CMDA working on third master paln of Chennai

Unlocking land potential through increased floor space index (FSI) and affordable processed land are essential to tackling Chennai’s housing and office space shortage, according to Anshul Mishra, member secretary of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA). Speaking at Infra Next 2024 organized by CII Chennai Zone on Wednesday, Mishra emphasized that resolving key urban issues would be crucial as Chennai gears up to become a major contributor to Tamil Nadu's vision of a $1 trillion economy by 2030. During the summit, a CII-JLL white paper on the Transformation of Industrial Estates was also released. Srivats Ram, chairman of CII Tamil Nadu State Council, emphasized that Chennai's rapid industrial and urban growth is supported by significant infrastructure development. Sanjay Chugh, city head and director at Anarock Property Consultants Pvt Ltd, pointed out some reasons for the limited number of new residential project launches in Chennai. They are: 1 Acquiring suitable land for residential development can be a challenge due to high land costs, disputes, and limited availability of land in prime areas. 2 If required physical and social infrastructure (roads, schools, hospitals) is not in place or planned for certain areas, developers may choose to delay launches until conditions improve. 3 Developers in Chennai prioritise completing ongoing projects rather than launching new ones to restrain the inventory of unsold units.
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

NGT directs Tamil Nadu government to revise incomplete coastal maps

National Green Tribunal (NGT) southern zone has directed the Tamil Nadu govt to revise its draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) maps after finding them incomplete and ordered ground truthing verifying satellite data on the ground to accurately mark ecological zones and fishing areas critical for coastal communities. The tribunal's order follows complaints from fishermen, who argued that the maps did not comply with the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2019. The NGT noted missing details such as fishing zones, village boundaries, and fish breeding areas, which are essential for safeguarding coastal resources and planning sustainable development. Applicants Jesu Rethinam and K Saravanan, representing the fishing community, pointed out that 105 maps for key districts such as  Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram and Villupuram omitted several other important ecological zones such as turtle nesting grounds, sand dunes,  and mangrove buffers. They complained that proper long-term housing plans for fishermen were ignored, even as climate change and rising sea levels pose increasing threats. The scale dispute was also addressed, with applicants calling for the mandated 1:4,000 scale for better accuracy, while the TNCZMA clarified that 1:25,000 scale maps were provided for consultation, with 1:4,000 scale maps to follow. 
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Prestige Estates to invest rs 7000 crore to develop township in Ghazibad

Realty firm Prestige Estates Projects Ltd will invest around Rs 7,000 crore to expand business in Delhi NCR property market. Bengaluru-based Prestige Estates is building a commercial project at Aerocity in the national capital. It has also forayed into Delhi-NCR housing market by acquiring three land parcels in Delhi, Noida and Siddharth Vihar, Ghaziabad. Prestige Group Chairman and Managing Director Irfan Razack is bullish on Delhi-NCR residential market and said there is a potential to achieve Rs 10,000 crore worth of housing sales annually if the company is able to acquire land parcels consistently. Prestige Group, one of the leading real estate developers in the country, has a legacy of over three decades in real estate development. It has diversified business model across various segments -- residential, office, retail, hospitality, property management and warehouses with operations in more than 13 major locations in India. During 2023-24 fiscal, Prestige Estates clocks a record sales booking of Rs 21,040 crore and has given a guidance of Rs 24,000 crore for the current financial year. Prestige Estates recorded sales of Rs 4,022.6 crore during July-September as against Rs 7,092.6 crore in the year-ago period. During April-September, the company's sales bookings fell to Rs 7,052.2 crore as against Rs 11,007.3 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding year.
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Lucknow ED arrests Sai Constructions and Builders partners in loan fraud case

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Lucknow zonal office, on Thursday arrested Ghaziabad-based realtor Rajeev Tyagi in a Rs 28 crore bank loan fraud case. He was produced before the special judge, CBI court-1 (Special Court, PMLA), Ghaziabad, which sent him in ED custody till Oct 24. The probe revealed that Tyagi, through his partnership firm, M/s Sai Construction and Builders, Ghaziabad, hatched a conspiracy in connivance with other associates and guarantors. They availed loans and financial facilities from the bank (erstwhile Corporation Bank, now Union Bank of India after the merger) by submitting fake and forged documents and inflated valuation reports of the mortgaged properties with the intention to defraud the bank. ED provisionally attached several immovable assets amounting to Rs 14.89 crore in the form of flats, a commercial shop, and residential and industrial plots. These were registered in the names of Tyagi and his sons, Amartya Raj and Kanishk Raj, as well as M/s SKT Garments Private Limited and M/s S K Enterprises.
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

