Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

Single window clearance for construction soon:

Venkaiah
- The government aims to finalise benchmarks for streamlining construction
approvals and institute single window clearance soon.
- The Ministries of Civil Aviation, Environment & Forests and Climate
Change, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Civil Aviation, Culture,
Defence, and Consumer Affairs will participate in the deliberations
- At present 30-50 approvals are needed from central and state governments
resulting in an average approval time of 90 600 days for construction
projects.

Realty projects worth over Rs. 14 lakh crore remains

non-starters: Assocham
- Over 75 percent of 3,540 live real estate projects with outstanding
investments of more than Rs. 14 lakh crore remained nonstarters as of
201415, an Assocham study said.
- As per the study, while over 2,300 projects in the realty sector remained non
starters, over 1,000 ongoing projects have registered significant delays
in completion.
- With 964 projects, domestic private sector accounted for 95 percent share in
projects facing delays, followed by public sector (49 projects) and foreign
private companies (six projects), it said.

PE deals in 9 months outpace all of 2014: Bain & Co.

- Showing an uptick in investment activity, private equity investments jumped
to $16.7 billion in the first nine months of calendar year 2015 (CY15), with
the total deal value at around 1.1 times the PE deal value in the full CY14,
the latest report from Bain & Co shows.
- During the period, PE exits also improved to $4.8 billion, with the top 10
exits accounting for around 40 percent of the total PE exits.
- While the top 10 deals made up nearly 25 percent of the total PE deal value
up to the third quarter, the average deal size rose 19 percent to about $21
million.
- There was also an overall growth in number of deals from 586 to 782.
- Consumer technology, real estate and BFSI were the key sectors of interest,
accounting for around 65 percent of the deal flow, the report said.

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

- According to Bain & Company, the top deals in the consumer technology
space included Flipkarts $700-million funding led by Tiger Global and
Paytms $635-million deal led by Alibaba and SAIF Partners.
- In the real estate segment, StanChart private equity and GIC are among the
top real estate investors.
- Shriram City Union Finances investment of $386 million was the biggest
investment in the BFSI sector.

Chandigarh: Chandigarh uploads 'smart city' vision

document
- The Chandigarh Administration on Wednesday uploaded the draft vision
document, 'Chandigarh, an ideal city' in mygov.in, and urged citizens to
share their views and perspectives on it by October 26

DLF appoints bankers for selling promoters stake in

rental arm
- Realty major DLF has appointed JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as
merchant bankers for proposed sale of promoters' 40 percent stake in the
company's rental arm DLF Cyber City Developers to institutional investors.
- The company has also roped in Pricewaterhouse Coopers as tax consultant
and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas as law firm to help execute this deal,
which is estimated to be valued at around Rs 12,000 crore

Andhra Pradesh courts domestic, overseas investors

for land bank of 10 lakh acres
- The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government has an identified land bank of 3 lakh
acres and is in the process of consolidating an additional industrial land bank
of about 7 lakh acres in a phased manner.
- The AP government expects fresh investments both from domestic and
overseas investors for a consolidated land bank of 10 lakh acres.
- The state government has enacted the AP Capital Region Development
Authority Act (CRDA), 2014, which helps in creating a land bank with all
government lands being transferred into it.

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

GIC to invest in Tishman Speyers Waverock project

in Hyderabad
- Singapores sovereign wealth fund GIC will be investing in the real estate
developers Waverock office project in Hyderabad through a joint venture
(JV).
- The over Rs 1,000 crore project, Waverocks Phase One and Two comprising
1.5 million square feet, were completed in 2010 and 2014, respectively.
- Phase Three is under development and is expected to be completed in the
next two years.

Ajay Piramal bets highly on infrastructure, realty

Realty startup segment attracts over Rs 1,600-crore
investments in last 18 months mainly from SoftBank
Group, Qualcomm
- Private equity and venture funds' appetite for India's real estate portals and
related startups has not waned despite sales in the sector winding down,
industry data shows.
- The segment has attracted nearly $250 million, or over Rs 1,600 crore, in
investments in the last 18 months mainly from Helion Ventures, Nexus
Venture Partners, SoftBank Group, Accel India, Horizen Ventures,
Qualcomm Ventures and Nirvana Ventures.
- Their eagerness to invest indicates their confidence in the role of
intermediaries in pushing sales and inventories in the realty sector.
- Some of the key investments during this period were into ventures like
Housing.com, CommonFloor.com and PropTiger.com.
- According to data from Venture Intelligence, Housing.com raised $113
million in 2014, $37 million in Proptiger Realty, $40 million in
CommonFloor and $10 million in Grabhouse by a clutch of investors.

