Mumbai Metropolitan Region

Despite being the most expensive property market in the country, Mumbai Metropolitan Region continues to be the prime market for attracting investor interest. Structured equity or debt was the preferred route of investment as the city received the major portion of private equity investments in the past year.

Out of the total Rs 19,500 crore, Mumbai received more than 1/3^rd or 34 % investments in the sector in 2015, showed a JLL India study. The city was followed by Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune receiving 29%, 14%, 11% and 5% respectively. Talking about this trend, Shobhit Agarwal, managing director-capital markets, at JLL India said, “The preference for these cities reflects learning from past experience. While investors remain cautious about which cities to invest in, what is interesting to observe is that the ratio of structured equity and debt was more than half of the total investments received.”

Rubi Arya, Executive Vice-Chairman, Milestone Capital Advisors anticipates equity deals to gain a foothold over the next two three years because of an expected increase in commercial  real estate funding due to instruments like real estate investment trusts. Arya said, “We have seen proven returns from such structures and will continue introducing products in this space for some more time. But from a safety viewpoint, structured debt will remain preferred route for investors.”

Core commercial assets are being preferred over asset classes such as residential, hospitality and retail for plain equity investments. The preference indicates how investors are circumspect despite being optimistic about major potential gains in real estate. Also, important has been the preference amongst investors to invest in projects of developers with a good track record and credibility.

While residential and office projects continue to be the focus for PE investors, entity-level investments and platform-level deals come into the limelight, indicating increase in investor confidence. The JLL report said that a total of Rs 6,048 crore worth of entity-level equity yes deals were witnessed. Deals such as Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus investing in Piramal Realty and Blackstone buying Alpha G:Corp aggregating to around Rs 4,000 crore were amongst the 10 entity-level investments witnessed in the year 2015.

In terms of asset focus, despite receiving a reasonable share of funding, residential projects have not received much from equity investment. At the same time, a significant sum of equity investments has been towards income-yielding office projects. Although residential and office will attract a majority of investments, retail is expected to soon gain a foothold in the market.

Managing Director and Chairman of Mantri Group- Sunil Mantri

Recently, the Bombay High Court asked Mantri to not to sell any property till next court orders and after this the Bombay High Court also appointed an official liquidator with an aim to took the possession on the properties of Mantri Group.

After coming in news or controversy; Sunil Mantri, the Managing Director and Chairman of Mantri Group resigned from the position of NAREDCO chairman. NAREDCO is an umbrella body of real estate developers.

When media tried to contact Mantri, so he confirmed that reports, but refused to provide any additional details. However; earlier it was report that Mantri has defaulted on sum of over Rs300 crore and after that all investors or creditors had appealed in the Bombay High Court with an aim to get the pending dues with an interest rate of 25 to 36 percent. According to reports, till now more than 60 investors and creditors had filed the cases against Mantri by stating that he has cheated on them as well as buyers and borrowers. According to reports now he will not be able to dispose any of his fixed assets which belongs from the company without court’s order.

However; a real estate developer from South Mumbai stated that in present property market is down and due to that developers are not able to pay back the loans and interests. Most of the real estate developers are launching the projects and with booking amount they are buying other properties. But if any plot comes under the under litigation, so it becomes very difficult to come out from that mess.

Arbaaz Khan Inaugurated Indian Property Show

According to experts, in present real estate is one of the most profitable and secure investment instrument in India and the main reason behind that is the depreciation of Rupee and ease of FDI flow as well as upswing in NRI investments.

On December 5, 2015; in Dubai UAE the most awaited and popular exhibition of Indian properties was inaugurated by Arbaaz Khan, Bollywood actor and Brand ambassador of the Indian Property Show. This Indian Property Show was held at Dubai World Trade Centre for the duration of 4 days ie. December 1 to December 3, 2015 between 11 AM to 8 PM, during the property expo more than 170 developers, Banks and cream of the Indian real estate construction companies participated with more than 600 projects. In this property show entry and parking of vehicle was free.

