Realty News Roundup: EPFO May Allow Pledging PF Contribution To Buy Low-Cost Homes; Haryana Govt May Ease Land-Acquisition Policy

Realty News Roundup is PropGuide's selection of top stories from the real estate sector

Top News

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) will consider a proposal to allow its subscribers to pledge their future Provident Fund (PF) contribution to buy low cost homes. Read more.

Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu has decided to conclude the process of streamlining approvals for construction projects in urban areas by the end of this year. Read more.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ruled that fire-safety provisions, parking spaces and recreation grounds must be included while computing a realty project's built-up area. Read more.

In another development, the NGT has ordered all National Capital Region city authorities to create special committees to monitor and keep records of the groundwater usage by builders at construction sites. Read more.

The Economic Times reports that the Haryana government plans to ease its land- acquisition policy. A possible amendment would enable the state to offer land to owners in the same district in lieu of the land the government acquires from them. Read more.

Off the front page

VCCircle reports that Orris Infrastructure has raised Rs 325 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs). The Gurgaon-based realtor has raised the funds from non-banking finance company, IndoStar Capital Finance Limited. The funds will be used to pre-pay debts and develop the ongoing projects. Read here.

Describing the sad state of property registration in India, this report says that almost 300,000 documents related to sale and purchase of property are gathering dust at the Department of Registration and Stamps in Maharashtra. There are no claimants of these papers. Some of these documents are over three-decade old.

Realty stocks witnessed gains on Wednesday: Sobha (up 1.62 per cent), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.25 per cent), DLF (up 1.62 per cent), Unitech (up 2.02 per cent), Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 3.44 per cent), Oberoi Realty (up 2.7 per cent), and Phoenix Mills (up 3.47 per cent). Read here.

Opinion

A Mint report explains why home buyers and investors should avoid projects in far off areas. The report says such projects have low returns and long delays. It quotes Dhruv Agarwala, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, PropTiger.com, as saying, “These locations are not ready for end-use from day one. Hence, buyers have to visualise the future and need to do greater due diligence of the locality.”

Quote of the day: "There has been a spike in foreign investment in India after the new government. We will not see an overnight impact of the reforms, but the Indian real estate market is certain to revive soon."- Robert Marten, Managing Director, Global Real Estate Institute, a global club of senior real estate investors, developers and lenders. Read here.

A guide on home loans by Adhil Shetty of BankBazaar.com. Read here.