Developers offer discounts to encourage the purchase of dream homes

Buying a house can be a challenging decision for many. After all, it involves investing your hard-earned money. People get finicky when it comes to purchasing their dream home as they expect the best amenities and facilities that are worth their investment. There have been many cases where people go house hunting for apartments in Bannerghatta road and other such places in the south, but return disappointed because of the expensive property prices. Now, you no longer have to wait for the prices to drop. Your dream home can be well within your reach as real estate developers are offering lucrative discounts for apartments and flats for sale in Bannerghatta road.

• The slowdown in the housing industry

Unlike earlier times, potential house buyers have plenty of choices available now. Builders and brokers are willing to negotiate better deals, which wasn’t an option some time back. Working professionals, especially those from the IT sector, are ready to purchase a second home and buy apartments on Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru, because of the declining prices. There are a large number of people who are unable to purchase their dream homes because of the weak economy. But, simultaneously, there is also a significant section of the population who is grabbing the discounted offers introduced by real estate developers. With changing times, developers are now accepting requests from buyers and providing benefits. The price corrections have already taken place in the different sub-markets, depending on the supply and demand dynamics.

• Rise of the buyer’s market

Builders need to keep the cash flow steady. For this reason, they are willing to provide discounts when they are close to finishing the inventory. They are enthusiastic to provide schemes rather than turning away a customer. The pre-launches are occurring at aggressive prices. Due to the rising debt, unsold inventory, and slow new home sales, builders are ready to negotiate with potential buyers. The end-user can bargain the best deals as the quoted prices remain stagnant. To make things better, the Reserve Bank of India has started offering home loans at low-interest rates. In fact, due to the recent RBI rate cuts, banks have been asked to reduce their base rate, which can substantially decrease the cost of home loans. Industry experts and financial advisers believe that now is the right time to buy flats for sale in Bannerghatta road, Bangalore.

• Introduction of innovative offers and schemes

There are several real estate developers that are offering payment plans for possession. Such programs require individuals to pay 2 percent at the time of booking and take a loan for 80 percent. The EMI will be borne by the builder. After six months, the cost has to be paid, and the final 10 percent is due at the time of possession. Similar schemes with payment options ranging from 30-65-5 to 30-70 and 30-40-30 are designed to attract buyers. Be it cities such as Hyderabad and Chennai or apartments in Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore, developers are coming up with large projects. Real estate analysts believe that people expect an increase in disposable incomes once the economic indicators improve, and the interest rates reduce. As property prices continue to remain stagnant, this combination works as an excellent opportunity to potential home buyers and investors.

When it comes to luxurious properties, developers are ready to sit across the table and negotiate the payment scheme. So, you can choose to buy your dream home by purchasing apartments in Bannerghatta road, keeping in mind the current market conditions and flexible payment options.

This is a guest post by Deepak Yewle

Taxation aspects for an NRI, PIO, or a Foreigner for buying an immovable Property in India

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Buying a property has tax implications. If a property is meant for income generation, then one has to pay income tax in addition to property tax, service tax, Capital Gains Tax, and wealth tax. Tax guidelines vary from state to state in India. A typical resident of India who has invested in property has resources and time to adhere to taxation aspects.

However, an NRI or PIO or a foreigner can find it cumbersome to adhere to taxation aspects of buying an immovable property in India. What are the various kinds of taxes, what is the definition of NRI or PIO as per income tax act, and what are the various tax exemptions? These are some of the questions a Non Resident Indian (NRI), Person of Indian Origin (PIO), or a foreigner will be confronted with. Here we present the detailed paper for taxation aspects for an NRI, PIO, and Foreigner for buying an immovable property in India:

What could be the causes of Realty Project delays? And what can real estate developers do to correct this issue?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Take any newspaper, or online forum, or discussions among stakeholders within the property circle, one would notice that project delays have become the endless talking point with no solution to it. There seems to be no dawn for this darkness which has engulfed the entire real estate spectrum. Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Kolkata, Chandigarh, and other parts of the country continuously witness rising cases of project delays by real estate developers. A middle class home buyer suffers the double whammy of paying the rent as well as EMI (Equated Monthly Installment). On top of that, a home buyer whose energies should have gone towards his/her career progress or personal fulfillments is now consumed by this endless struggle to get the dream home. What a pity? People are nation’s best asset and when those assets are put to use in unproductive ways, then it certainly hampers growth and creativity.

