Land prices on outskirts likely to shoot up

HYDERABAD: Land prices are set to rise in the 849 surrounding villages of the city with the formation of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). These villages were merged with the HMDA. Anticipating this, real estate players have already jacked up rates in some newly included areas of the HMDA.

For instance, in Wargal mandal of Medak district - about 50 km from the city - the land price was Rs 1 lakh per acre until last year. But now the going rate is about Rs 10 lakh per acre. Similarly, the land values have sky-rocketed in neighbouring mandals like Shamirpet and Medchal in Ranga Reddy district, where the prevailing price is about Rs 2000 per square yard. Until last year, it was just about Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 per sq yard. "The HMDA should concentrate on providing infrastructure in the surrounding areas, only then will the very purpose of forming a highest authority be served," city-based architect D T Vinod Kumar told 'TOI'.

The HMDA had approved about 30 layouts in the last few months and another 70 are at different stages of preparation. Realty companies are selling plots claiming land prices would increase further in the metropolitan development area. Even officials concur that the land prices would eventually increase in HMDA area. "Layout developers have to pay various charges, including development fee, to get approval. This will have an impact on land prices,"a senior HMDA official said. After the formation of the HMDA, all other urban development authorities like Buddha Purnima Project Authority, Cyberabad Development Authority and Hyderabad Airport Development Authority have been abolished.

The HMDA covers Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Sangareddy municipality, Bhongir municipality and 849 surrounding villages. The boundaries of the Hyderabad Metropolitan region have been fixed. In the north, its jurisdiction will extend up to Islampur village, Shadnagar in south, Bhongir municipality in east and Sangareddy municipality in west. In terms of area, the area of HMDA would be 7,073 square kilometres, including GHMC's jurisdiction of 625 sq km, 13.60 sq km of Sangareddy municipality, 96.30 sq kms of Bhongir municipality and 6337.70 sq km of 849 villages. As of now, there is no master plan for the extended area of HMDA.

Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/Land_prices_on_outskirts_likely_to_shoot_up/articleshow/3405296.cms

The task of preparing a master plan for the extended area has been entrusted to the Centre for Environmental Planning, Ahmedabad. The HMDA is likely to issue orders in a day or two. It would prepare the master plan in 18 months. "With the formation of HMDA, the entire metropolitan region will develop in a planned manner. Already sanctioned projects will be better integrated. The region will also attract more investments,"HMDA secretary D Rama Rao told TOI. For the convenience of people, the HMDA has proposed zonal offices at Kokapet, Kompally, Ghatkesar and Shamshabad. One more zonal office is yet to be decided. Apart from these zonal offices, 10 service centres are being proposed at Chevella, Sangareddy, Narsapur, Shamirpet, Keesara, Bhongir, Ibrahimpatnam, Pochampally, Maheshwaram and Kothur.

Marketing Techniques for Real Estate

With cut throat competition in almost any profession, you need to have the upper hand in order to succeed. Yes, Real Estate was one of the most lucrative business options until a few years ago. Not that it has become any less lucrative now, but there are Real Estate professionals joining the bandwagon by the dozen everyday. You might be amazed to know that there are millions of Real Estate professionals in the United States alone. Now, for you to get business when there is so much competition around is not easy at all. You need to give the customer a genuine enough reason for him to choose you over your competitors. Why should he hire your services? What do you offer that the others do not? This is where marketing skills come into the picture. Yes, if you know how to market your skills the right way, you will succeed in no time at all. Read on to find out the best marketing secrets for Real Estate professionals.

The Internet:-
The internet is an extremely powerful global presence which needs to be tapped into. Yes, marketing on the internet has reached astounding levels and you need to have a professional looking web presence to utilize it. Consider this website on the internet as a billboard that advertises your skills to the whole world. Considering that it does this 24×7, you might as well spend a decent amount on the website. Real estate web presence is recommended today and will be mandatory tomorrow for a realtor to succeed in the business. There are many tools which can be added to the website to maximize its potential and create a brand out of your name.

