Dubai-based real estate major Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) is likely to enter India for which it is in the process of identifying a local partner. The country’s estimated 16 billion dollar realty sector, which has already attracted UAE-based players like Emmar, Limitless, Nakheel and SmartCity, has been identified by MAF as a ‘market to be in’.
The company is looking to tie up with a local player to build shopping malls, residential flats and other commercial spaces. “We are studying the Indian market and soon we are going to have a place in the country. India is the company’s target and we need to set up operations in the next one or two years,” Majid Al Futtaim VP Business Development Younis Al Mulla said.
He said a team of senior company officials visited India in the month of March to evaluate various options and held talks with companies here. “We are visiting India again in June to organize road shows in major cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and also Goa,” he added. Asked about the investments planned for India, Al Mulla said, “We do not know it yet as nothing has been finalized. We have not decided on that.”
They can, I cannot… cheers!
GL Hotels , which owns the Mayfair banquet in Mumbai, plans to invest at least Rs 600 crore to open six niche lifestyle boutique hotel properties and 10 additional banquets by 2010.
The hotel founded by Ghai Enterprise aims to build 100-room boutique hotels in leisure and business destinations across the country.
“We are also expanding Mayfair, our banqueting business to five more cities. Beginning 2009-end, we will add one property in either segment every quarter,” said Raman Mehra, chief executive, GL Hotels. Indian Hotels, which owns the Taj Group chain and East India Hotel, owners of Oberoi group of hotels among others, are building new properties to meet the surging demand for rooms from local and overseas business and tourist flats. The industry has a shortage of 1,50,000 rooms and this is fuelling hotel room rates across the country.
Really good isn´t it? Tourist industry rising up in India…
Cheerio!
This is the comical thing about trying to control inflation using interest rates. The three main contributors to the latest CPI figure in order were transportation (5.6%), financial and insurance services (4.9%), and housing (4.8%). With them removed from the index, the rate might well be still within the RBA’s target range.
Of course, at some point the rates will turn the screws so thoroughly that the economy will tank, and then distress sales will drive prices down.
Looking for flats? ouch mates, keep it going, bad times…
Cheers!
Everyone sighed with relief at the Reserve Bank’s decision last week to leave the official cash rate at 7.25 per cent and normally that would be good news for borrowers. However, lenders have shown in recent months – and weeks – that they’re prepared to lift rates independently of the central bank.
Flats loan rates are now determined by the cost of raising funds on the global credit markets, where money has become much more expensive since dodgy US housing loans were bundled up and sold to investors.
“The connection between the Reserve’s official cash rate and the cost of funding for the banks hasn’t quite broken but is almost broken,” Dowling says.
Even if the Reserve Bank remains on hold, market rates may still move higher. What’s worse, there’s no guarantee that once the cycle turns and the Reserve starts to cut rates that lenders will follow.
In Britain, a recent Bank of England rate cut wasn’t passed on uniformly, with new borrowers and those coming off fixed-rate loans reported to have missed out on the savings. Asked what would happen here in the event of an official rate cut, Steve Blinkhorn, the head of home loans for St George Bank, says in the past the bank has been quick to pass on any rate cuts. He says, though, that can’t be guaranteed “in the current environment”.
Dowling says the main hope for borrowers is the banks’ “manic obsession with market share”, which should cap potential rate increases as they fight over customers.
BankWest’s Vivian says moving independently of the Reserve “is a very difficult decision, and we spend an awful lot of time debating how much you move while trying to balance the impact on customers. All of the banks have been forced to move more than we would like.”
Cheers guys & think about that…
Kitchen: After not having a place in which to cook for such a long time, it’s no wonder the couple love their kitchen. Eventually we’ll open this area up and provide more of a meals area and family space.
Door frames: These terrific-looking frames are a feature. They’re a lovely counter to the floorboards, trimmed in gloss white paint and their unusual but authentic look adds to the home’s period resonance.
I also love KFC mates!
Fair Trading investigators found that 20 of 23 flats presented a discrepancy of more than 20 per cent between the minimum promoted price and the price achieved on auction day. Two of those returned a difference of more than 50 per cent.
Spokesman Graham Humphreys says there is no list or guideline in terms of tolerances.
“Each case is looked at on its merits and the circumstances involved because property prices vary so much dependent on suburb and location,” he says. “So we look at individual cases to see what’s reasonable in the circumstances.”
Environmental considerations play a huge part in Sydney’s newest mixed-use development, The Village, at Balgowlah. This $345 million project – developed by Stockland and designed by Allen Jack+Cottier – will include a Coles supermarket, 60 specialty shops, 246 flats, 25 townhouses, restaurants and cafes with outdoor dining, plus gardens and a resort-style pool.
Water will be collected from the rooftop, filtered and stored in an underground 500,000-litre tank, to be used for residential toilets, washing machines and landscape irrigation.
Another clever innovation is the way that waste heat generated by the retail centre’s air-conditioning system will be captured and used to heat the residents’ swimming pool. Some will also be used as a pre-heat system for the hot water services in the apartments.
The majority of apartments will face north-south, reducing the need for artificial lighting. Louvred balcony screens provide shade and catch coastal breezes. A swag of energy- and water-efficient appliances and low-energy lighting will be standard.
Until recently, shopping centres and multi-unit residential buildings have been ignored when it comes to proving environmental credentials. The Green Building Council of Australia will use The Village as a benchmark for its Green Star rating tool, which will judge it on a variety of criteria, including emissions, water use and innovation.
Yet-to-be-released research by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at the University of Canberra shows that the most affluent 10% of Australians had an average gross household income of about $175,000 in 2005-06, up from the inflation-adjusted income of $130,000 in 1995-96.
But this was not always reflected in their flats-ownership fortunes. The level of outright home ownership among the most affluent fell in that period, from 35% to 28%, while the proportion who were still paying off mortgages grew from 43% to 50%.
NATSEM director Ann Harding will present the results at an international conference on income and wealth in August in Slovenia. Professor Harding said the difficulties of owning a home were being felt right across the country. “It was interesting to see that the top end of town weren’t immune from that. Like other Australians they’ve shifted from being outright home owners to still having to wrestle with a mortgage,” she said.
“Right at the top of the income spectrum they haven’t been immune from the effects of rapid flats price increases and the consequent decline in outright home ownership.”
The research comes just weeks after the Federal Government’s first budget contained cuts to so-called middle-class welfare. Families that earn more than $150,000 will no longer be eligible for the baby bonus or the Family Tax Benefit B, and that is also the income at which the Medicare levy surcharge will now apply for families. The budget also targeted luxury cars obviously.
The research also shows that among the most affluent, three-quarters did not have dependent children, making them either empty nesters or a couple that has never had children.
Who can afford it? Not me mates!!!
Cheers!
That is the consensus view of property market experts who, just a few months ago, had been predicting that prices in 2008 would be flat or might even rise slightly.
Since the start of the year the credit crunch has turned off the nation’s mortgage tap in dramatic fashion.
And a slide in flats prices that was already evident is now predicted to continue for the rest of the year.
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