Recently, buyers of ‘Unitech The Residences Project in Gurgaon’ were at the project site to protest against the delay.

“We are exploring the option of moving the High Court and approaching the CCI, apart from writing letters to the Prime Minister, the promoters of Unitech and agencies such as SEBI for intervention and investigation in the matter,” Vikram Bishnoi, President of the Unitech Residences Apartment Buyers’ Association, told BusinessLine.

Similarly, buyers of ‘Emaar MGF’s Palm Drive project in Gurgaon’ were seen demonstrating against the project delay. This project was launched in end of 2007 and delivery was supposed to be made in December 2010. However, the project has not been delivered yet. Builder says they will start delivering the project this year.

Similar cases have been witnessed across the country and as per the CCI (Competition Commission of India) records, biased builder-buyer agreement topped the list of complaints to CCI followed by complaints for project delays.

So, what could be the reasons for realty project delays? Let’s look at from the builder’s point of view as well:

• Multiple approvals

First thing first, real estate development is a detailed and long process. A builder has to seek various permissions and approvals from the relevant authorities to launch, develop, and complete the project.

To name a few, a real estate developer has to seek approvals/permissions from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), fire department, pollution department, ministry of environment, electricity department, Airports Authority of India, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Mines, Central Ground Water Board, Directorate General Civil Aviation among many other sub-departments. It is widely believed that all in all, a builder has to seek a minimum of 40 to 60 approvals depending on the state he/she is operating in.

And it takes time to seek these many approvals, sometimes 2-3 years. Is it an ideal scenario? No, certainly not, and that is why builders are demanding for a single window clearance system. With single window clearance system, costs of projects can be brought down by whopping 20%.

• Manpower shortages

Real estate is a capital and labor intensive business. Labor shortage is one major issue which impacts the timely delivery of a housing project. In recent times, labor wages have gone up and despite that there is paucity of skilled labor in the market. To counter this, many builders have incorporated pre-fabricated construction technologies. However, this has been restricted to large developers with access to funds and resources to set up such facilities.

• Lack of funds

Lack of funds is also a major issue in timely completion of a project. With tight monetary policy, cost of funds go up and therefore, a builder explores various options to raise funds by way of underwriting, loans, customer payments, Private Equity money, etc.

• Lack of demand for the project

Sometimes, demand for the project is rather lackluster. Last 2 years have witnessed low demand for housing and therefore a builder who launched the project 2 years ago is stuck in no man’s land because on one hand monetary policy is tight and on another hand home sales have dropped. This has dried up the funds for the development of the project.

• Funds diversion to other projects or land deals

Not all of these projects are delayed because of external factors. Many a times, builders divert customer payments to acquire new land parcels for future expansion. To overcome this, Government of India has come up with Real Estate Regulatory Bill which will ensure that 70% of funds received from customers will go in the development of the project.

What can builders do to correct this issue?

Even though, home buyers are the one who suffer the most in cases of project delays, there is very little that they can do apart from protests and litigations. Read more about what can home buyers do if a realty project has been delayed.

The problem has to be fixed by builders themselves.

1. Builders and their associations can indulge in talks/consultations with government officials to make way for single window clearance system.
2. After the Budget 2014, real estate sector can breathe a sigh of relief. FDI norms have been relaxed and a builder can take benefits of that.
3. Budget 2014 also provides incentives for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT). And builders can now float a REIT to generate funds for their commercial projects, which will ease out the liquidity crunch.
4. Even though, Government of India has brought in Real Estate Regulatory Act, the Builder bodies should also come up with a model ‘builder buyer agreement’ which will protect consumer interests.
5. Implement fair marketing practices. There is no point in making a commitment that project will be delivered in 36 months from the date of purchase when it is fairly evident that project development will take about 5 years. Builders Bodies should also make sure that communication between a builder and the customer is fair and transparent.