Tools:-
Blogging has brought a new level of interactivity to marketing. Almost any service professional looking to market his or her skills online will create blogs online. You too need to do this. Create blogs with information about Real Estate that you have and leave the address of your website at the end. When potential customers will find this blog of yours, they will consider using your services. Remember, the blog and the website go hand in hand in getting you the business. So you cannot deny even one of them. There are several other tools that can be used to get more business. Newsletters are one of them. You need to understand that not every visitor to your website will be a customer. He may or may not hire your services in the 1st visit. So you need to give him something to remember you by and that something better be good. It can be a free gift if he signs up for your newsletter which gives him wonderful Real Estate information free of cost. Believe me, the world loves freebies.

Combining forces:-
Now that we have been talking so much about online marketing, you also need to remember that good old marketing skills like PR, direct marketing etc still hold good. Indulge in some direct marketing to see what’s working for you and what isn’t. When you combine the forces of internet marketing along with direct marketing, you will have great results.

Hyderabad Real Estate - What Does Foreign Investments Bring End-User?

While billions of dollars are chasing Hyderabad-based actual estate developers, the city markets are expected to be vibrant in the medium to long term. The end-user is expected to be benefited the the majority as the property builders will acquire adequate of funds to maintain liquidity. Availability of channelised finance will along cut costs along with carry greater efficiency in the system.

According to market analysts, one more benefit that foreign venture giants can carry Hyderabad actual estate is technological exposure. Vis–vis the gestation period that a property project takes to achieve completion, knowledge plays a critical role. This is the period when a property builder has to direct liquidity bearing interest on the capital being invested in the project. That’s where the cost of property rises significantly. Following all, a developer has to insert every these overheads on to the cost of property along with still direct profitability for his possess survival. Utilize of advanced knowledge assist diminish this period along with consequently the cost of construction comes down, which is after that passed on to the client in proportion.

Availability of sufficient finance along enable volume building in the markets. For instance, when Europe-based JM Financial declared to invest Rs 600 crore in Hyderabad-based Maytas Properties, the earliest obsession that the developer announced was to expand its benchmark Mount County township project to phase II. The builder, at firsthand, seem towards the advantages of scale the second it gets sufficient capital to sustain its plans.

Counter View
Though these developments are taken as positive for the property end-user, there are countless who apprehend that foreign money would push property prices up in sky. Venture groups eyeball Indian markets for its riches building potential along with they are not concerned on the end-user, they say. Property development costs may come up to down for the developer excluding it is no guarantee that they will overtake on the profit to its customer, given the heaviness of generating returns for its investing partner.

Source:
http://www.e-realestatearticles.com/hyderabad-real-estate-what-does-foreign-investments-bring-end-user.html

Indian real estate goes abroad

With a view to showcasing investment potential in India's real estate, Cento International Investments, U K based real estate consultants have organised 'Invest India Tour London 2008.'

Cento along with Baron Group International, a U K based property investment company and E 18, the marketing division of Network 18 have organised this tour which they say will provide a platform for real estate developers from India to interact with foreign investors and help promote the country as a lucrative investment hub.

The United Kingdom (UK) with a population of 15 million has an untapped market of investors for the real estate in India, Baron Group MD Nayan Bavishi said.
"There are a number of road shows that happen with developers from India going to the U K. But these roadshows are limited to targeting NRIs who are 2. 5 million in number in U K, which has a population of 15 million," Bavishi said.

"These investors from U K have already invested in markets like Spain, Portugal, Carribean and Dubai and are looking at India as a potential for investment.

But they are skeptical of doing so because they do not have knowledge of the market in the country," Bavishi said adding that these "investors need someone who has the whole chain covered for them."

Source:
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200808062071.htm

India's new 25 G-spots - Business

For decades, the enduring aphorism that best condensed the economic theory of trickle-down benefits of high economic growth has been "A rising tide lifts all boats".

