Realty News Roundup: Zomato Leases Office Space in Gurgaon; Mumbai Builders Seek Rental Reforms

Online restaurant listing portal Zomato leased 1.2 lakh sq.ft. of office space in Gurgaon, news reports said on May 19, 2015. With this, Zomato's headquarters will move to One Horizon center on the Golf Course Road from Gurgaon's Sector 44. This property in Gurgaon is one the most expensive buildings in the city. Zomato has raised over $163 million so far, and has offices in 42 cities across Southeast Asia, South Africa and Europe.

Here are the other real estate stories of the day:

Mumbai builders seek change in rental norms: To rent out their unsold flats as 'service apartments', Mumbai builders are seeking a change in rental norms. They want the Leave and License Agreement to be tweaked. Builders expect to earn money in the sluggish market by renting out their flats to people who wish to lease them for a short period. In service apartments, builders will provide facilities like furniture, cleanliness, maintenance, water and parking facilities. As builders are not able to sell premium apartments in Mumbai, this is expected to reduce their financial burden.

Softbank likely to invest $100 mn In Oyo Rooms: Softbank Corp, Japan's telecoms and internet giant, is likely to invest $100 million in Oyo Rooms, a branded budget hotel marketplace. Oyo Rooms is now the largest online hotel booking portal. Oyo Rooms wants to expand its reach to 1,000 hotels in 25 cities by the end of this year. If this materializes, this would be the third round of funding for Oyo Rooms.

South Korea offers $10 billion for smart cities: The South Korean government will fund $10 billion for infrastructure projects in India, including smart cities and railways. The funding proposal was made after India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, met South Korea's President, Park Geun-hye, in Seoul on May 19, 2015. Narendra Modi said that South Korea can be India's leading partner in infrastructural development and in developing a world-class manufacturing sector. Indian and South Korea agreed to co-operate more in defence and security too.