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How to calculate the true value of a commercial property which provide steady stream of rental income for the investor?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

In our blog post titled “How to calculate the true value of the property”; we primarily focused on valuation of a residential property. In this post, we will however, focus on valuation of commercial properties which provide steady stream of rental income for the investor. This valuation approach is based on the principle that the value of a property is related to its ability to produce cash flows. For this approach 3 techniques are commonly discussed.

• Gross income multiplier:

Gross income multipliers are relationship between gross income and the sale prices for all comparable properties that are applied to the subject property.

Gross income multipliers (GM) = Sales Price/Gross Income

In arriving at a value for the subject property, the appraiser must develop an estimate of gross income based on the market data on comparable commercial properties. For the comparable properties the gross income should be annual income at the time the property is sold. Some appraisers use potential gross income (which assumes all space is occupied). Others use effective gross income (potential gross income less vacancies).  Since this method relies on gross income, therefore an assumption is made that the operating expenses are about the same proportion of gross income for all properties. This method relies heavily on current market transactions involving the sale of comparable properties. These techniques resemble the sales comparison method for valuation of a property discussed in the previous section in many ways. The focus of these techniques is to determine a market value that is consistent with prices being paid for comparable properties trading in the market place. However, rather than giving priority to adjusting for differences in value by adding and subtracting directly from the prices of comparable properties for physical and location attributes, these two methods tend to focus first on the income producing aspect of comparable properties relative to the prices at which they were sold. Adjustments are then made for physical and location dissimilarities.

• Capitalization rate

This technique is similar to the Gross income technique except that it considers net operating income (NOI) rather than the gross income of comparable properties. When it is suspected that differences in operating expenses exist between comparable, the focus of the analysis should be shifted from gross income to NOI.

Capitalization Rate (cap rate) R = NOI/Sales Price

Following data should be collected to calculate capitalization rate:

Sale price, rent, and operating expenses should be collected from brokers, agents who were involved in the sale of comparable properties.

Important warning: both Gross income multipliers and cap rate approaches does not assure that the property will be a good investment if purchased. They only assure the buyer that it is a competitive market price and that if the method is applied correctly, the buyer is not overpaying or underpaying for the property relative to what other investors have paid for similar properties. The question of whether or not it is a good investment will depend on the future growth in rents, income, and property values.

• Discounted present value techniques

This income approach is based on the principle that investors will pay no more for a property than the present value of all future NOIs. Based on the knowledge of market supply and demand, lease terms, as well as income and expenses, a forecast for cash flow is developed for a period for which we have knowledge regarding supply and demand, lease terms, income, and expenses. Normal forecasting period are 10 years.

1. The first step in this technique is to forecast NOI (based on market supply and demand, lease terms, and expenses)
2. The second step is to select a relevant period of analysis or the holding period for the investment.
3. The third step is the selection of a discount rate (r) – this discount rate is the desired return for the real estate investment based on its risk when compared with returns earned on competing investments and other capital market benchmarks.
4. Present value of expected NOI beyond the holding period. These cash flows are represented with reversion value (REV) or resale price.

Presently, capitalization rate method is used in India when evaluating the worth of the income generating properties. The discounted present value method relies on assumptions about demand and supply and therefore, there are possibilities of arriving at the wrong value of the property. 

Now, whenever you as an investor are looking to sell your commercial property such as office space or retail outlet, do your calculations as explained by us and make sure you get the right value of your property. Alternatively, if as an investor, you are looking to buy a commercial property, make sure to do these calculations in order to ascertain that you are not overpaying.

In a nutshell:

Did you calculate the true worth of your property before selling?? Let us know at nirrtigo@nirrtigo.com

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