The ultimate mantra of free market evangelists popularised by John F. Kennedy finds vindication across India too.

As India migrated from a $500-per-capita income at the beginning of the decade to $1000 now, higher earnings fuelled consumption and created markets in new geographic landscapes, extending beyond the big metros and even Tier II submetros.

Kolhapur, better known for its hand-made chappals; Kannur, famous for the export of communism; cotton town
Erode and Yamunanagar, best known for the manufacture of utensils, are now the destinations for companies seeking consumers and market share.

If Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani has chosen small town Jharkhand boy Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the brand ambassador for Big Bazaar, it is not just for cricket but market economics too.

1. Kannur, Kerala
2. Kolhapur, Maharashtra
3. Thrissur, Kerala
4. Erode, Tamil Nadu
5. Puducherry
6. Alappuzha, Kerala
7. Patiala, Punjab
8. Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
9. Sangli, Maharashtra
10. Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu
11. Kollam, Kerala
12. Gurdaspur, Punjab
13. Sangrur, Punjab
14. Panipat, Haryana
15. Yamunanagar, Haryana
16. Ambala, Haryana
17. Shimoga, Karnataka
18. Rohtak, Haryana
19. Palakkad, Kerala
20. Kottayam, Kerala
21. Karnal, Haryana
22. Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
23. Rupnagar, Punjab
24. Theni, Tamil Nadu
25. Namakkal, Tamil Nadu


Source
http://interestinggenerallinks.blogspot.com/2008/08/india-today-indias-new-25-g-spots.html

Why You Should Invest in India Now - Michael Masterson

Yesterday, I was having high tea near Buckingham Palace with an English colleague. We were talking about the great world empires in history - how they rose up, peaked, and then fell.
All of them - the Hittites, the Greeks, the Romans, the Ottomans, the English and Spanish, and then, in the 20th century, the United States - enjoyed 100 or more years of rapid economic growth. This created huge, wealth-building opportunities for many.

When an economy is growing fast, opportunities are abundant. You don’t have to be a genius to make lots of money. You simply have to be at the right place at the right time.
That was true 2,000 years before Christ, and it’s equally true right now. Get on an economic tidal wave when it’s just a ripple, and before you know it you’re 100 feet above your peers, making millions and enjoying the ride.

One hundred years ago, the best place to be - by far - was the U.S. But today that may not be so. The U.S. economy is in big trouble. After surviving the collapse of the Internet bubble, we jumped right into a real estate bubble. That one collapsed too, and its ramifications are just now being felt. The falling dollar is making it much more expensive for Americans to pay for anything made abroad. And the rise in oil and gas prices (and other commodities) is putting the U.S. into a recession that will probably last a long time.

But that’s not the worst of it. The U.S. economy is old, and outdated in some respects - just as England’s economy was 100 years ago. The 20th century was America’s century. Thousands of people became enormously wealthy by getting into oil and gas and railroads and other industries back then.

But the world has totally changed. New technology and major advances in communications have permanently altered the way wealth is and will be created.
So the question my friend and I asked ourselves over tea and scones yesterday is this: If we were in our early twenties and our goal was to become billionaires (forget the measly millions!), where would we go to start our fortune?

For me, there was only one answer: I’d move to India.

Why India?
Because India is, in many ways, like the United States was in 1900… but bigger and better. It has a huge population - about a billion people, of which approximately 200 million are considered middle class. This is more than 10 times the size of the U.S. middle class at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The sheer size of the market is staggering.

A study I read in the International Herald Tribune recently said that there are a million families in India whose income is more than $100,000 a year. That’s a very substantial class of wealthy people. Many of these wealthy people are entrepreneurs and investors. And because of India’s laws (and lack of laws), they will have few artificial obstacles to keep them from increasing their wealth.

India’s positive investment climate and vast consumer markets has resulted in a decade of phenomenal growth. Since I’ve been tracking it, India has been growing at least twice as fast as the United States. And even today, with oil prices going up and productivity going down on a global scale, India is still growing at almost 7 percent a year. Again, more than twice the rate in the U.S.

