News tracker: May 19, 2024

Malaika Arora rents her apartment in Mumbai for ₹1.50 lakh per month

• Bollywood actress Malaika Arora has rented her apartment in Bandra West, Mumbai, to costume designer Kashish Hans for ₹1.57 lakh per month for 3 years
• The apartment is located in Pali Hill, Bandra West
• The rent is subject to a 5% escalation every year and the tenant has paid a security deposit of ₹4.5 lakh
• Malaika Arora had earlier rented her Bandra apartment for ₹1.2 lakh per month to Jeffrey Goldenberg, owner of The Jeff Goldenberg Studio

Kiran Gems’ MD buys apartment in Mumbai’s Worli for over ₹97 cr

• Mavjibhai Patel, the MD of diamond manufacturer Kiran Gems, has bought an apartment on 47th floor of the project Three Sixty West tower By Oberoi Realty
• The apartment is spread across an area of 14,911 sq ft (Rera carpet) plus an additional area of 884 sq ft
• Started in 1985, Kiran Gems specialises in producing diamonds and precious stones & is a select company authorised to buy rough diamonds directly from De Beers Group, one of the world’s top diamond miners.

Certus Capital invests₹ 400 cr in three real estate projects

• Institutional real estate investment firm Certus Capital plans to invest ₹1,000 cr in India’s real estate sector for 2024-25.
  • Of these ₹125 cr has been invested in a Casagrand project in Chennai, and ₹130 cr in a Mittal Brothers project in Pune.
  • The firm has also finalised deals to deploy funds worth over ₹150 crore through two more investments in Mumbai.
  • Investments are in secured debentures with expected returns of 15%, backed by cash flows. The Chennai project could generate around ₹475 cr in revenue.

Mumbai real estate: MahaRERA frames specs for old-age homes

• MahaRERA has framed minimum physical specifications for retirement homes and senior citizen housing projects
• The guidelines will cover building design, kitchens, bathrooms, green building principles, lifts and ramps, staircases, corridors, lighting, ventilation, and safety.
• All multi-floor buildings must have wheelchair-accessible elevators & designs ensuring free movement of wheelchairs, including ramps.
• MahaRERA requires door openings to be at least 900 mm, preferably with sliding doors. All doors should have large knobs with grips.

Brookfield India REIT to acquire 50% stake in 4 Bharti Enterprises marquee assets in NCR

• Brookfield India REIT has inked binding agreements to acquire a 50% stake in four Grade A assets from Bharti Enterprises
• 4 properties are spread over 3.3 mn sq ft. is ₹6,000 cr
• The portfolio to be acquired includes Worldmark at New Delhi’s Aerocity, which is Airtel Center, the state-of-the-art corporate facility in north Gurugram, and Worldmark Gurugram
• In India, Canada-based Brookfield owns and operates over 50 mn sq ft of commercial real estate in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

IKEA India gets closer to Delhi-NCR, partners with Rhenus to set up warehouse near Gurugram

• Swedish home furnishing brand IKEA, has signed an MoU with Rhenus, a global logistics firm, to set up a large warehouse facility near Gurugram to boost home delivery experience for its customers in the Delhi-NCR region
• The warehouse facility measures 1.5 lakh sq ft
• The facility is capable of storing and fulfilling over 7,000 products

Signature Global aims to sell ₹10,000 cr worth homes in FY25

• Sales bookings more than doubled to ₹7,268 cr in 2023-24 from ₹3,430 cr last year
• Sold 4,619 units last fiscal as against 4,512 units in 2022-23.
• Signature Global sold 6.18 mn sq ft in 2023-24, up from 4.35 mn sq ft in the preceding years.
• Currently has a portfolio of 48.6 mn sq ft with 16.4 mn sq ft ongoing and 29.3 mn sq ft forthcoming.

