1)Real Estate in India

The property boom in India is riding on one of its highest waves ever. A recent headline in The Times of India, one of India’s largest newspapers, informed that a house in Delhi’s Amrita Shergill Marg (think Park Avenue) was sold for 137 crore rupees, roughly thirty million dollars - and this is far from the highest bid to have made headlines off late. Today, Mumbai and Delhi are spoken about in the same breath as Tokyo and New York when it comes to real estate prices. A plush 3,500 square feet apartment in Mumbai’s coveted Cuff Parade area (think Upper East Side, New York) could cost you 24 crore rupees, about five million dollars, if you want things like a nice sea view and parking space for at least five cars.

The recently moneyed upper-middle class as well as rich NRI’s (Non Resident Indians) are investing huge chunks of their income into the market, which in turn is leading to a rise in prices and prompting still more people to invest. Stories about prices doubling in less than a year have only fuelled this craze, convincing many of this being a sure shot at making quick money. Housing loans, as a result, are being handed out like hot cakes to twenty and thirty-somethings who, in a certain segment of course, are being paid enough to take on such financing.

Metropolitan cities like Delhi and Mumbai being saturated, the boom is now spreading to the smaller towns, or to far off suburbs – so far considered distant poor cousins – who now suddenly find themselves very much in demand for their apparent proximity to these cities.

Commercial prices have seen a massive rise in the past year as well. In November 2006, a mere 1463 square feet of commercial land in Sector 18, Noida (another Delhi suburb) fetched a whopping two million dollars, at a rate of 1360 dollars a square foot.

(Dated: 27/02/2007)
(Source: spot-on.com)

2) Indian real estate market growing by 30% a year | INRnews

Bangalore, November 21, 2006

New research issued by global real estate adviser DTZ has revealed that India is becoming one of the world's key emerging real estate markets. DTZ reports that the size of the Indian real estate market is around $12bn and growing at 30% a year.

The report's key findings include:

• Demand for new office space grew from 3.9m sq ft (363,319 sq m) in 1998 to more than 16m sq ft (1.48m sq m) in 2005
• Driven by the IT sector, office space demand is expected to rise to more than 45m sq ft (4.2m sq m) by 2008
• The Indian retail market is witnessing growth of 5-7% per annum
• The Indian hospitality and hotels industry is growing by an annual rate of over 7%

Ankur Srivastava, managing director of DTZ in India comments: "The Indian real estate sector promises to be a lucrative destination for foreign investors into the country. The continued growth of the Indian outsourcing industry provides excellent opportunities for real estate investors."

DTZ is one of the world’s leading real estate advisers, providing real estate and business solutions to multi-national companies, major financial institutions, property companies, banks, governments and other public sector organisations. DTZ’s transactional business advises on the purchase, sale, leasing and acquisition of all types of commercial and residential real estate. Professional advisory services include the management of real estate portfolios, building consultancy, and valuation as well as capital advice to maximise the value of real estate as an asset class.