News tracker: April 07, 2024
April 8, 2024
Imran Khan & his girlfriend Lekha Washington rent Karan Johar’s Mumbai apartment
- Monthly rent of ₹ 9 lakh per with a tenure of three years
- The apartment is in a three-story apartment at Clefepete on posh Carter Road.
- It is a sea-facing space in the Bandra area adjacent to a building where Imran’s uncle Aamir Khan, once rented an apartment
- Imran was previously married to Avantika Malik & got divorced in 2019
Maharashtra’s IGR department earns ₹ 50,143 cr in FY24
- Initial revenue target of ₹45,000 cr was revised to ₹ 50,000 cr
- Registration offices were open on the last three days of the financial year, leading to a total of 24,112 documents being registered & ₹ 1100 cr earned in March
- E-registrations from builders’ offices contributed to the high revenue collection, with about 12.22 lakh documents registered in FY2024
Macrotech Developers records best-ever quarterly pre-sales at ₹4,230 cr
- Best-ever annual pre-sales at ₹14,520 cr during FY 2023-24, meeting its guidance of 20% growth
- Net debt reduced to ₹3,010 cr from ₹7,070 cr; net debt-to-equity stands at less than 0.2 times, surpassing the company’s goal of bringing this metric down to 0.5 times or less
- Shares of Macrotech Developers have risen 154% over the last 12 months
- Added new projects with a cumulative GDV of ₹20,300 cr MMR, Pune & Bengaluru, exceeding its guidance of ₹17,500 cr
SWAMIH Fund invests ₹ 300 cr in Hubtown’s project in Mumbai
- The project, Rising City in Ghatkopar consists of 6 towers with 700 apartments, 550 of which are already sold
- Investment aims to provide relief to homebuyers awaiting delivery of their apartments
- Project faced regulatory issues related to height approvals but received all necessary approvals in 2023
- The SWAMIH Fund, introduced in September 2019 to aid stalled projects & homebuyers, has a value close to ₹ 15,530 cr, & is backed by the government, SBI, LIC & HDFC
Sunteck Realty lease out its building in Mumbai for 29 years
- Located in BKC, Sunteck Icon has an area of 2,00,000 sq ft
- Signed a long-term lease agreement with Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd for 29 years
- Expected rental of ₹ 300 / sq ft/ month, lease is projected to generate a revenue of ₹ 2,000 cr over the tenure
- Sunteck had leased its building BKC51 to Upgrad in 2003 for 29 years on similar terms
Sobha to execute a project on 2.03-acre land in Gurugram
- Land parcel is in Sec 106 has been acquired for ₹29.5 cr
- Acquisition has been through 100% equity purchase of BNB Builders, the owners of the land parcel
- Implied purchase price comes to ₹14.5 cr/acre
- In a separate development, Sobha has received ₹46 crs income tax demand notice
Housing sales in Gurugram down 12% during Jan-Mar; up 19% in Noida
- 12% y-o-y decline in housing sales to 8,550 units in Q1 2024 from 9,750 units in Gurugram
- Overall, residential property sales in Delhi-NCR dipped 9%, totaling 15,650 units in Q1 2024 compared to 17,160 units in the previous year
- Decline in sales attributed to a fall in new supply due to challenges in obtaining project approvals
- Noida witnessed a 19% y-o-y surge in housing sales, with 1,600 units sold during Q1 2024 compared to 1,350 units
Gurugram civic body falls 50% short of revenue target from property tax in FY24
- ₹ 250 cr generated from property tax in 2023-24 versus target of ₹500 cr
- 30% increase in revenue collected compared to the previous fiscal year
- Shortfall attributed to discrepancies in property tax data & objections filed by residents.
- The MCG has received objections to rectify property tax data for over 1.7 lakh properties
Housing sales rise 9%, office leasing up 43% in top 8 cities in January-March
- As per report by Knight Frank India, housing prices rose 2-13% annually across these eight cities
- Office rent grew by 1-9 % across the 8 cities in the same period
- Gross leasing of office space went up by 43% to 16.2 mn sq ft in Jan-Mar 24
- Mumbai saw 17% increase in housing sales, while office leasing increased by 29%
- Delhi-NCR experienced a 1% increase in housing sales & a 19% rise in office demand
Institutional investments in real estate down 40% to $995 Mn in January-March
- Foreign funds contributed 55% & domestic investors contributed 45%
- Office investments fell by 38% & residential segment witnessed a 72% fall in investments
- Inflow of funds in industrial & warehousing assets dipped 18% to $177.7 Mn
- Hyderabad & Pune each accounted for 26% of the total investments, while Bengaluru accounted for 20%
Prestige Group acquires 21 acres land in Bengaluru for ₹450 cr
- Acquired land will be for residential development
- 4 mn sq ft of developable area, comprising 1,800 apartments
- Projected gross development value of the project is ₹4,500 cr
- Plans to launch the project within the next three quarters & complete the development in four years
Bengaluru real estate developers cast a green lifeline amid water crisis
- As Bengaluru grapples with water scarcity, the city’s real estate developers are adopting green building practices & sustainable solutions
- Construction work uses up a major chunk of the water supply mostly supplied through borewells
- Water supply Board & CREDAI plan to supply treated water to construction sites and large housing societies
- Initiative promotes treated water reuse to tackle groundwater depletion from borewell use in construction
Embassy REIT to acquire business park in Chennai for ₹1,269 cr
- Embassy Splendid TechZone in Chennai to be acquired from the sponsor Embassy group
- Acquisition will expand total portfolio of Embassy REIT to over 50.5 mn sq ft
- The deal includes 1.4 Mn Sq ft of completed area, with an impressive 95% occupancy and renowned tenants such as Wells Fargo and BNY Mellon
- REIT intends to raise ₹2,500 cr to facilitate the acquisition & reduce the current 30% portfolio leverage
Gucci owner splashes out €1.3 bn for building on Milan’s iconic shopping street
- The 18th-century building acquired by Gucci owner, Kering, covers 5 floors & features 5,000 Sq meters of retail space, making it one of the largest properties on Via Monte Napoleone
- Kering’s purchase in Milan follows its January acquisition of a building on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue for $963 Mn
- Kering aims to own up to 15 buildings in select cities, representing 1% of its network, as it prioritizes exceptional flagship locations for its labels such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta
Property sales in Hong Kong rise by 57.2% in March
- Surge largely due to the government lifting all property cooling measures in its 2024-2025 Budget
- The total consideration for property sales in March rose by 65.5% from February to HK$37.4 bn [US$4.8 bn]
- 3,971 sale agreements were for residential units, representing a 67.2% increase from February
- New & secondhand home sales soared after the government’s announcement of no special stamp duty for residential property transactions