China, too, has a huge, fast-growing economy. But I’d choose to move to India over China because of its more democratic government, more homogeneous population, and the prevalence of the English language.

And if I were going to set up shop in India, I’d start something in the communications or technology area. More specifically, I’d start an Internet publishing company there.

Why Internet publishing?
First and foremost, because it’s a business I know. And it’s always better to start a new business in a field you know.

I also like publishing because it’s a growing industry in India. According to that report in the International Herald Tribune, the country’s magazine business will increase 20 percent in 2008, up to $302 million.

In the past 12 months, all of the following magazines have been launched in India: Vogue, Rolling Stone, OK!, Maxim, FHM, Golf Digest, People, and Marie Claire. Most of them have been launched through licensing agreements with Indian companies. That’s what I’d try to do - get an equity position and put down my stakes in India. That’s how you make the big money, not just by passively investing from abroad.

If the publishing industry is doing well, the Internet is doing even better. The growth of the Internet-based side of the information industry in India is impossible to know with certainty because of how many new companies are involved and how fast they are moving. But most insiders I’ve spoken to estimate the growth at more than 100 percent a year.
To me, India is a long-term play - an opportunity that will continue to get better over the long haul. There will be ups and downs and specific sectors that fail while others succeed. But, overall, the long-term trend is upward - toward the billions!

One of my biggest clients recently acquired a half-interest in an investment publishing business in Mumbai. That was a very smart move on their part. If things work out like I think they might, they will see a 100-to-1 return on their investment over the next five to 10 years… and a 1000s-to-one return over a longer period of time.

If setting up a business in India doesn’t appeal to you, Andrew Gordon has another recommendation.

“You could invest in India’s high-tech industry,” says Andrew. “In its generic drug sector… or its business support center companies. But the company I like best isn’t in any of those sectors. It’s an auto and truck maker called Tata Motors from Mumbai. Its ticker symbol is TTM, and it’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

“Tata had the nerve to challenge and then break long-held notions of auto manufacturing. Conventional wisdom argued you couldn’t make a quality car for less than $6,000 to $7,000. Perhaps with cheap labor and raw material and everything else going perfectly, you could get that down to $5,000.”

But Tata’s highly respected CEO - Ratan Tata - did not swallow a word of that, says Andrew. He took advantage of India’s top-notch but cheap design capabilities and low-cost labor pool to make a car that costs not $5,000… not $4,000… not $3,000… but $2,500.

Such audacity has its rewards. Tata is proceeding with plans to sell 1 million of these cars every year. Who will buy them? Not people who can already afford a car. But the millions of people in India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries who cannot.

“This car will never be confused with a Peugeot,” says Andrew. “But let me be clear. It’s no Yugo either. It doesn’t have power steering, a radio, or air conditioning. It has only one windshield wiper. The car has been stripped to its absolute essentials. But what hasn’t been stripped out is the quality. This car is getting good reviews, and should sell like hotcakes when commercial production begins this fall.”

Plus, Andrew adds, Tata bought Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford a few months ago. It’s attacking the Asian market at its highest and lowest end - where the market is growing the fastest.

“You haven’t heard of Tata Motors up until now? It’ll be a household name in a couple of years,” he says. “The trick is to get on board right now while Tata is still flying under the radar. Its shares are priced to buy, so this is the perfect time to invest.”

Investing in India - with Andrew’s Tata recommendation or by starting your own information publishing business - is one of the best ways to make a lot of money. This is the right time to profit. You just need to get into position to allow the money to come pouring in.

Source:
http://www.earlytorise.com/2008/08/04/why-you-should-invest-in-india-now.html

Nizampet - The Residential Hub

T he Nizampet-Bachupally stretch has become a major residential hub, catering to both rich and middle class sections. The area is strategically located between the National Highway 9 and inner ring road of Hyderabad.

