Realty News Roundup: 50,000 flats in Noida Extension to be delivered, says Credai; Piramal Realty in talks with DB Group

The president of the real estate association Credai's western UP wing Deepak Kapoor told Times of India that close to 50,000 flats will be delivered in Noida extension by the end of this year. This is expected to have about 1 lakh people moving to Noida by 2016. A bevy of housing societies here will collectively host nearly 3 lakh apartments that have been at various stages of construction in Noida Extension for years.  Due to litigations on land, these properties could not be handed over. However, this hurdle has gone now with the Supreme Court upholding land acquisition in the region in May.

Here are the other real estate related news stories of June 10, 2015:

Even after the Reserve Bank of India's 75 bps repo rate cut since January, many small housing finance companies are yet to lower their lending rates. Economic Times reports that because of this a large number of home loan applicants, who borrowed money from smaller housing finance companies are yet to get the benefit of softer monetary policy. Smaller lenders are holding on to their rates because they said their cost of borrowing has not dipped much in the last six months, as RBI's 75 bps repo rate cut since January did not transmit into the system fully. 

Rating agency ICRA issued a statement saying that the government's policy measures have bolstered investor interest in real estate investment trusts (REITs) however cautioning that lack of clarity on the tax structure still persisted in the industry. "The recent policy actions pertaining to REITs are a welcome measure and would help pave the way for introduction of REITs in the country, albeit with much delay. However certain tax disadvantages continue to prevail in the current structure, which can dampen the returns," ICRA Senior Vice- President Rohit Inamdar said in a statement here.

Experts in real estate sector have said in this report that the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission's directive to Unitech to pay compensation at 12% per annum for delaying delivery of apartments to buyers in one of its Gurgaon projects is likely to become a precedent in cases filed by several other homebuyers' associations across the country. It could be a good news for home buyers in India as more than half of the real estate projects across the country are currently delayed by over 12 months, of which about 25% are delayed by over 36 months, according to property research firm Liases Foras.

In Mumbai, Piramal Realty is reported to be in advanced talks with DB Group to acquire a prime sea-facing, 2.2 acre plot of land at Marine Lines in south Mumbai for over Rs 1,000 crore. In yet another development, the Ajay Piramal-led company is also expected to give DB Group 20% of built-up space on the property.