Buying Property? You Have to Pay More Now......

PersonalFN
If you are among the many home buyers looking for a property to purchase right now, there is a recent RBI directive that you should be aware of, that will impact your cash flows management.
As per one of the latest notifications by the RBI to banks, stamp duty, registration charges and taxes such as VAT and Service Tax are to be excluded from property value when considering how much of a loan to give the consumer.
Let's see what this means:
What is Stamp Duty?

New realty launches could trigger price fall

Jan 2012 sales registrations are down 13% YoY and 25% MoM to 4,427. Post the spike witnessed in December, sales registration have reverted this month to ~4000-4500 levels seen in Jun-Nov 2011.
The city's realty scenario is interestingly poised post the conclusion of the BMC elections and clarity on new DCR rules emerging in the last two months. A number of projects which were stuck up at the approval stage in the last year are likely to be cleared, paving way for a large number of launches hitting the market. At a time when new launches during the festive season received a tepid response as affordability issues continue, a large stock of new supply could act as the trigger for the much anticipated price reduction that buyers have been waiting for in the Mumbai realty market.

Office Traction in January 2012 at a glance

Market Review - Bangalore
Known for its vibrant office space market, Bangalore has consistently topped the absorption charts in the past few years. The IT/ ITeS industry which dominates and drives demand in the market continues to thrive and grow, albeit at a slower pace in the face of a global economic slowdown. The fact that the city is home to over 2000 STPI registered companies and employs over 0.5 million people has evidently proven that Bangalore is a preferred IT destination for setting up of a new unit or expansion of existing operations of IT/ITeS companies. Besides, the government has also taken up several proactive industry friendly policies to promote IT and considers the industry as one of the five top priorities by constituting a national task force on IT and software development.

At a glance: Economy & realty in January 2012

During 2011, high inflation remained the focal point of concern, debate and policy decision making. Year 2012 has begun with high interest rate being the agenda of debate and as it appears today most of the actions this year would center on it. The first signal came as the RBI announced a 50 basis points (bps) reduction in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) fuelling expectations of easing interest rate scenario.
For the interest rate sensitive real estate industry high stakes are involved when leveraged balance sheet and high home loan rate coincides with economic slowdown. At regular intervals, the industry has been raising its voice for reduction in interest rate on the premise of providing respite to the house buyers. However, it is noteworthy to debate who would be the real beneficiary if interest rates come down and whether reduction in interest rate is sufficient to boost housing demand.

Indian Real Estate's Expectations From Union Budget 2012-13

Commercial Office Real Estate
� The implementation of the revised DTC will have strong implications on SEZs. The industry requires clarity on the issues that may emerge, and how businesses would be promoted in Special Economic Zones.
� Taking cues from the healthy growth of IT/ITES in Tier I cities and its effect on the growth of employment, the Government should actively roll out an incentive-based IT policy (such as STPI) for Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns as well
Residential Real Estate
� Last year, a 1% interest rate subsidy was provided for loans towards affordable housing. The scope of this subsidy should be amplified and broadened to include a wider price band of budget housing to benefit home buyers, especially in lower income groups
� More funds should be allocated to the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) for urban housing targeted at the EWS and the LIG sections
� Enact provisions for Special Residential Zones (SRZs) to incentivise the growth of housing stock at targeted locations

Malls, Malls Everywhere And Nowhere To Go

The last few months have seen a lot of mid-sized office and mixed-use buildings in Mumbai going under the hammer. Not very surprising, considering the wave of real estate redevelopment that has swept the city. What is so unusual about these buildings is the fact that they are going to be redeveloped into stand-alone retail formats. The plots are just perfect - located inside dense residential areas with abutting sub-arterial roads, and of sizes suitable for constructing hundred thousand square foot spreads on three levels.
This new trend is not confined to Mumbai - almost all cities in India are witnessing it. The reason? Substantial mall space is being built, but only half of it is worth a second glance from retailers. We are still stuck with the mistakes we made three or four years ago - jumping on the bandwagon and creating too many malls without reason. Few understood that building and running malls is a science, and that factors like catchment viability, location, supply benchmarking and mall management matter in their success.

Property investment guideposts for 2012

Investment into residential projects is currently the preferred route for investors, since the demand for homes in the metros and Tier II cities is virtually limitless. Commercial and retail spaces also present potentially lucrative investment propositions, especially in the larger cities.
The returns in the residential sector are significantly lower (4-6%) than those in commercial spaces (10-12%). Residential space investment is comparatively low risk/low return options, while retail is a moderate risk/returns option. However, capital values are higher in commercial and retail spaces, so they represent larger investments. Moreover, it is more difficult to exit in the case of commercial spaces.

Choices available for home buyers!

Home buyers are always looking for the best home they can buy with the resources and time available with them. Now, more than ever, real estate prices are subdued and buyers are again active in the market.
Buying a home is the most exciting and at the same time, tedious task for people. While the excitement of owning your own home pushes you harder to expedite the process, the tedious task of going through enormous amount of details frustrates you. Going through the process is a necessity. Though the process is tedious and demanding, any negligence on the due diligence can cost us big in the future.
In this article, we will take a look at some options that home buyers have and how they can choose the best one based on their requirement.
Buying an under-construction home

Building your own house - Points to Remember.....

Building your own independent home is a dream that many of us want to do. The thrill of owning your own piece of land, building a structure as per your requirements, and helping design the architecture with your architecture friend sounds very attractive.
Of course it goes without saying that a lot of painstaking work needs to be accomplished to make this dream a reality. Building your dream home consists of two major steps. The first is acquiring the land in a good locality and second is getting the contractor and building the house. Both steps require due diligence on exhaustive details and careful planning.