#WeeklyRealtyNewsRoundUp: Gurgaon District Administration Slashes Circle Rates By 15 per cent

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

Mortgage lender HDFC will float Masala Bonds worth Rs 2,000 crore to attract capital into the housing sector in India. So far, no corporation has ever floated a masala bond. As interest rates are negative in nearly a quarter of the world, HDFC thinks that investors will consider masala bonds safer and high-yielding assets. Read more. 

To allow the real estate markets to recover, circle rates in Gurgaon were slashed by 15 per cent. The district administration had left the circle rates unchanged in the past two years, but the real estate markets did not see a revival. This is the first time circle rates are being reduced in Gurgaon. Read more.

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report says that the housing sector does not pose any systemic threat to the banking system. The RBI said this is because the non-performing assets (NPAs) among retail loans were contained. Read more. 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will survey all properties to widen its tax net and check illegal construction in Mumbai.  The BMC will use the light detection and ranging technology and the video recording technology to survey properties. Other civic authorities also will have access to this data.  Read more. 

Developers' body CREDAI has asked the Uttar Pradesh government not to raise circle rates in Noida. CREDAI thinks that circle rates in Noida are higher than the market value of real estate, and that if the government raises the circle rate further, market transactions may come to a halt. Read more.