News tracker: April 21, 2024

Wellknown Polysters Chairman Anil Gupta buys 2 apartments worth ₹ 270 cr in South Mumbai

• Apartments in Lodha Malabar having value ₹ 135 cr each
• Malabar Palaces by Lodha is being constructed on Walkeshwar Road in the Malabar Hill area, one of the most expensive residential area in the country
• The project was in news as Bajaj Auto Chairman Niraj Bajaj had recently bought a sea-facing triplex apartment for ₹ 253 crs

Quess Corp MD Ajit Isaac buys plot on ‘Billionaire Street’ for ₹67.5 crs

• Ajit Isaac, the MD of Quess Corp, has secured the most expensive property deal in Bangalore, acquiring a sprawling 10,000 square feet plot for a staggering Rs 67.5 crore
• The per sq ft price of the deal works out to be around ₹70,300 per sq ft, making it the most expensive deal in Bengaluru so far
• Plot is in Koramangala 3rd block, popularly known as ‘Billionaire’s street’ 
• Other high-profile residents include Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Dr Devi Shetyy of Narayana Health, Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal

ED provisionally attaches Raj Kundra’s assets worth ₹98 cr in Bitcoin ponzi scheme case

• Raj Kundra under investigation for money laundering in an alleged ₹6,600 crore Bitcoin-based ponzi scam
• Attached properties include a Juhu residential flat owned by Shilpa Shetty, a Pune bungalow, and equity shares owned by Raj Kundra.
• properties abroad, per the Enforcement Directorate.
• Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from the “mastermind” & promoter of the scam, Amit Bhardwaj, for setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine

MahaRERA directs L&T to deduct only 2% while terminating booking of NRI homebuyer

• UAE based buyer booked flat in March 2018 in a project known as Emerald Isle located in Powai in Mumbai
• The customer had paid ₹ 25 lakh of the total cost of ₹ 2.29 cr
• However, L&T later terminated the booking due to non-payment of the balance money.
• L&T offered ₹17 lakh to the homebuyer by deducting over ₹ 8 lakh but MahaRERA directed L&T to not deduct more than 2% of the paid-up amount

ED attaches FD worth ₹ 113 cr of Supreme Construction’s director

• Assets attached include a home in Aambey Valley, residential & commercial properties in Mumbai, land parcels in the Raigad district & fixed deposits
• Supreme Construction collected more than ₹ 400 cr from 1,700+ homebuyers in a housing project at Taloja.
• Cash collected from homebuyers was laundered for personal gain and used to create assets in numerous names, including those of family members

Pune real estate market reports 52% jump of property registrations in March

• Pune real estate market saw registrations of  21,744 properties in March 2024 against 14,309 a year back
• The stamp duty collections in March 2024 also recorded substantial growth to ₹ 804 cr from ₹ 621 cr in March 2023.
• In March 2024, apartments ranging from 500-800 sq ft commanded 40% share
• Market share of larger apartments, exceeding 1000 sq ft, remained stable at 13%

All 224 flats in Gurugram project sold in 15 minutes for ₹ 440 crore: Ashiana Housing

• Ashiana Housing, one of India’s leading real estate firms, had launched a project by the name of  Ashiana Amarah located at Sector 93 in Gurugram, Haryana.
• Launch started its registration at 11 am and received 800 cheques for 224 units by 11.15.
• In 15 minutes it was oversubscribed four times
• Present in nine cities in India, Ashiana has delivered over 23 mn sq ft to over 17,000 buyers
  

Kanodia Group acquires 1.74-acre land in Gurugram for ₹ 153 cr

• The land parcel is located close to the Medanta Hospital & Huda City Center Metro station in sector 46, Gurugram
• Kanodia Group, which is into the cement business has recently announced its plan to enter into the real estate sector and invest ₹5,000 cr over the next 5-7 years
• Project expected to generate revenue in excess of ₹1000 cr
• The project is scheduled to be launched by the end of this year and is expected to be completed within 48 to 60 months

DLF Urban gets ITAT relief in ₹ 328 cr dispute

• Delhi ITAT bench grants DLF Urban relief from ₹ 328 cr income addition for 2016-17
• DLF Urban Pvt Ltd had executed an agreement to buy land development rights in Delhi’s Moti Nagar from DHDL
• The transaction was valued at ₹925 crs, based valuation conducted by Cushman and Wakefield, instead of the circle rate of ₹192.7 crs
• Transfer Pricing officer added ₹ 328 cr as income addition for land development right purchase by DLF Urban

Vatika Limited fined over ₹ 6 lakh by Gurugram RERA for violations

• Vatika fined over ₹ 6 lakh for violating advanced payment regulations & the builder-buyer agreement
• According to the court, Vatika violated Section 13 of the 2016 Act, leading to a penalty of ₹ 1 lakh for each complaint under Section 61
• The Haryana RERA has restricted Vatika Ltd from sale and purchase in its Vatika India project

Godrej family begins formal division of conglomerate

• Separation is between two branches of the founding family with Adi Godrej and his brother Nadir on one side. The other side has Jamshyd Godrej and his sister Smita Godrej Crishna.
• Real estate estimated at ₹3,400 crore, mostly prime land in the Mumbai suburbs, will remain under Godrej & Boyce (G&B) and a separate agreement will be worked out to govern ownership rights
• The Godrej Group has 5 publicly listed companies- GCPL (Godrej Consumer Products Ltd), Godrej Properties, Godrej Industries, Godrej Agrovet and Astec Lifesciences

Brigade Group to invest ₹ 400 cr to develop office space in Chennai

• The proposed project, Brigade Tech Boulevard, will be a ‘Grade A’ office space on Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road
• Project will have a leasable area of 8.36 lakh sq ft spread across two towers
• This will be the next commercial project launched by Brigade Group after the successful completion of the ‘World Trade Centre’ on OMR
• Recently, it signed a JDA with United Oxygen Company to develop a 3 mn sqft of ‘Grade A’ office space on ITPL Road, Whitefield, Bengaluru

Private equity investment in real estate dips 16% last fiscal to $3.67 bn

• PE inflow in real estate stood at $5.2 bn in 2019-20, $6.4 bn in 2020-21, $4.2 bn bnn in 2021-22 & $4.4 bn in 2022-23
• Share of foreign capital in total investments declined to 65%in FY24, against 76% in the previous year.
• Office segment dominated PE transactions in FY24 with a 57% value share
• Decline in PE investments due to lower activity by foreign investors given global macro-economic factors & geopolitical instability

The freefall in China’s home prices continued in March as Beijing struggles to stem real estate crisis

• Existing home prices across all 70 cities in China dropped by 5.9% year-over-year, worsening from January’s 5.2%.
• New-home prices fell 2.7% in March compared to a year ago
• Home prices slumped in March, extending the housing market’s decline and leaving authorities in Beijing scrambling for solutions to the country’s real estate crisis.
• Investment in real estate development dropped 9.5% Q1 from 9% in the preceding two months

Dubai mansion sales soar as wealthy flock to palm-shaped island

• Sales of homes with a price tag of $10 million or more climbed 19% during 1Q 2024 as the world’s ultra-wealthy continue to flock to Dubai
• 105 luxury homes were sold for $1.73 billion, with Palm Jumeirah accounting for 36.3% of the sales activity, reports Knight Frank LLP.
• Last year, Dubai registered 431 sales of homes worth at least $10 million, which was the most of any city on the planet
• Real estate is relatively affordable in Dubai where $1 mn buys 980 sq ft, while in New York, it’s only 366 sq ft, as per Knight Frank