Editor’s Note

The 15th Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on February 21, a day after the contentious Telangana Bill was passed. Experts expect the creation of this new state to boost realty prices in the region. The session also witnessed presentation of the Interim Budget by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. While the minister announced excise cuts, the Budget, expectedly, did not have much for the real estate sector. Also as expected, the Real Estate Regulatory Bill was put in the backburner. Now we will have to wait till the elections are over and a new government is in place. There are huge hopes that once the new government is formed, the realty sector will be on a growth trajectory.

Greater Naida got its deserved attention when it hosted the 12th Auto Expo from February 7-11. A few auto majors  planning to set up their manufacturing units there, some IT giants announcing plans to open offices in Greater Naida, coupled with the government’s plan to improve the law and order situation and public transport, we look at how Greater Naida is on the auto mode to growth now.

The other NCR town Gurgaon is too not to be left behind with plans to extend the newly-launched Rapid Metro Rail to new areas, use of technology for responsive administration, plans to decongest roads and to better infrastructure, which are spelt out by PC Meena,   newly appointed HUDA Administrator, in his maiden interview to Realty & More.

On February 1, Mumbai saw the inaugural Monorail run from Chembur to Wadala. Expectedly, this has resulted in northward property prices, not only along the present route but also along the proposed routes.

In February itself, the Pune Metro Rail Project and the Metro rail extension in Ghaziabad has received the in-principle approval from the Union Urban Development Ministry. Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) vice-chairman Santosh Yadav told Realty & More that the authority intends to impose a betterment fee on properties along the metro rail route. GDA also announced the raising of FAR
limits in the influence zone of the Metro Rail route. The developers of the region are upbeat on these developments.

The Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry has released its first report of Housing Start Up Index, HSUI, which is an indicator of volume of construction in the housing sector during a certain period. The index covered 27 cities across the country. We take a look at the first-of-its-kind initiative.

With expectations that from here on interest rates are southwardbound, so, is it wise to prepay your existing loans? We try to seek an
answer …

Apart from these are our regular reads- Property Rates, Home Loan Rates, Vastu tips & Astrology for the month of March. Also in Realty Bites, what do industry leaders have to say on the draft land pooling policy? Enjoy reading …