CBI arrests Dheeraj Wadhawan in ₹34,000 cr DHFL fraud

• Dheeraj Wadhawan, the promoter of DHFL was recently arrested by the CBI
• The arrest is connected to defrauding a consortium of 17 banks, led by Union Bank of India of ₹35,000 cr
• The allegations against the Wadhawan brothers include diverting funds from banks to entities controlled by them and falsification of books of accounts
• Earlier, they were granted statutory bail, but the Supreme Court intervened, leading to their re-arrest

Signature Global buys 14.65 acres land in Gurugram

• Land acquired in Sector 37D of Dwarka Expressway, Gurugram.
• Planning for residential development with 2.7 mn sft of developable area
• Aim to launch a residential project on this land in FY25-26
• The company sold over 4,600 units at an average ticket size of ₹1.6 cr during FY24

Narayana Hrudayalaya buys 1.2-acre land parcel in Bengaluru for ₹ 169 cr

• The land sprawls about 52,272 sq ft. The seller is Venture Projects Bangalore Private Limited
• Founded by heart surgeon Devi Shetty, Narayana Health operates 18 hospitals in India and abroad
• Several prominent Bengalureans, including Dr. Anesh Shetty and Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Health, have purchased properties in Koramangala 3rd Block, one of Bangalore’s most expensive neighborhoods
• Among land deals in the top 7 cities Bengaluru saw 14 deals for more than 490 acres transacted

Awfis Space Solutions’ IPO to open on May 22, price band fixed at ₹364-383

• Flexible workspace solutions company Awfis has fixed a price band of ₹364-383 per share for its ₹599 crore initial public offering
• IPO to open for subscription on May 22, 2024 and close on May 27, 2024
• The IPO is a mix of fresh issuance of shares worth ₹128 crore & an offer-for-sale by the existing shareholders including promoter Peak XV Partners Investments
• Awfis Space Solutions plans to allocate ₹42 crores from the net proceeds of its new offering towards setting up new centres

Managed office space provider Skootr earmarks ₹1,000 cr to add 5 mn sqft portfolio by FY28

• Founded in 2016, Skootr has around 15 centres in Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru.
• Company target is to add around 5 msf of portfolio by FY 2028 with a tentative investment of around₹ 1,000 cr.
• ~1 msf of office space will be launched in 2024-25 at an investment of ₹150 cr
• Out of total 5 msf office space, around 2 msf will be in Bengaluru, while Delhi NCR and Hyderabad micro-markets will have development of around 1 msf each

Table Space leases over 2.5 mn sq ft in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad & Bengaluru

• In Chennai, leased 500,000 sq ft at Mapletree Global Infocity Park &160,000 sq ft with DLF, and now owns three assets including KRC Commerzone in Porur.
• In Mumbai, the company added three new leases: 55,000 sq ft at Oberoi Commerz III, 200,000 sq ft at Runwal R-Square, and 29,000 sq ft at Raheja Altimus.
• Acquired 260,000 sq ft in Mindspace IT park, with an option to expand by 250,000 sq ft.
• In Bengaluru, leased 55,000 sq ft at UB City, 100,000 sq ft at Café Coffee Day Square, and plans to secure another 500,000 sq ft in Whitefield.

DLF to launch projects with ₹36,000 cr sales in Gurugram, Mumbai and Goa this year

• Plans to launch new real estate projects spanning approximately 11.6 mn sq ft with a sales potential of almost ₹36,000 crore this fiscal.
• DLF is planning to launch super luxury projects in Gurugram in DLF5 (Lux5) in Q3 and in Goa in Q2
• A premium project in Mumbai will be launched in Q4 and a luxury project DLF Privana is scheduled to be launched in Gurugram in Q4
• Company has indicated a sales guideline hovering around ₹17,000 cr for the full year

Home prices in China down 0.6% month-on-month in April

• The 0.6% month-on-month decline was the sharpest drop since November 2014.
• Out Of the 70 cities in the housing data, 64 reported declines in prices last month, more than the 57 cities that did so in March.
• People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it would set up a $41.5bn facility to support affordable housing
• Country’s central bank also effectively scrapped the minimum mortgage rate and cut the minimum down payment for first-home buyers from 20% to 15%

Dubai real estate: Q1 sales hit $24bn as off-plan investments thrive

• Dubai real estate sector saw year-on-year gains of more than 20% for volume and value of sales transactions
• In Q1 2024, Dubai witnessed the delivery of approximately 6,500 residential units
• Apartments accounted for 75% of the completions, while villas comprised 25%
• 64,400 residential units are expected to be delivered by the end of 2024
• Villa rents increased by 14% year-on-year, while apartment rents saw a sharper rise of 22%