Godrej Properties, the real estate development arm of the Godrej Group, today announced that it has sold 300 apartments within one week at The Trees, its flagship project in Vikhroli, Mumbai. 

This represents more than 80% of the 374 apartments it opened for sale in the first phase of this project. "The value of apartments sold is in excess of 700 crores making this Godrej Properties’ most successful ever launch in terms of value of real estate sold." It said
 
The Trees mixed-use development contains a commercial phase spread across 9.4 acres, which houses Godrej One, the Godrej Group’s global headquarters. The central mixed use precinct, spread over 9.2 acres, will comprise of a 5 star luxury hotel, cultural buildings, luxury residential, and a high street retail park. 
 
The more private luxury residential precinct spread across 6.7 acres, which was recently opened for sale, will house a community of residential buildings with private parks and an iconic clubhouse facility. 

The government to revive the Indian real estate sector relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in construction sector by removing two major conditions related to minimum built up area as well as capital requirement. The real estate sector is likely to get some relief from the easing of FDI conditions including limitations on capital, minimum area and lock-in period in construction development.

The industry people are very positive about the government’s move and expects good returns.



Niranjan Hiranandani, Managing Director, Hiranandani Group, “New FDI norms for Real Estate is a positive move. The Indian Government’s decision to remove all restriction on foreign direct investments into the real estate and construction sector except for a three-year lock-in period for select projects, is a major boost to the cash-starved sector. ‘Any improvement leading to less red tape is welcome’. The move is expected to improve liquidity scenario in real estate and construction sector. NAREDCO had recently organized the Real Estate and Infrastructure Investors’ Summit – 2015, where this was among the topics which had been discussed. Easing of FDI norms will enable speeding up of the investment process. The government has done away with entry and exit barriers in construction. There are two aspects of this, first, area restriction (20,000 sq. m) and secondly, minimum capitalization requirement (US $ 5 million) to be brought in within six months of commencement of business, both of which have been removed. Further, foreign investors can exit and repatriate investments before a project is completed, but with a lock-in of three years. We are pleased at having ‘positive thinking’ become a reality.”


Ms. Manju Yagnik, Vice Chairperson, Nahar Group, “The real estate sector is in urgent need for funding requirements and easing of FDI norms will help addressing this issue. In recent time, the bulk of the reforms have been directed to the real estate sector which has been plagued with funding issues, therefore a welcome move. Presently, the sector is facing severe restrictions in terms of sources of finance for its projects. This has led to delay in project completion and delivery to the customers. Also, this delay increases the cost of the project due to higher interest rates paid by the developer on loans taken. We appreciate the government’s efforts in recognizing problems and issues faced by the industry and working towards resolving the same. This hopefully should open the gates for more foreign investments to flow into the realty sector, thus reducing the burden on developers. The move bodes well for the industry and economy of the country as a whole. With Governments vision for Housing for all 2022, FDI will help take away the burden of financing a project. This will also help bringing down the price of the final product.”


Mr. J.C. Sharma, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Sobha Limited, “It has been a difficult period for the real estate sector and the overall demand is yet to show a clear upward trend. The rate cuts announced towards the close of the quarter along with the additional relaxation in FDI norms for construction sector are positive steps for the revival of demand in the housing space. We remain hopeful that such initiatives should start yielding the desired results in the coming quarters.”


- by Accommodation Times News Services

- by Raghavendra Kamath
Source:- Business Standard