In a move to offset losses due to reduction in stamp duty charges to a uniform 5 per cent across the State, the Andhra Pradesh (AP)Government has effected upward revision of the registration charges and market prices for properties from August 1.

AP Stamp duty cut to 5%
The State Government had recently announced its decision to slash the stamp duty rates from 7 per cent and 6 per cent in urban and rural areas, respectively, to 5 per cent which conforms to Central Government guidelines. While the registration charges would, henceforth, be based on revised market prices in urban areas, in other parts of the State, it would be fixed by a committee of sub-registrars.

The master plan for the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) area will be finalised by April-end.

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), which received over 1,800 objections and suggestions from citizens and organisations, has decided to make some modifications in the draft master plan, especially with regard to road widths, green belts along water bodies and land use.

The revised draft would be sent to the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department in a week. Later, the state government would issue a notification for the master plan.

The urban development authority had invited objections and suggestions on the draft master plan for the erstwhile MCH area in January and gave citizens time till March 18 to send their petitions.

“The objections and suggestions have been categorised into individual petitions, government departments and NGOs. These claims were discussed at the HMDA executive council meeting a few days ago. A final draft is being prepared,” a HMDA official said.

While majority of the objections were by individuals, nearly 100 petitions were from government departments and other organisations.

Individuals have asked HMDA to drop the plan to increase road width in their colonies and concentrate on main roads. For instance, residents of Erramanzil raised objections over a proposal to widen the Taj Krishna-KPC guest house road to 80 feet. They claimed the road was already widened to 60 feet a couple of years ago and further widening would affect their properties.

Officials sources said HMDA would consider citizens’ concerns on road widths. A meeting with GHMC officials would be held on April 7 to discuss on road widths.

The other petitions were pertaining to change of land use. Residents have asked HMDA to convert land use of their localities to commercial from residential use.

These requests came in from residents of localities like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Padmarao Nagar. Their argument was that though their areas were not declared commercial areas, roads have become busy and not useful for residential purpose.

Interestingly, APSRTC has urged HMDA to convert their depots like Ranigunj to multipurpose land use from transportation as it has plans to construct commercial complexes under public private partnership. The transport organisation wants to commercially exploit its land to get revenue through rentals. The Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited asked the urban authority to propose minimum 100 feet road all along three metro corridors in the master plan.

Hyderabad office market continued to witness an increase in the overall leasing activity in the third quarter of 2009 as compared with the last two quarters, property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) stated.

JLLM said that the central business district (CBD) comprising Begumpet, Somajiguda, and Raj Bhavan Road did not witness any tenant vacating spaces for the first time in the year during the third quarter. However, there were incidents of tenants vacating spaces in the secondary business district (SBD) including Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Hitec City according to the Business Standard.

The overall net absorption witnessed a significant increase in the last three months. Most of this absorption is due to the completion of the buildings that were pre-leased in the previous quarters. The overall vacancy too increased compared with the second quarter of the current year due to the high vacancy in the newly completed buildings in suburbs.

HYDERABAD: After almost a year of lull that had the real estate sector deeply worried, there seem to be some signs of construction activity picking up a bit and sale numbers rising slightly.

Though there are more enquiries from prospective buyers and more units sold when compared to last few months, the construction industry is yet to recover from an uncertain situation where it had landed after an unprecedented boom.

Some of the projects have announced positive results and these include Cybercity Builders and Developers which sold the entire Phase-I of its Rainbow Vistas project in just 110 days and also the Water Front project launched by Prajay Engineers.

At the same time, there are scores of small, medium and also huge projects that are in various stages of completion and waiting to find buyers.

Builders do concede that such is the continuing state of confusion that some kept their projects on the drawing board itself and are waiting for the situation to improve while others who took advances from buyers and have not yet started construction, are in a bind.

“Those who have completed say 50 per cent of their projects, have no other option but to sell it fast. Most avail loans from financial institutions and there will be pressure for repayment forcing them to reduce the pricing and sell the units,” says a builder.

Cancellations

Cancellations too have started and builders delaying projects face the prospect of having to return advances.

There is a slight improvement in the situation and sales are marginally up but the trend does not match the hopes of industry, the builder community bemoans. Huge projects, that are yet to find buyers, are coming up in different points along the suburbs, it is said.

Pricing

The pricing did start climbing down but majority of the prospective buyers are still in the ‘wait-and-watch’ mode hoping for the prices to drop further.

In some areas that were most sought after till last year-end, the price tags are 20-25 per cent less now.

“The focus is shifting from ultra luxury to affordability, but the industry in the city is yet to concentrate fully in this direction.

In most cases, the land component came at high cost during the boom and the builders find it hard to balance it.”

As far as construction material cost is concerned, prices of steel and labour have come down.

“There is not much change in cement prices but steel has come down a bit. With less work these days, the demand for labour is not there as it was earlier and hence their charges too are less now,” says C. Prabhakara Rao of Greater Hyderabad Builders Federation.

Political developments

The recent political developments in the State too are cited as one of the reasons for Hyderabad not joining other cities which have started coming out of the slowdown more strongly.

The political scenario that unfolded after the death of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy did affect the industry and it might take few more months for the situation to stabilise, adds Mr. Prabhakara Rao.

Quinn group, the leading business conglomerate from Ireland, announced the unveiling of Q-City, a Class-A commercial building, in Hyderabad, which sets a new benchmark in quality commercial real estate. This is the first offering in India from Quinn Property, the division of Quinn group, specializing in the development and management of premium quality commercial real-estate, for lease.

Speaking about the launch of their first project, Mr Peter Quinn, Head-Quinn property said, “India is an exciting market for us with immense potential in the commercial real-estate space. The location where Quinn developed its first project is one of most prominent ones in the South Asian region with the presence of many marquee organizations and with many more planning to set-up operations. Q-City is one of the premium offerings from the group in this part of the world and we are sure that our clientele from across industries IT, Telecom, Financial Services and other businesses will find our offering most suitable for their requirements.”

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) is planning to set up an aerospace park in Hyderabad, which would be spread over 250 acres, even though the aviation sector is going through turbulent times. The park, to be completed in 5-6 years, is coming up in the vicinity of the GHIAL’s new airport in Shamsabad, Hyderabad, where the company already has more than 5,400 acres and is expected to employ 8,000-10,000 people. “The park would be set up in the next 5-6 years. It will be spread over 250 acres,” a senior official of the company told PTI. He, however, declined to share the investment plans of the project. The land for the project has been designated as Special Economic Zone and will enjoy tax and other financial incentives.

The park will offer services like aircraft maintenance and repair, manufacturing of components and sub-systems, and research and development for civil as well as military aircraft. It will also provide training for aviation industry personnel. Besides, it will offer warehousing services and support ancillary industries like tyre manufacturers. The park is expected to generate employment for 8,000-10,000 people. In February, as a first step, GHIAL had announced the setting up of a Rs 400 crore maintenance, repair overhaul (MRO) facility in association with Malaysia Airlines at the aerospace park. GHIAL is a joint venture firm in which GMR Infrastructure holds 63 per cent, the Airports Authority of India and Government of Andhra Pradesh hold 13 per cent each and Malaysia Airports Holding Berhard has the remaining 11 per cent.