Affordable Housing

Terrified with the thought of having your own property in & around Mumbai? Not anymore! With realty majors like Mahindra Lifespaces & Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL) venturing into the affordable housing segment, 1BHK & 2BHK flats are being made available to consumers ranging from 11 lakh to 21 lakh.
Mahindra Lifespaces hitherto operated in the medium to premium housing sector only. In the phase II of the “affordable housing segment”, the company has commenced the construction of its two pilot projects in Boisar & Chennai.
The first phase which the company launched around Diwali last year has already seen more than 300 flats being sold, Mahindra Lifespaces said in a statement. “The flat sizes are roughly between 351 sq. feet  to 762 sq feet with 351 sq. feet being 1 room, kitchen and and 762 sq. feet being 2 BHK (bedroom, hall, kitchen).
In phase II, around 240 flats were launched & opened for booking in March 2015. The price bracket in the first phase was “almost” the same as phase II.
“We are looking to expand further in Maharashtra”, Mahindra Lifespaces said. The company is trying to find the right fit of the land as all these land parcels have to be well connected to the city centres.
Another City based realtor, Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) has announced a project in Kurla under the affordable housing space. The project, Premier Legend, offers 1 and 2 BHK flats with amenities like dedicated kids play area, gymnasium and landscaped garden, the company said in a press release. The project has got all the necessary approvals and housing loan facilities are also available from leading institutions.
“We aim at providing a luxurious experience & uncompromised leisure with our spacious apartments & top class amenities”, HDIL vice-chairman and managing director Sarang Wadhawan said in the release. The strategic location of the project and proximity to airports, railway stations, educational institutes and hospitals is an added advantage for the end buyer,” he stated.

Social Media Tool

When Aditya Mishra, the CFO of one of the multinational firm in Gurgaon, checks for WhatsApp Group messages where more than 100 Unitech home buyers were waiting for the delivery for luxury villas however; deadline ends before three years. Now Group is planning to take the legal action after the protest at projects site which is Alder Grove at Nirvana Country 2 in Gurgaon. After many meetings with Unitech executives and mails communication, company promoters are not able to settle things up.
Approx. 20 buyers have filled the case with NCDRC (National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission) and this group has Facebook fan page, WhatsApp Group, Group on Google and a presence on Twitter. Now angry buyers are taking the action against builders who is delaying the delivery of apartments and villas. However; the use of social networks are making the builders little panic as buyers are discussing the legal option and other ways to get compensations. Apart from that the spokesman from Unitech stated that there are several factors which are beyond the control of company and it resulted in the delays.
According to Liases Foras, which is property research firm, more than 8.5 lakh apartments launched between the period of 2008 and 2011ahve been delayed by more than one year whereas; in Delhi/NCR more than 1.7 lakh apartments are delayed by more than 48 months however; in Mumbai the number of flats are 82,000, which are delayed by more than 4 years. Apart from that builder are saying that there are various reasons for delaying the delivery such as; labour shortage, multiple approvals, lack of funds and more. In 2011, the Competition Commission of India was acting on the complaints against DLF filled by apartment owners and fined the company with Rs 630 crore for abusing its dominant reputation and position in the Gurgoan region. Before few weeks NCDRC asked Unitech to pay compensation to buyers at 12 per cent per annum for delays by overruling the agreement between builder-buyer which was offering 1.8 per cent.
Effect of Unity:
Now buyers are finding themselves in the comfort zone. When HDIL (Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd) asked the buyers to pay more for Kurla project in Mumbai, so they fought back against developer and choose to go out of court settlement for low amount. In one of the project of Indiabulls Greens, which is in Panvel, buyer’s group state that the delivery of first phase was in 2012-13, but now it will be ready by 2017 and also there is change in project layout. Dev Purohit, who is 27-year-old textile exporter, stated that we are in process to register our group and after that we will move to CCI against Indiabulls Real Estate. Whereas; according to the official statement of Indiabulls Real Estate, we are delivering all the projects at time and for Panvel Greens project the scheduled delivery date is July 2016 as per agreement. Apart from that we have provided an option to buyers to exit with 12 per cent interest benefit.

