Construction tips

* Ferro Cement walls are fire resistant.
* It can also resist termites.
* Ferro Cement walls are weather proof, but a coating of quality paint can make it durable.
* Cracks in cement walls can be sealed with a coating of watery cement solution after wetting the surface.
* Reinforcement should be designed for the load and moment required.

Thanks to Hindu

Construction industry picks up pace

It looks that sunny days are here again for the construction industry as trade has started slowly picking up pace in Tirupur knitwear cluster and cash gradually flowing into the hands of entrepreneurs in apparel and ancillary sectors after a brief period of lull in industrial activities owing to recession.
Individual houses
According to K. Shanmugaraj, General Council member, Builders Association of India, demands for individual residences have started showing an upward trend from the beginning of this financial year.
“Cut in lending rates by recognised financial institutions has also acted as a catalyst to make people come out yet again to invest in properties unlike about four months ago when there was severe shortage of cash reserves among population,” he added.
The lowering of interest rates on bank loans, according to him, has even changed the consumer spending habits and prompted even the industry people to go for infrastructure expansion in their respective units.
With the cascading effect of economic recession yet to completely move away from the cluster, experts feel that negotiation of rates will play a great role in fetching good prices from sellers and buyers points of view while trading properties in and around Tirupur city.
“The better you are at bargaining, the more money you are going to make or save,” Mr. Shanmugaraj pointed out.
Industry sources cautions that while negotiating for better prices, one should be realistic with what he/she has been asking for. “This will avoid losing opportunities to get attractive selling or buying prices,” sources added.
M. Nataraj, promoter, Sree Balaji Constructions, tells that the time is now ripe for investment as the property development rates which nosedived about six months ago are yet to go high.
“Presently, construction rate of individual houses hovers still at an attractive Rs. 1,750 per sq ft as against Rs. 2,500 sq ft a few months ago,” he said.
Thanks to : Hindu

NRIs - Ray of Hope For Realtors

Realtors in Mohali district have seen a ray of hope among NRIs to keep their business going during the global slowdown. While the local buyers are hesitating from buying houses coming up in large number in the district, it is the interest of NRIs from Canada, US, England and middle-east countries that has given a new lease of life to real estate sector. With thousands of NRIs inquiring about the availability of houses, flats and villas, real estate sector has all of a sudden got fresh lease of life that otherwise was witnessing a low business for the last four-five months. A visit to Zirakpur and surrounding areas revealed that number of inquiries from NRIs for housing properties in Mohali have gone beyond 3,000 during last few months.

Such is the response that one of the real estate development Royal Estate has already decided to come up with a NRI tower in Zirakpur due to rising demand for houses from NRIs. Krishan Goyal, managing director, Royal Estate Zirakpur, said during last two months he had received over 500 inquiries from NRIs and had already sold 4-5 flats to them. ??We have now decided to come up with NRI tower at Royal Estate as demand is great,?? he added. Satish Jindal, managing director, Maya Garden Zirakpur, too is smiling with the expectation of good business ahead as after receiving over 600 inquiries for houses during last two months, he has sold 6-7 flats to them. Response from NRIs is amazing and it shows that good days for real estate sector are lying ahead, he added.

Many of the builders attribute the sudden interest among NRIs for houses in Zirakpur and surrounding areas to the fact that from June onwards international flights are scheduled to take off from upcoming international airport. Interestingly, while Indians residing abroad are showing great interest in buying property in Mohali district, domestic buyers are not coming forward to buy while inquiries in hundreds are being received. Realtors are expecting market to improve on local front also. Subash Chand, partner, Swastic Vihar Zirakpur, said that while there was good response from the NRIs, local buyers are waiting for the property prices to be slashed further. They expect good business from April 1 onwards, as service tax would be completely withdrawn and interest rates are expected to be lowered further. Vijay Arora, president, Peermuchalla Builders Association, said that around 100 inquiries are coming on a single day while sales are not picking up. All expectations are resting on new financial year. With NRIs buying property it seems that market would improve further he added.

Courtesy : nrirealtynews

Foreign Investors Eyeing Badly Hit Small and Mid Size Indian Developers

Foreign private equity investors are eyeing the Indian real estate market to buy properties from small and mid size developers badly hit by the economic downturn. A clutch of big investors from the EU and Middle East are expected to invest $400-500 million in distressed land deals. These include Spain’s Nova Capital; Germany’s SachsenFonds, Qatar based Barwa International and Al Aqueela, UK’s Matrix Partners and Aberdean International. “In the next six months, we will see lot of distressed real estate deals in India. Small and medium developers with turnovers in the range of Rs 50 crore-Rs 250 crore will be forced to go for distress sales to sustain themselves in the economic downturn,” said YEN Management Consultants managing director, Sunil Shirole, who has been approached by such developers.

Small and medium size developers across the nation are said to be stuck with 5-6 projects on average as demand has been sluggish. They plan to sell 40 per cent of the existing projects at a discount of 25-40 per cent of the original price to fund rest of their projects. Shirole said, “We could see 50 per cent of total real estate market coming under distressed deals. As foreign PE players have the liquidity and staying power, after buying such properties, they can wait 4-5 years or till such time the property market rebounds to sell them at higher price.” However, the outcome of general election can play spoilsport. “A stable government is a prerequisite to these foreign investors. If there are frequent changes at the Centre, they might turn their back for another five years,” cautioned Arun Goel, CEO, DHFL Venture Capital India.

Courtesy : nrirealtynews.com

Residential Sector likely to witness oversupply

The residential sector, which has already seen a 15-20% price correction in markets across the country this year, is going to witness a significant residential supply over the next 12 to 18 months in two key markets Mumbai and Gurgaon (NCR).

The direct implication of the over supply will be that the rentals will come down drastically which could lead to a further price correction over a prolonged period of time (one to two years).

Says Niranjan Hiranandani, MD, Hiranandani Developers:”There is no over supply in the Mumbai market. In last one month there has been a good sale of apartment as far as Mumbai market goes. There was a short phase and thing are changing. There has been softening of prices, but things will look up from May onwards. This is all a temporary slowdown and the market will pick up.”

Morgan Stanley Research Asia Pacific reveals that in the next few months mid Mumbai micro market will get six to seven lakh million sq ft of residential space as compared to negligible delivery over the last couple of years. In fact the Mumbai market has seen a 50% rental correction in prime areas from Rs 2 lakh for a three BHK in 3Q 2008 to Rs 1.1 lakh now.

Rohtas Goel CMD, Omaxe Group & president Naredco said: “The low sentiments majority of buyers are in wait and watch policy. After the recent price cut by the developers by squeezing their margins to the minimum level and interest rate cut by banks, we don’t foresee any further price correction in the real estate.”

In fact, in many markets, the level of transactions have gone down drastically, which has resulted in this dip. This is also because residential capital values in some micro markets in the metros have shown a negative growth in the last one quarter.

Says Santhosh Kumar, deputy CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM): “In the current real estate scenario, what is being observed is a stabilization of select markets. A consistent upswing is not possible in any market. When a large level of supply is in the offering. Real estate markets have observed high growth levels in the recent past. However, in certain areas, market stabilization has been observed. This indicates that there are not many buyers for the prices quoted for various real estate typologies at this point of time.”

In various markets, despite a slowdown in demand, essentially from the end-user and speculative investors, developers have refrained from reducing rates. But both in Mumbai and Gurgoan now developers are offering 25% to 30% discount on the market rate. Sales in secondary markets have also taken a beating with very few transactions taking place at relatively lower price points than market expectations.

courtesy : IndianRealityNews