Details about Indian Property Show:

In this Indian Property Show there were more than 170 exhibitors including real estate developers, construction companies and Banks, however; more than 600 projects were on display. The main attraction of the property show was that here real estate developers were offering amazing discounts with free tickets for visitors, apart from that there were also the kid’s competition which was worth AED 44000 in the form of an apartment worth Rs 25 lacs. In Dubai or UAE this property show was ideal for those who wish to invest in Indian real estate sector as this property show was exploring a variety of properties in India and people have an opportunity to interact with developers on one-on-one contact.

Attractions in the Indian Property Show:

To attract the investors, there were many banks with an aim to finance their investments and apart from that there were attractive promotions pre-launch offers, lucrative discounts and free gifts such as; free air tickets to visit the property in India. Apart from that for children’s there were a special art contest in which they were able to win the gold bars worth AED 44000. First time ever in any property show children have become an integral part of the show as organizers was offering exclusive drawing contest for the Children’s who were between the age of 5 to 8 years and 9 to 12 years. The theme of the contest was “Draw Your Dream Home” where winners in each group were awarded with 100 gms, 50 gms, 20 gms gold bars.

Importance of Indian Property Show in Dubai, UAE:

In present, NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) are extremely active in Indian real estate market and according to reports; NRIs are among the top five investor communities in the Indian realty sector. Apart from that they also have natural affinity to India and due to that NRIs are seeing higher intrinsic value for Indian real estate market and due to that they prefer to own property in India rather than owning property anywhere else in world. And now depreciation of Rupee and ease of FDI flow has provided them reason to invest in India.

According to Sunil Jaiswal¸ President of event organizer Sumansa Exhibitions, “Due to  rupee depreciation by 20 percent against US dollar, it perfect time for NRIs to investment in India and apart from that the other driving forces are; that real estate sector is one of the fastest growing sector in India and it is able to provide big and secure returns with more positive prospects. There are some projects which are coming up in 100 smart cities and these projects have captured NRIs eye with the government easing FDI flow in such projects the investment is expected to boost further”. The more he added that Due to easy payment plans which real estate builders are offering its affordable to manage the investments for affordable smaller units as major developments are coming up in Tier II and III cities and it is expected that investment of NRIs will improve the outlook of property market in India. However; Pune Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad are the cities which are most popular among the NRIs due to higher chance of capital appreciation, however; according to property experts, cities like; Chandigarh¸ Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kochi and Indore will come in focus till next year”.

Participants of Indian Property Show:

In Indian Property Show, there were plethora of choice with more than 170 exhibitors, who were there for displaying more than 600 projects with ample opportunity to browse and find the best suitable property in terms of size, city preferences and budget. The main hosts of the property show were some of the best Indian developers such as; Indiabulls¸ Lodha Group, Bhartiya City, L&T, Sobha Developers, Rachana Lifestyle, Unique Group, JP Infra, Sheth Creators, Akar Realty, Sunteck India, Mantri Developers, Ozone Group, Kanakia Kalpataru, Jaypee Greens, ATS Satya¸ Supertech, LifeSpaces, Godrej¸ Saarthi Group, Suvilas Rajesh, Unnati fortune¸ Antriksh and Risara . Apart from that for visitor there were choice to buy property in preferred cities of country such as; Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, NCR, Navi Mumbai, Gurgaon, Kolkata, Goa, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Bengaluru ,Mangalore and Kochi.

Informative Seminars and Sessions:

All the visitors at the show were able and allowed to attend free interactive seminars for three days which was conducted by the real estate developers and major finance companies and it was the main highlight for this year’s property expo, apart from that people appreciated sessions on Property Taxation, however; the other sessions were; Property Investment in India¸ Taking Care of the Legal Angles, Vaastu, Know Your City, NRI Guide to Property Investment in India, Residential Real Estate Hot Spots in South india and more. Legal experts, also help the investors to take informed decisions on the various aspects of property purchase. Apart from that legal experts were also helping the NRIs to sell their existing property in India at good price.

There were many projects which was offering different kinds of promotional schemes, discounts and free gifts such as; Property Dhamaka offers low-interest loans and fabulous discounts with free air tickets by Jet Airways. Bhartiya City and Indiabulls were the Platinum Sponsors of the property show with Jet Airways,who was the Official Airline Partner. However; AajTak and Sony Times Now were the Official Television Partners and 89.1 Radio 4 was the Official Radio Partner of the Indian Property Show.