Indiabulls Real Estate receives planning permission

for redevelopment of London property
- Indiabulls Real Estate has received planning permission from Westminster
City Council for redevelopment of its London property

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

Japan offers loan at 1 percent rate for Indias $15

billion bullet train
- Japan has offered to finance Indias first bullet train, estimated to cost $15
billion, at an interest rate of less than 1 percent
- Tokyo was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505km corridor
linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad.

Indiabulls Housing Fin net rises 24% in second

quarter
- Driven by strong growth in housing loans, Indiabulls Housing Finance
reported a 24 percent rise in net profit at Rs. 555.5 crore for the second
quarter ended September 30, 2015, against Rs. 448 crore in the year-ago
period.
- Net interest income (NII) jumped 35 percent to Rs. 885 crore as compared
with Rs. 657 crore a year ago.
- The companys loan against property and developer loans stand at 26 percent
and 24 percent of the total book, respectively. Gross non-performing assets
(NPA) and net NPA as a percentage of total loans remained almost stable at
0.84 percent and 0.35 percent, respectively.

Indiabulls Real Estate Q2 net soars two-fold to Rs 75

crore
- Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd today reported a two-fold increase in consolidated
net profit at Rs 75.01 crore for the second quarter ended September 30
helped by sale of investments.
- The company had posted a net profit of Rs 37.33 crore in the year-ago
period.

UP govt plans 40,000 houses with private partnership

- Proposed to be construct ed under the state government's flagship
Samajwadi Awas Yojana, the units will not only be constructed by various
development authorities and the UPHDB, but also by private developers.
- The housing department has already given its nod to the construction of
10,500 housing units by the UPHDB, 5,000 by the Kanpur Development
Authority (KDA), 2,000 by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA)
and 1,000 by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

- The department is also in the final stages of clearing the DPRs of 11 builders
who have together shown interest in the construction of over 23,000 housing
units.

FINMIN TO RESOLVE TAX CONCERNS OF FPIS

IN A BID TO DOING BUSINESS
- Government promised to address tax concerns of foreign portfolio investors
(FPIs) even as it nudged them to set up permanent establishment in the
country.
- Ahead of the Budget for 2016-17, the Finance Ministry in a bid to ease
doing business in financial market met over two dozen FPIs including
Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs and Black Rock, and
sought their views on various issues related to the sector.

Tata Housing close to raising Rs 3,200 crore for luxury

projects
- In advanced-level talks with a few institutional investors to raise Rs 3,200
crore for its upcoming premium and luxury residential projects across top
five cities.
- Is vetting final-stage proposals submitted by private equity funds Macquarie,
JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley, a pension fund and a
sovereign wealth fund.
- The capital pool could be raised from one fund or a consortium of investors
- Tata Housing intends to construct premium and super-luxury residential
enclaves in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bengaluru, priced
between Rs 3 crore and Rs 10 crore at booking.

Motilal Oswal real estate to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore

through third fund
- Is looking to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore through its third real estate fund,
mainly from high net worth individuals and family offices.
- The real estate arm of Motilal Oswal Group plans to deploy the fund in
residential projects of established developers in Mumbai Metropolitan
Region, National Capital Region, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.
- It is looking to undertake about a dozen transactions of Rs 80-120 crore each

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

Office space absorption rises to 10.6 million square

feet in September quarter: Survey
- Office space absorption during the July-September period increased
marginally to 10.6 million sq ft compared to the previous quarter, with
Gurgaon witnessing the highest leasing activity
- According to property consultant Colliers International, office market
sentiment remained positive, with over 10.6 million sq ft of absorption
recorded in the third quarter of 2015, marginally up from 10.5 million sq ft
in the April-June quarter.
- During the quarter, Gurgaon marched ahead in terms of office space leasing
with 23 percent share, followed by Chennai (20 percent), Bengaluru (18
percent), Mumbai (15 percent), Noida (11 percent), Pune (9 percent), Delhi
(4 percent) and Kolkata (2 percent).
- The report further said rents remained stable across market during the third
quarter, except for few micro markets in cities like Gurgaon, Bengaluru and
Pune, where average rents increased by two percent on quarterly basis.
Likewise, capital values remained stable across cities.
- More than 55 million sq ft of Grade A and Grade B office space was
available for lease/fit-out in these eight major cities of India.

