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EDITOR’S NOTE

Happenings, developments and events… There has been much for the realty over the past few months. In our May issue, we said the stock market and the realty sector were placing huge hopes on a stable government at the Centre in general and a Modi-led one in particular. And that is what happened!

Though the annual Budget is watched keenly by all sectors of the economy, the real estate was quite optimistic, to say the least, on the annual financial statement. Its anticipation was not misplaced for sure. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley placed unprecedented importance on the realty sector and that, hopefully, sets a precedent for the times to come.

In effect, the Budget had significant announcements – incentives for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), relaxation in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms for the sector, increased income tax benefits for home loan takers, and also a huge allocation for smart cities and affordable housing in both rural and urban areas.

And the goodies continue. To push its agenda for ensuring ‘Housing for All’ by 2020, affordable housing segment has been granted the infrastructure status. So now, banks can lend to developers of such projects under the priority sector category. T his will also result in cheaper home loans of up to Rs.50 lakh for houses worth up to Rs.60 lakh.

 To top it all and to add to the collective cheer of the industry, there is now talk of dilution of the Land Act as also reports of a possible expansion of purview of the proposed regulator for the sector.

 Yet there was the odd scare when Urban Development and Housing Minister Venkaiah Naidu strode in early morning on July 28 to conduct a surprise check on his unsuspecting staff at Nirman Bhawan which houses his ministries. About 60-70 babus were found to be absent compelling the minister to use strong words. This was Naidu’s second raid in six weeks. And predictably, a biometric attendance system in the ministry is in the making now.

With the world going environment-sensitive, going green is trending. In India too, green fever has caught on- builders, Government agencies, homeowners and everyone else are rushing to go green. We bring you a story of this greening of our realty in cities and towns.

Construction-linked or possession-linked, what should you opt for? Om Ahuja, CEO, Residential Services, Jones Lang LaSalle India, weighs out the pros and cons.

We also take a look at a report on how IT and ITeS sector is driving the commercial office space market in Delhi-NCR.

Accompanied with all these are our regular reads- home loan rates of leading lenders, property rates of some of the locations of the key cities, upcoming new projects, news snippets, your horoscope for August and Vaastu, this time on the significance of colours. Last but not the least-thismarks Realty & More’s twelfth issue – so watch out for the anniversary special next month.

Enjoy reading!!!