Weekly #RealtyNewsRoundUp: Breather in sight for 5,000 Noida homebuyers

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

There may be an end in sight to the long struggle of 5,000 Noida homebuyers who had invested in residential projects in Sector 107 five years ago but found the projects stalled as Noida's land acquisition was challenged in court. The trust, which had challenged the acquisition of 225 hectares of land in Sallarpur village in Sector 107, has agreed to a settlement if farmers are paid an increased compensation of 64.7 per cent and given alternative land. The demand is the same that the Allahabad high court has ordered for other farmers in Noida and Greater Noida who had fought a legal battle against the acquisition of their land. Read more

To help the newly introduced Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) gain further traction, markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed ease of norms for these instruments. These include a reduction in the mandatory sponsor holding to 10 per cent, from the current 25 per cent. The Sebi, in 2014, had introduced InvITs — an investment vehicle which would enable promoters to monetise assets — to make it easier to raise funds for infrastructure projects. Read more

To boost buyers' sentiment, the Gurgaon administration has proposed to slash circle rates of properties by 15 per cent. If the Haryana government approves the proposal, it will be the first time in the recent history that Gurgaon, a premium real estate market, would see the circle rate graph slip downwards. In the previous two financial years, circle rates in the city were kept unchanged. Read more

The world's first functional 3D printed office building opened in Dubai recently. The project, which passed the stability tests both in the United Kingdom and China, has been constructed by a Chinese company. The company created the one-storey building spread over 250 square metres by placing layers of specially made cement with a 3D printer in 17 days at a cost of $140,000. Read more

Tasked by markets regulator Secuities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to sell land parcels of Sahara, HDFC Realty will e-auction five properties owned by the beleaguered group at a reserve price of Rs 722 crore on July 4. HDFC Realty has been asked to auction a total of 31 land parcels at Rs 2,400 crore, while SBI Cap has been tasked to auction another 30 land properties with an estimated market value of about Rs 4,100 crore. Read more