State governmnet sanctions rs 209.20 crore for housing scheme in rural area

The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned ?209.20 crore for implementing the Prime Minister’s Housing Scheme in rural areas (aka Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin) during 2024-25. The sum of ?209 crore which includes 60% Central share of ?125.52 crore and 40% State share of ?83.68 crore as the first tranche of the first installment, including the administration fund. The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department haved issued orders in this regard. The Union Ministry of Rural Development in August this year had approved the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin for five more years from 2024-25 to 2028-29 for “two crore more houses”.  Union Ministry had fixed a target of 68,569 houses for Tamil Nadu for 2024-25. The beneficiaries of the scheme would be selected from the existing Awaas-Plus database from 2018. The Government of India has fixed a unit cost of ?1.20 lakh per house. Both the unit cost and the administration fund are to be shared by the Union and the State governments in 60:40 ratio. The expenditure is to be brought to the notice of the Legislature in the Supplementary Estimates 2024-25.

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Chennai  Majority of Jains Westminster apartment owners agree for development

Owners of Jains Westminster Apartments, Chennai, has informed the Madras high court that a majority of them have decided in favour of redeveloping the property instead of reconstructing it. While reconstruction means rebuilding a structure exactly as it is,  redevelopment implies construction of a new structure with a completely new plan and dimension. A two-member committee appointed by the court submitted that of the 351 flat owners, 216 agreed to the redevelopment of the property. As many as 135 owners voted for the reconstruction of the property. The decision was made in the general body meeting of the Flat Owners’ Association. As per a latest rule brought in by the Tamil Nadu housing and urban  development department, the decision to redevelop a property must be agreed by not less than two-thirds of the apartment owners. According to the court-appointed committee, former judges of the court Justice K N Basha and Justice K Kannan inspected 321 flats, and keys of 310 flats were already handed over to the builders. An expert committee from IIT-Madras found the apartment buildings unsafe for living. Though the company agreed to demolish and rebuild all three residential apartments, the Jains Westminster Owners Welfare Association moved the high court seeking direction to the builder to deposit Rs 106 crore towards rental accommodation for the flat owners until the buildings are reconstructed or redeveloped.
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Balaji housing finance shares drop 4percent as one month lock in period expires on October 14

Shares of the recently-listed Bajaj Housing Finance dropped 4% to their day’s low of Rs 144.90 on the BSE as the 1-month share lock-in period of the stock expired today. This means that approximately 12.6 crore (126 million) shares of the company, which were previously locked in and prohibited from sale, will now be eligible to be sold. These 12.6 crore shares represent 2% of the total outstanding shares of the company, according to a report by domestic research firm Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research. A 1-month share lock-in period refers to a time frame of a month, during which certain shareholders are restricted from selling or transferring their shares in the market. Typically set at six months but sometimes extending up to a year, this period ensures major investors, like promoters and anchor investors, hold their shares, supporting the company’s long-term growth. During the lock-in period, shareholders such as company insiders, employees, or early investors are not allowed to sell or trade their shares in the open market, which helps stabilize the stock price by preventing a large influx of shares hitting the market immediately after such events, which could cause volatility. The shares of Bajaj Housing Finance have declined 9.3% in the last 2 weeks while gaining 8.65% in the last 1 week.
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Trichy Tidel Park launches rs 315.2 crore in tender for new IT Park

Tidel Park Limited, a joint venture between Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) has floated a ?315.2 crore tender to begin construction of a new Tidel Park in Trichy. This project will add 5.5 lakh square feet of IT and ITES office space, tripling the city's existing infrastructure. Private developers are also planning to contribute another 6 lakh square feet of office space in response to growing demand from investors drawn to Trichy's low operational costs and access to the talent pool. Tidel Park will be located next to the upcoming Integrated Bus Terminus (IBT) in Panjapur on the Trichy-Madurai National Highway. Trichy's IT/ITES infrastructure includes two government-owned facilities at the Trichy ELCOT IT Park in Navalpattu, totalling 1.8 lakh square feet. With the new Tidel Park, the city's government office space will expand to 7.3 lakh square feet within two years. We are planning a fair to promote office and commercial space, as the focus has been mainly on residential projects so far. Need for malls, luxury hotels, and other entertainment will be analysed," said Chella Ramaswamy, chairman of CII Trichy.
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Maharashtra RERA warns homebuyers aganist 314 housing projects undergoing insolvency