Software professionals, businessmen, and government employees have been buying flats and individuals houses in the Nizampet-Bachupally stretch.

The major advantage of the area is that it provides connectivity to key spots such as Kukatpally, Hitec city, Gachhibowli, Sanatnagar, Balanagar, Begumpet and Secunderabad. Construction activity has been in full swing in the locality though there is a slowdown in the real estate market otherwise.

Major realtors including Maytas Properties, Indu Projects, Landmark Builders, Sri Surya Builders and Developers, Jagadamba Properties , Abhaya Infrastructures and several other such builders have taken up residential projects in the stretch.

Flats and individual houses are being sold at rates ranging between Rs 25 lakh and 75 lakh, based on the quality of construction, built up area and other facilities.

Matyas is constructing a world class integrated township in 376 acres at Bachupally. “The project offers a range of apartments, villas, bungalows, retail, hospital, entertainment, infrastructure and SEZ.

“It is just a 20-minute drive from Hitech City.” Similarly, Indu Projects is also planning an integrated township in 100 acres at Nizampet Bachupally and Landmark Builders is building 90 flats under its ‘Pristine’ project.

Luxury villas bloom in suburbs of Hyderabad

Luxury villas are coming up in large numbers in the suburbs of Hyderabad. More than 25 such ventures are underway in various locations, from Shankarpalli to Shamshabad and from Medchal to Manikonda.

The most-favoured spots for villas are Nizampet, Bachupalli, Kompally, Shamshabad, Medchal, Uppal, Nagole, Maheshwaram, Dundigal, Shameerpet, Yapral, Ghatkesar, Srisailam Highway, Gachibowli, Tellapur, Kothur and Shadnagar.There is huge demand for villas, which are being built near major IT hubs and the Shamshabad airport.Luxury villas at the 531-acre 'Boulder Hills Golf' and 'Country Club' complexes built by Emaar MFG Land Ltd are being sold at prices ranging from Rs 8 crore to Rs 20 crore. These are the costliest villas to be built in the city. There are about 100 villas in the Rs 5,610-crore project, all of which have been booked by prospective buyers.

Emaar MFG, a joint venture between Dubai-based Emaar group and Delhi-based MGF Ltd, claims that the USP of the complex is the 192-acre 18-hole golf course built according to international standards. Other developers are building villas at Hyderabad, which are priced between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore. Most of them are coming up in plots ranging from 180 sq. yards to 320 sq. yards. The built-up area extends from 1,100 sq. feet to 4,500 sq. feet

Source
http://www.maaproperties.com/

Developers Hire Foreign Architects

In their bid to score over their rivals , many developers are now going abroad to hire noted architects who can design their new projects . Not withstanding the fact that currently the realty sector is seeing downward trend, still some of the noted design companies from other countries are opening their Indian offices to cater the real estate market .

The likes of Godrej Properties, Unitech, Omaxe, Hiranandani and many more are hiring foreign architect firms. As recently as last year, Godrej hired DP Architects of Singapore to design their 50-storey residential project in Mahalaxmi area of Mumbai. US-based Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum Inc (HOK), has already worked with Indian builders such as Unitech, Hiranandani and many other big firms. Will Roes, programme manager of HOK India says that they bring a global perspective and diverse expertise to a project. It is true that hiring foreign designers and planners have many advantages .

But, the negative side of hiring them is that in some cases they do not understand the complexities of doing business in India, including tax laws and also cultural consideration, feels Devinder Gupta of realty advisory Century 21 India . In an interview, Niranjan Hiranandani , the managing director of the Hiranandani group says that there is a big difference in approach between Indian and foreign firms that undertake design jobs. He feels that international firms are more empathetic to developers' needs and aspirations. " They find a solution which is required for a particular site, location and land. They are also more in tune with the land use demand," says Hiranandani. "They are more open to new ideas. On the other hand, Indian firms have a trial and error approach to design and planning. They also try to impose their ideas on the developers."

Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Developers_hire_foreign_architects_/articleshow/3313369.cms