News tracker: March 03, 2024

Mumbai breaks into world’s top 10 luxury residential markets, now ranks 8th

• Mumbai secures the 8th position globally among the world’s premier luxury real estate markets as per Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2024
• Remarkable jump from 37th position in 2022
• In Mumbai, $1 million or ₹ 8.24 crore can now get you a 1108 sq ft home
• Monaco retains its top position as the world’s most expensive real estate market, where $1 million can buy 172 sq ft of space

Macleods Pharma promoters buy bungalow in Mumbai’s Juhu for ₹ 101 cr

• Property is built on a plot under leasehold rights for 999 years starting March 1962
• This is the 3rd property purchased by them
• The property has a built-up area of over 3,604 sq ft
• Founded in 1986, Macleods Pharmaceuticals is engaged in developing, manufacturing & marketing formulations across various therapeutic areas

Property registrations in Mumbai up 24% in February

• Property registrations at 12,056 units in Feb 2024 [+ 24.5% y-o-y]
• Best February month in the history of Mumbai’s real estate market
• Stamp duty collection at ₹ 885 cr v/s to ₹1,110 crs last year
• Share of apartments measuring 500 sq ft & below, rose to 45% v/s 34% a year ago

Promoters of wires & cables manufacturer RR Kabel Ltd buy 2 apartments in Mumbai for ₹51 crs

• Sea-facing apartments bought in the project 25 South in Prabhadevi
• The project comprises 3 BHK & 4 BHK apartments
• Project is being jointly developed by Wadhwa Group and Hubtown, on a 5-acre plot
• RERA carpet area is 3966 sq ft for each of the two units with an additional area amounting to 735 sq ft

Maharashtra allocates ₹ 10,519 cr towards land acquisition for Pune outer ring road

• MSRDC is responsible for the development of 136.80 km-long outer ring road, which aims to decongest Pune roads
• Land acquisition to be carried out in 2 phases – western & eastern, with almost 90% of land already acquired for western phase
• MSRDC is hopeful of completing the land acquisition by June

Enforcement directorate seizes ₹ 7 cr properties of Ornate Spaces

• ED seized properties belonging to Vijay Machinder of Ornate Spaces in a money laundering case for alleged defrauding flat purchasers in his Oshiwara development project
• Machinder is also accused of ₹ 100 cr to Dawood associate Chhota Shakeel for assistance with his Oshiwara and Kalachowkie redevelopment schemes
• Machinder is currently in jail custody, having secured a commencement certificate from Mhada and borrowed funds from banks for his project

Mumbai police arrests SVK project LLP directors for defrauding flat buyers

• Manoj Champaklal Shah and Suresh Shroff were arrested by Mumbai police’s Offences Wing’s Unit 2 for defrauding 10 flat buyers of ₹11 crs
• Charged with cheating, document forgery, breach of trust, and violations of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act
• The accused initiated a residential redevelopment in Vile Parle West in 2014 and collected funds from multiple buyers & submitted a fraudulent Commencement Certificate

DLF to launch properties worth ₹ 80,000 cr in 4 years to encash surge in demand

• Properties worth ₹ 15,000 cr sold during 2022-23 & aims to surpass this amount in FY2024
• Targeting to launch 10 mn sq ft in FY 2025 with an expected revenue potential of ₹ 32,000 cr
• identified an additional 22 mn sq ft with an estimated revenue of ₹ 46,850 cr for the 2024-25 fiscal year
• Majority of these projects will be in the residential sector in the luxury and ultra-luxury segments

Delhi civic body extends last date or geo-tagging properties till March 31

• MCD has extended the deadline for geotagging properties until March 31, 2024, allowing residents to receive a 10% rebate on lump sum advance tax payments
• Initial deadline was Jan 31, & was previously extended to Feb 29
• Failure to geotag properties will result in taxpayers not being able to avail the rebate on lump sum tax payments by June 30 in Financial Year 2024-25

Four land parcels in Gurugram fetch ₹ 500 cr from three developers

• The Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) auctioned 4 land parcels in Gurugram for residential development
• Eldeco purchased 2.7 acres for ₹ 110 cr, Trehan Iris acquired two land parcels totalling 5.08 acres for ₹ 190 cr, and Conscient 5.56 acres for ₹ 200 cr
• These acquisitions are part of a trend of major land acquisitions in prime locations within Gurgaon, particularly in Sector 80

UP govt wants 3-4 lakh registries done in four months in Noida

• It is anticipating that ~ 7,000 individuals will secure ownership rights of their flats before Holi (March 25)
• Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to visit Gautam Buddh Nagar between March 7-10 to assess the situation.
• Home-buyers expressed joy and relief as they finally obtained the registry of their homes after years of waiting.

Nisus BCD Fund invests ₹ 105 cr in Shapoorji Pallonji subsidiary

• Investment is aimed at a 12-acre land parcel in the Manjari-Budruk area of Pune
• Land to be developed as affordable housing mixed-use township with a saleable area of over 2.1 mn sq ft
• The investment takes the form of senior secured non-convertible debentures and will be listed on BSE

LTI Mindtree takes another six lakh sq ft space in Chennai

• With this expansion, LTIM will occupy 1.2 mn sq ft in L&T Innovation Campus, Chennai
• The new campus can accommodate up to 10,000 IT professionals
• LTI Mindtree will occupy the first tower from April 2024 and the remainder by Nov 2024
• The city witnessed the highest-ever office leasing with 10.5 mn sq ft of gross absorption

Emaar announces two Dubai projects worth $26bn

• Two new luxury projects, The Heights Club and Grand Club Resort announced, valued at $26 bn
• The Heights Club will have an area of 81 mn sq ft & Grand Club will have an area of 60 mn sq ft
• Value of real estate deals in Dubai increasing 20% last year to reach $173 bn
• Knight Frank estimates that prices of prime residential properties in Dubai rose by 16% last year, the 2^nd fastest pace globally

4 Indian brothers win Rs 2,000 crore in property dispute with 5^th brother in US

• A jury ordered Haresh Jogani to pay his brothers more than $2.5bn in damages & divide up their South Carolina property empire
• Empire includes over 17,000 apartments worth billions
• The Jogani family, natives of Gujarat, India, built a fortune n the global diamond trade, establishing outposts in Europe, Africa, the Middle East & North America