Panagariya to vet Rs 2,000 crore plus foreign

investments
- All big-ticket foreign investment proposals involving Rs 2,000 crore and
above in infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and innovation will be
routed through a five-member high-powered panel headed by Niti Aayog
deputy chairman Arvind Pangariya.
- PM Narendra Modi has cleared setting up of this panel, which includes
economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, industry secretary Amitabh Kant
and former cabinet secretary KM Chandrashekhar.
- The Pangariya panel is in addition to the special dispensation for Japan with
two officials from the Abe government inducted into the industry ministry to
handhold Japanese investors and speed up clearances.
- A similar dispensation is also in offing for the US technology investors,
especially after top five American technology firms, including Facebook and
Google chief executives, promised to take a bigger exposure of the Indian
technology landscape.

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

Online real estate portal Housing.com set to raise

about Rs 220-crore funding from Japan's SoftBank
- Online real-estate portal Housing.com is set to raise about Rs 220 crore ($35
million) in a fresh round of funding from Japan's SoftBank
- The deal, led by the company's largest investor, is expected to see the
Mumbai-based startup valued at about Rs 2,260 crore said the sources.

Investors Clinic in talks to raise about Rs 975 crore to

fuel growth
- Investors Clinic, India's largest online real estate transactions and services
platform, is in talks with large private equity funds and foreign banks to
raise about $150 million (nearly Rs 975 crore) to fuel its growth.

Investments in Indore SEZ cross 3,820 crore

- India's only Green Field multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) at
Indore has crossed investments worth Rs 3,820 crore till September 30.
- With 49 operational units at the SEZ it provides employment to roughly
15,000 people.

Parsvnath repays Rs 60-crore debt to Essel Finance,

others
- Realty firm Parsvnath Developers has cleared a debt of Rs 60 crore to Essel
Finance and some other investors through redemption of non-convertible
debentures (NCDs).

DHFL net rises 18 percent on strong loan growth

- Housing finance company DHFL reported a net profit of Rs 180.3 crore for
July-September, an increase of 18.51 percent year-on-year on the back of
strong loan growth and healthy margins.
- The companys operating income was Rs 1,811 crore for the quarter, a
growth of 25 percent y-o-y as loan disbursals grew by 18 percent to Rs
5,014 crore for July-September.
- Loan sanctions also showed a healthy growth of 25 percent to Rs 7,668 crore
for the period.
- DHFL is targeting loan growth 20 percent for the current fiscal.

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

Amid realty slump, vacation home sales going strong

fuelled by HNI demand
- Vacation homes segment is doing well, driven by demand from wealthy
industrialists, high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and non-resident Indians
(NRIs).
- The vacation home market in India is growing at 10-12 percent per annum.
- This market follows a different dynamics and is immune to slowdown
affecting the real estate sector in general.
- Due to the rise in number of HNIs and a desire to have a second home for
leisure and relaxation, this market is showing signs of steady growth

Biggies consolidate office space market: JLL

- The big four or five developers controlled 55 percent to 93 percent of the
new leasing deals struck between July 2014 and September this year,
according to data studied by TOI recently.
- Pune (93 percent) witnessed the highest concentration followed by
Bangalore (75 percent), Mumbai and National Capital Region (68 percent
each), Chennai (63 percent) and Hyderabad (55 percent).
- The six big cities accounted for 28 million sqft office space absorption
during the period, which is about 80 percent of the country's office leasing
pegged at around 34 million sqft annually.

Finance Ministry
compendium

pitches

for

smaller

FDI

- The Finance Ministry wants its industry counterpart to come out with a
shortened and simplified FDI policy document as part of exercise to improve
ease of doing business in the country.
- The Finance Ministry, is of the view that the compendium on consolidated
FDI policy is very cumbersome and needs to be simplified.

