Realty News Roundup: Women, SC/ST, EWS main beneficiaries of PMAY; M'rashtra allows motels, malls on agri land along highways

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

Women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and economically weaker section will be the main beneficiaries of the NDA government's Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which would be launched on June 25. The PMAY scheme aims construction of about 2 crore houses across the country over the next seven years. Read more.

The Maharashtra government has amended land laws to allow building "integrated wayside amenities" including motels, restaurants, malls, ATMs and public toilets on agricultural land along state and national highways. This report describes these changes as part of the state's push to promote ease of business under its 'Make in Maharashtra' policy. The notification comes shortly after the state government hiked building rights on agricultural land for industry as well as public medical and educational institutes.

Financial Express reports, land parcels that have so far been stuck in issues revolving around the Urban Land Ceiling Act (ULCA) in Maharashtra may finally be streamlined as the state government plans to take action on it on a priority basis. Read the full report here with the chief minister's statement on the matter.

Times of India has reported that building permission rules have changed in Pine suburb. The report says the general body of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) approved the resolution recommending changes in the building permission rules. The recommendations include giving double floor space index (FSI) and relaxation in side margins for constructions on small plots up to 2,000 sq. ft. The resolution will be sent to the state government for approval. 

Off the front page

Read this report, first published on Americanbazaaronline.com, that says that Indians have bought $7.9B worth of real estate in the US in the last one year. According to this report, the Chinese were the top foreign buyers of real estate last year.

According to newspaper reports today, developers have flocked  to buy TDR from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and might fetch Rs 130 cr. This report says that as many as 12 developers including Oberoi Realty have bid for the 3.22 lakh sq. ft. (30,000 sq mt) of transfer of development rights (TDR) available in city's western suburbs put on block by the MMRDA. The Authority has put on block TDR on three plots in Goregaon and Jogeshwari.

Real estate private equity firm Milestone Capital Advisors has invested Rs. 75 crore in Landmark Developers, Chennai, for developing a four-acre residential project in OMR, Chennai. This investment will be utilised for Landmark's new residential project 'Torrence' in Pergundi. Read more in The Hindu-Business Line.

Opinion

Deven Choksey, MD, KR Choksey Securities, has shared his view on the real estate pack in his interview to ET Now. Read the interview here where he asserts that real estate pack is going to be getting relatively better kind of a look than before with improvement in the economic conditions.