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has cautioned homebuyers against buying any properties in a total 314 projects registered with the authority that are undergoing proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) of 2016. Various banks, financial institutions, and other entities extending line of credit to the real estate sector have initiated the Corporate Insolvency  Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against these companies. In these 314 projects, significant investment has already been made. Of them, 56 are ongoing projects with an average registration of apartments at over 34%. Some of the projects of realty developers including Wadhwa Buildcon LLP, Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), Man Infraprojects, RNA Corp, Radius & Deserve LLP, Karrm Infrastructure, Man Realty, Lavasa Corp, Richa India Infra Development, Rashmi Housing, Nirmal Lifestyle, and Sheltrex Karjat. In Solapur, all the 5 projects have 87% investment. In Nagpur, both the projects have 60% investment and the sole lapsed project in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is 55% invested. Of the 56 ongoing projects, 21 are from Mumbai suburbs with 38% bookings, 20 in Thane 28% sales, 6 in Mumbai City with 31% bookings, and 5 in Pune with 41% sales.
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

MHADA reduces additional area chargers to 110percent of ready reckoner rate in Mumbai

Maharashtra housing area development authority (MHADA) has reduced the charge applied to additional areas beyond the original or permissible area of old residental tenements foreligible tenants/residents on the master list of the Mumbai repair and reconstruction board. The revised charge will now be 110% of the ready reckoner rate, down from the previous 125%. Besides, developers often fail to provide the 300 square feet tenement that these tenants are entitled to. As a result, beneficiaries are often given larger units, and under the previous system, they were required to pay 125% of the Ready Reckoner Rate for the additional area. However, many beneficiaries are unable to afford this additional cost, which has delayed their permanent rehabilitation. Jaiswal noted that these payment challenges have caused a large backlog of unresolved cases with the Board, making it difficult to complete the rehabilitation process. To accelerate the rehabilitation of tenants in old cessed buildings, the decision was made to reduce the charge for the additional area to 110% of the ready reckoner rate, making it more affordable for eligible beneficiaries. 
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Paint wars: Dulux shade card may be part of a merged palette 

ET Intelligence Group: The war among paint makers in India may well end up in mergers. And Akzo Nobel India - the fourth largest player in India's decorative paints segment - may have a role to play in it. Akzo Nobel India has informed that its Dutch parent Akzo Nobel NV is conducting a strategic review of its portfolio to redeploy capital towards growing its core coatings businesses. The initial focus will be on its decorative paints business in South Asia and various strategic options will be explored ranging from partnerships or joint ventures through to mergers or divestments. Akzo Nobel India, which retails under the Dulux brand, has a 5-6% market share of the ?75,000 crore decorative paints industry in the country. According to the company, Akzo Nobel has a premium and highly profitable position in India with a strong track record of growth. Given this unique market position, the company is well-placed to participate in the further development of the highly dynamic South Asian decorative paints market, which is ripe for consolidation. Incidentally, several business houses have entered the decorative paints business, which was until recently oligopolistic in nature with Asian Paints being the market leader followed by Berger Paints, Kansai Nerolac and Akzo Nobel. Currently, players such as JSW Group, Aditya Birla Group, Pidilite and JK Cement are vying for a share in the decorative paints market at a time when consumer demand is subdued and input cost inflation poses a constant threat. There is also discounting and local competition from unorganised players to contend with. In such a scenario, small or non-serious players could find it difficult to grow.
The MNC may well command a premium for its India business amidst the current competitive landscape. The Dutch paint manufacturer is restructuring its operations to cut costs, improve efficiency and become more agile in volatile markets.

 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter

Residental prices in Gurugram increase by 76 percent in two years Magicbricks

Average property prices in Gurugram have increased 76% in the last two years and 15.5% quarter-on-quarter to reach Rs 14,650 per sq ft in Q2 FY25, according to Magicbricks report. The report further stated that the prices have increased significantly, despite residential demand increasing a moderate 9.9% quarter-on-quarter and supply grew by 18.3% quarter-on-quarter, with an influx of new listing driven by increased market activity and new project launches. With increasing demand, prices of ready-to-move apartments have increased 12.9% quarter-on-quarter to touch Rs 13,729 per sq ft while vprices of under-construction apartments have increased 17.3% quarter- on-quarter to touch Rs 16,180 per sq ft. The report stated that 3-BHK units dominated with 66% of the demand, based on buyers' searches. Average prices of 3-BHK apartments have increased 21.6% quarter-on-quarter to reach Rs 14,600 per sq ft. Further, builder-floors command an average rate of Rs 12,700 per sq ft, multistorey apartments stand at Rs 13,200 per sq ft, residential houses at Rs 16,100 per sq ft, and luxurious villas are available at Rs 25,600 per sq ft The report also elaborated that Dwarka Expressway, New Gurgaon and Golf Course Extension are the most searched areas. 
 

https://www.livehomes.in/news_letter