Debt funds fail to deliver interest payments as real

estate languishes
Haryana issues notice to Vadra on DLF land deal

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

Delhi & NCR: 11 NCR-based builders gear up to

develop Sohna region
- As many as 11 NCR-based builders have come together to promote Sohna
region located at the southern end of Gurgaon as an affordable realty
destination, a statement from CREDAI-NCR
- These 11 developers, which include Supertech Ltd, CHD Developers,
Silverglades, and Ashiana Homes, aim to develop 7,000 apartments and
plots starting at Rs. 4,500 per sq ft.
- The apartments are expected to be delivered in four years from the
commencement of project.
- The statement added that the developers would bring about a joint liasing
with the Government and authorities to expedite the process of development
of the region in terms of infrastructure, connectivity, electricity, etc

PNB Housing, Stock Holding Corpn plan to float IPO

- PNB Housing Finance and Stock Holding Corporation of India planning to
float their maiden public offerings.
- Proceeds of the initial public offerings (IPOs) will be used for business
expansion plans, working capital needs and for other general corporate
purposes.
- These companies are expected to file their draft documents with the capital
markets regulator SEBI soon.

Home buyers will have less to choose from this Diwali

- Few new property launches expected and the number of new units on offer
tipped to fall by about a third across four major residential markets.
- Traditionally, September, October and November see better sales compared
to the rest of the year as they are considered auspicious for property
transactions.
- But 2015 will be the third year in a row that the number of homes on sale
will fall and probably bookings too.
- While developers are going all out to attract buyers, the sentiment remains
weak on concerns over affordability and despite banks having pruned loan
rates and the loan-to-value ratio or LTV having been upped, sales are tipped
to be sluggish.

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

Housing sales to grow at slower pace this festive

season: JLL
- Housing sales are expected to rise at a slower pace of 15-20 percent during
the ongoing festival season due to high prices in big cities and subdued
sentiments in the property market
- Real estate market, especially residential segment, has been witnessing a
slowdown for last 2-3 years, leading to sluggish housing sales and 4-5 years
of delay in the completion of projects.

Cement prices drop in Delhi-NCR after builders allege

cartelization
- Cement manufacturers have started slashing prices in the Delhi NCR region
this week as demand slips and pressure from builders grows.
- These companies have been facing allegations of price fixing from builders
who had taken the matter to the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
- About four cement companies in the Delhi NCR region have cut prices by
about 17-19 percent following allegations of artificial price hikes and a
cartel-like behavior

Google plans exponential expansion in Gurgaon

- Google has expanded its office operations in Gurgaon by 4,02,860 square
feet over the last quarter and is expected to almost double its space
absorption in the city by 2017.
- They plan to expand their offices to 7,50,000 square feet by 2017. This
massive space absorption by the world's No. 1 search engine has now put
Gurgaon as the top most office space absorption destination of the country
over the last quarter of 2015.

Highway villages may become mandatory in new

contracts
- India is proposing to introduce a new stiff clause in highway contracts that
will make it mandatory for developers to provide for facilities for drivers,
called highway villages, on the lines of international norms.
- According to the concept developed by the ministry, highway villages would
be set up on 75 to 100 hectares, for which land would be acquired through
pooling and the landowners made partners in the project.

Summary of Real Estate News 19-25th Oct 2015

HDFC Property Ventures plans new fund next year

- HIREF-HDFC International Realty Fund an offshore fund advised by
HDFC Property Ventures is planning to float a new fund by the middle of
the next year.
- The company intends to float the next fund after returning the investments
made in the initial offshore fund to the foreign investors by March 2016.

Piramal plans JV with global funds

- Piramal Fund Management, the Piramal Enterprises' arm which is into real
estate, is in talks with sovereign funds and global pension funds for a 50:50
joint venture (JV) for providing equity capital to developers.

Chandigarh: Over 50 percent allottees surrender plots

- Over 50 percent of the successful allottees in the IT City project, a housing
project floated by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority
(GMADA) on Chandigarhs periphery, have surrendered their plots.
- Indicating a recession in the real estate sector and overpricing of the
residential plots, the large-scale surrender of plots, that too in a housing
scheme floated by the government - run undertaking, has raised concerns.