Property prices in Mumbai

According to few reports, property prices will remain high in certain market conditions, but they will not increase any more. The value of under construction property which is unsold in real estate inventory in Mumbai can be anything as its R 53,400 crore for a clutch of listed firms and it presents that consumer confidence isn’t exactly soaring. What can be worse with an additional R36,800 crore of launches in the area of 20.4 million sq ft, which is more than half of south central part of the city and it can put the prices of real estate industry under pressure.

According to Niranjan Hiranandani, co-founder of Hiranandani Developers, in real estate market pricing strategy is now crucial since only relatively affordable projects are able to find takers whereas; high end properties in the central and southern parts of the city aren’t seeing any specific interest. Ghulam Zia Executive Director of  Knight Frank India, stated that first-time home buyers continued to sit on the fence however in recent budget there are no incentives for home buyers the market will get revitalized only once the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) begins to cut interest rates.

Analysis of Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE):

According to analysis of Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE) the numbers are clearly indicating that says land buying has dropped and prices are not going so up as only there are four or five developers have the capacity to buy land worth more than $200 million. The analysis showed that Oberoi Realty, Peninsula Land, Sunteck Realty, Godrej Properties, HDIL, DB Realty and Indiabulls real estate are among those property developers who are sitting on high inventories and major part of those inventories belongs from Lower Parel, Worli, south and central pockets of Mumbai and Prabhadevi.

Ambar Maheshwari, CEO of Indiabulls Group also believes that there is a glut at the premium and high ends of the real estate market. The more he added that a recovery is unlikely in areas like Lower Parel and Prabhadevi unless developers build smaller apartments that result in some kind of rationalization in prices. In present Oberoi Realty is targeting on the sales of unsold inventory and they are expecting to sale it in next 12 months, but KIE expects the company will only be able to sell R8,500 crore worth of residences in the next 30 months. As per the data issued by the Director General of Mumbai, in the first 11 months of 2014, property registrations fell 2.4 per cent.

As per few reports developers are planning to offer discount after definitive interest from buyers and channel checks suggest that large number of units are being sold in the 20:80 schemes which will be without a bank debt burden to and trip abroad for designing apartments however discounts are becoming more evident as real estate developers are also offering absolute discounts to investors and as well as end buyers now. These measures are clearly failing to impress and attract new buyers. In certain real estate market, in certain markets developers are selling 20-30 units in a month while in others they could be selling in 2 to 6 a month. Amit Bhagat, who is CEO & MD, ASK Property, stated that the demand was tepid in the luxury space so any developer who was leveraged might be under pressure.

Luxury housing segment, Nahur

Nahur which is situated in the north-eastern part of Mumbai is a suburban hotspot located at the end of the Greater Mumbai region.  In line with the real estate activity across Mumbai, the western counterpart mainly along the LBS Marg is witnessing far greater activity in comparison to the eastern side.

In Nahur, the central railway line divides the micro-market into the eastern and western side. The area along LBS road is home to erstwhile large-scale industries, most of which are shut since long, yet they occupy hundreds of acres of strategic plots. Over the past few years, the area has witnessed significant development with prominent developers launching their residential projects in the micro-markets.

The LBS road in Nahur is witnessing the change in skyline, led primarily by the development of some premium projects that are promoting the concept of affordable luxury, coupled with availability of large develop able land parcels allowing developers to take significant land positions in the area. A few prominent retail malls have also mushroomed in the region to cater to the residential areas. Connectivity remains one of the strongest features of this project. An in-house provision for general stores ensures that an individual needn’t move out of the premises for day-to-day needs.

The transformation in the area is led by none other than HDIL which has been a pioneer when it comes to addressing the needs of affordable luxury housing segment. One of their projects Majestic Towers, which is a 36-storey mega project at Nahur (w), offers optimally, priced affordable luxury housing options in 2, 2.5 and 3-BHK. Some of the projects developed by the company are setting new benchmark in construction. The kind of facilities, specifications are provided in their affordable luxury homes are a complete game-changer. For instance, elegantly designed, with stylish fittings, and amenities like a clubhouse, pool, gym and landscaped gardens with reflexology, cricket pitch, squash court an apartment in Majestic Tower, is truly life’s best within reach. Yet, when it comes to pricing, it remains well within the budget. With almost 55-60 per cent of construction completed and work in full swing; the projects are set to meet the completion and handover deadline in 2016. This remains an opportunistic moment to invest to avail of benefits with least financial burden. The fact that 15 leading institutions are providing financial assistance for these projects bear testimony to the quality of the project.