces Prime Lending Rate By 20 Bps To Boost Loan Offtakes

By bajaj Investors 

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on Friday reduced its retail prime lending rate on housing and non-housing loans by 20 basis points. The prime lending rate is the rate on which commercial banks lend to their customers. The private sector lender's adjustable-rate home loans are benchmarked against the retail prime lending rate. "The change will benefit all existing HDFC retail home loan and non-home loan customers," HDFC said in a statement. Recently, State Bank of India (SBI) cut its marginal cost of funds based lending rate by 25 basis points across all tenors. Industry experts say property sales have slowed, resulting in a high stock of unsold inventory. Tight funding conditions are straining developers' ability to complete projects and by extension their solvency. The can largely be attributed to COVID-19 pandemic which impacted investor sentiments as well as a slowdown in the Indian economy since last year. With pay cuts and job losses becoming pervasive, the residential and retail real estate segments will have to chart an arduous journey towards recovery, according to Knight Frank India. Source: Businessworld.in

Chandigarh

Chandigarh Real Estate Stretching Boundaries Zirakpur, Panchkula ,Mohali & New Chandigarh

By Bajaj Investors 

Being lived in small town, I always dreamt to live in the place which could be beautiful, clean, endowed with opportunities & more importantly development oriented.Chandigarh, Which is elegant, spotlessly clean, Job oriented and it seems like finally i found out the beautiful smart city . 'Chandigarh' the neighbour of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana,Delhi & Uttarakhand.Chandigarh itself is a big city, but Interestingly, Now, In contemporary phase Chandigarh stretched its boundaries, New chandigarh, Mohali & Zirakpur are being developed as Chandigarh.High Rise Residential, Commercial & Industrial Development have been established in these TRI-CITY. In the developing phase of streached Chandigarh, I feel so blessed to being the spectator of the developing phase of the fore sure prominent Cities and for me this is a historic phase so indeed I would definitely narrate the developing stories of chandigarh  to next generation. NEW CHANDIGARH, MOHALI, ZIRAKPUR are cities of  stretched chandigarh. Schools, Education institutes, Entertainment points and Medical Facilities all are found in these cities so that no need to go chandigarh for particular reason. Govt and Private players are creating infrastructure &  provide Facilities to deep end.High rise commercial and residential are giant proof of developing cities . India's Top hospitals presence gives big relief sigh to medical related concern. Construction is the core element of infrastructure and Real Estate.Developing Industrial hubs are capable to provide job opportunities and at the same time Real Estate players has been staring in high rise infrastructure for long ago to provide best and amenities enabled. However, Spending time in our town always boosting energy and drawn out positive energy aura behind us as it keeps us away from hustle bustle life to simple living.We all would be definitely attached to our small towns as our family, ancestors, belongings are here.More importantly we spend our precious childhood moments in our birth place, but i dont know why chandigarh seems like my place."

                                               

Real Estate Remains Preferred Asset Class For Investors: Housing.Com-NAREDCO Survey

By Bajaj Invetors

Despite subdued consumer demand amid an economic slowdown, real estate is still perceived as the preferred mode of investment, according to a report jointly released on Wednesday by Housing.com and National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO). Nearly 35 per cent of respondents perceived real estate as the preferred mode of investment followed by gold (28 per cent), fixed deposits (22 per cent) and stocks (16 per cent). Homebuyers are likely to slowly return to the market in the coming six months, said the report. The survey was conducted in April and May through a random sampling technique for a fair representation across regions. The insights entirely represent the view of more than 3,000 potential homebuyers. "The real estate consumer remains positive with regard to the economic scenario and income stability for the coming six months," said the report titled 'Concerned, yet positive -- The Indian Real Estate Consumer (April to May 2020).' Price-points of residential realty have remained muted for the past few years but are still a key deterrent with the perception of being still unaffordable. This was the response from nearly half of the potential homebuyers surveyed who are currently staying in rented accommodation. A majority of respondents surveyed (73 per cent) comprise first-time homebuyers who are looking to buy a ready-to-move-in-house for end-use and are from the age group of 25 to 45 years. While 60 per cent of respondents opined that for the next six months, they would prefer a ready-to-move-in property, 21 per cent said they were okay with a property with a delivery timeline of maximum one year. Going forward, NAREDCO believes real estate will be positive for both end-users and investors in the post-COVID-19 world. Those living in rental homes have realised the importance of being in their own homes while NRIs facing challenging times in their present domiciles are looking at creating a safe haven 'back home' in India. Demand for additional space for home offices is on the rise with a need for more efficient layouts. The importance of common amenities, business centres and more open spaces will be an inherent part of the new demand criteria in the post-COVID-19 world, said the report. "We are witnessing volatility in equity markets globally but the value of properties in the real estate market has managed a stable stance," said Ram Raheja, Director of S Raheja Realty. "This is because unlike other asset-classes, real estate is tangible in nature and this strengthens the factor of security and better return on investments." (ANI) Source: Business World

Chandigarh

Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune Biggest Markets For Student Housing In India: Report

By Bajaj Investors

Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Pune are the three biggest markets for student housing in the country, and these cities require an additional 4.75 lakh beds from organised co-living operators to meet the current demand, according to a report. Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), in association with the Student Accommodation Providers Forum of India (SAPFI), on Wednesday released a report “Exploring the Student Housing Universe in India City Insights”. The report has identified education clusters in the cities of Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Pune, the three biggest markets for professionally managed student accommodation (PMSA) operators. The report estimated 9.08 million migrant students in India, amounting to over 24 per cent of 37 million total student enrolments in the country's higher educational institutions (HEIs) for the year 2018-19. "Delhi-NCR with 7.45 lakh students enrolled in HEIs as of 2018-19 has 50 per cent outstation students. There is demand for additional 2.5 lakh beds from PMSA operators," it said. Bengaluru has the highest number of HEIs in India with student enrolments estimated at 5.38 lakh. With 60 per cent outstation students, additional demand currently stands at around 92,000 beds, the report said. In Pune, the report said student enrolment stood at nearly 4 lakh. With 60 per cent outstation students, additional capacity requirements in PMSA segment is 1.33 lakh beds. Anshul Jain, Country Head and Managing Director-India, Cushman and Wakefield, said: “The significant mass of migrant students in the higher education sector today demand and expect quality student accommodation facilities providing food, security and a range of amenities. While globally, PMSA has found its footing as part of the mainstream real estate sector, in India it is still in a nascent stage." With policy support and private investments, Jain said the student housing segment could be the next growth driver in the overall realty sector. Kaushal Mahan, Convenor, SAPFI, said, “The sector is expected to witness a huge amount of foreign direct investment inflows resulting in job creation and economic development." Mahan said this segment requires encouragement from the government for building a favourable policy ecosystem.

After medi-city, IT-city: Bio-Technology park to come up near Mohali

By Bajaj Investors 

Following the setting up of medi-city, an ancillary site comprising multispeciality hospitals, in New Chandigarh (Mullanpur Garibdas) and IT-city, a site for IT companies, near airport road, the state government is set to establish a Bio-Technology park near Mohali. The government will be offering land to Bio-Technology companies, for setting up the park, in the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit 2019, scheduled to be held in December. The government has planned to acquire 84.1 acre land in Chao Majra, Chilla, Raipur Khurd and Mauli Baidwan villages for the same. The project will be located at a distance of 9 km from the international airport and 13 km from Chandigarh. A Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) told Chandigarh Newsline that the land would be offered for companies to set up Bio-Technology park as private and state universities were also coming up in the area, which would provide ample workforce for the companies. National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) is also near the project site. “The government has allowed setting up a mixed land use zone in Rajpura, near Mohali and the Bio-Technology park is being planned in a way that the requirements of the industry can be met at one go. A green industry is also coming up at Rajpura, which will boost the new project,” the officer added. On being asked about the response of the companies to the project, the officer said that during investors summit, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) would be signed with the Bio-Technology companies, however, at present, there was no company which had showed interest. The officer said, “We have estimated that the establishment of a Bio-Technology park will generate employment for more than 50,000 youths of the state and will also provide business to hundreds of people and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The state government is working to promote medical tourism and Bio-Technology park is a part of this plan.” At present, the IT city is in its nascent stages of development, while the work for medi-city has almost reached its completion. However, the state government has not yet declared a dedicated zone for setting up the Bio-Technology park.

Finance Minister hints at booster dose for realty sector

By Bajaj Investors 

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government and Reserve Bank are working to resolve the issues being faced by realty sector. Admitting that realty sector has been left out of the booster measures announced earlier, she said the sector has a spillover effect on many sectors, especially the core sector. "The government is very keen and is working very clearly together with the RBI to see how best we can, where necessary, tweak the existing norms to help the people who are affected in the realty sector," she said at an NSE event. It can be noted that after the July budget roiled the market and business sentiment, the government has rolled back many of the tax measures and also went to the extent of drastically cutting corporate tax to 22 percent--making the biggest tax giveaways to the tune of Rs 1.3 lakh crore. Admitting that the so far announced measures have not helped revive the sentiment in the real estate, she said since August the government has been making various interventions to revive the market and consumption demand. Still there is a lot of work to be done and "one particular sector which I have not touched, but which has a lot of positive impact and also can effect an impact for the stock market, is the real estate sector." She said many funds are ready to invest but want more policy support. "There are many alternative funds which are now approaching us saying we would like to do something with you all so long as there is some supporting mechanism available for reviving the realty sector," she said. It can be noted that since the note-ban in November 2016 and the soon-to-be followed Rera introduction in May 2017 and subsequent rollout of the GST in July 2017, the realty market, which used to thrive on black money all these years, was hit hard and is yet to recover from the triple shocks. The liquidity crisis in the NBFC sector has also played its role. 

Tribune flyover soil testing work starts

   

By Bajaj Investors 

As the UT Administration has finalised the tender for the construction of the Tribune flyover, the company selected to handle the project has started a soil-testing survey for the much-awaited project. In the financial bids opened last month, the UT Engineering Department had selected a firm, DRAIPL-DMR (JV), to carry out the project. Sources said the firm had appointed Dr Ghuman and Gupta Geotech Consultants, Mohali, to carry out the soil survey to know the load-bearing capacity of earth on stretch of the flyover before starting the construction. Inderjit Singh, site engineer of the company, said the soil testing would take around 70 days. He said the soil testing would reveal the load-bearing capacity of the earth. The foundation design for the project will be based on the report. The firm, DRAIPL-DMR (JV), was selected as it quoted the lowest rate of Rs 137 crore to carry out the project in the financial bids opened last month. The Administration has now sought the concurrence of the Ministry of Road Transport before officially allotting the work. The company will have to complete the project in two years. The Administration invited bids for the project in 2019. The project is already running late after its foundation stone was laid by Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore on March 3, 2019. The flyover project will start near the GMCH roundabout and cover Tribune Chowk along Dakshin Marg. The construction of the flyover and the underpass will help ease traffic congestion at the busiest junction of the city, having the highest concentration of vehicular traffic. Flyover will help ease traffic congestion The flyover project will start near the GMCH roundabout and cover Tribune Chowk along Dakshin Marg. The construction of the flyover and the underpass will help ease traffic congestion at the busiest junction of the city, having the highest concentration of vehicular traffic.