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With Real Estate Regulation Act ( RERA) as well as various other policy initiatives such as the Benami Transactions Act and the Government’s determined push for affordable housing, the time has never been better to buy a home.

We are already seeing a lot of increased activity in the residential property market in the larger cities. After the dampener of the demonetization move late last year, the positive buyer sentiment visible now is especially significant.

With the return of buyer sentiment, builders are obviously determined to capitalize on it via increased marketing efforts. Given that there is already a lot of supply on the residential market - a lot of it for ready possession - fresh launches have been curtailed so that existing inventory can be absorbed. Much of the intensified marketing efforts are centered around special deals and offers.

Obviously, it is a very advantageous time for property buyers right now. Yet, they should be judicious while evaluating offers and schemes and base their purchase decisions solely on the real value of the home instead of on freebies. Buying a home is an expensive undertaking, often involving a substantial part of a middle-class family's savings as down-payment and a prolonged commitment to pay EMIs for several years.

Freebies such as gold, cars and household goods have an undeniable attraction, but they are fundamentally frivolous in nature and do not add to the value of the home.

The price of a home is obviously an important consideration for middle-class property buyers. However, the strategy of looking for the cheapest options on the market does not make much sense because it is quality that determines value. In the case of residential property, the quality of an offering is vested in three aspects:

- The quality of the location

- The brand value of the builder

- The availability and quality of facilities and amenities in the project and in individual units

The evolution of 'location value'

Central locations are traditionally the costliest, thanks to the fact that they offer great access to many important parts of the city - most importantly the CBD and SBD (central and secondary business districts). These areas tend to host the offices of high-profile companies, which also tend to offer a vast cross-section of jobs - from highly-paid management to more modestly-paid support staff jobs. Even the second category of jobs is attractive because growth prospects in high-profile companies are usually very good. This is what makes living in central locations very desirable - and, from a real estate pricing perspective - very expensive.

In India, this mantra was rather inflexible and held true for a very long time - until the advent of the Infotech culture. The IT/ITeS industry tends to offer very good salary packages but is not focused on high-value locations. Quite to the contrary - such firms prefer to set up shop in peripheral locations so as to save on the real estate costs. As a result, many of a city's outskirts have become very desirable places for homebuyers, and they are far less expensive.

For IT professionals and industrial employees as well as property investors, buying a home in a peripheral location that connects to an IT hub and/or manufacturing belt makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, such locations attract all kinds of developers - from those who have a reputation for creating true lifestyle value offerings to those who specialize in constricted, lifeless 'pigeon-hole' homes. This is where the brand value of a developer plays a significant role.

Brand value stands for assured quality

With a lot of housing supply available in the new growth corridors, buyers are spoiled for choice. The consideration of 'ticket size - the cost of a flat - is obviously important, but one still only gets what one pays for. Ultimately, a home is not just an asset but one which performs the very critical function of offering refuge, comfort and security - the three mainstays of lifestyle. Buyers must look for options which offer them these three advantages to a satisfactory level. Branded builders provide these as part of their standard value offering because their reputation demands it.

Facilities and amenities - life beyond mere living

If four walls and a parking space would be enough to serve our housing needs, the real estate industry the world over would be a very unexciting one at best. The fact is, urban life today places a lot of stresses and demands on us, and our homes cannot only be places of refuge but must also provide healing and rejuvenation from these. A clubhouse, swimming pool and children's park are no longer luxuries but the bare minimum an Indian homebuyer can and should expect. A residential project that does not offer these falls far short of the required mark.

Obviously, even projects without such offerings will find buyers because of their lower prices - but such buyers find very little comfort in their purchases. While short-listing prospects for home purchase, it is definitely important to ensure that the final selection provides a decent lifestyle and not just an abode.

If one looks at the supply on the residential property market from such a focused perspective, the bewildering choice of options automatically narrows down to a more manageable and comprehensive level. Always to be kept in mind - buying the right home is not just about present and future comfort but also about investment growth. Homes in good locations, built by reputed developers with a good saturation of amenities and facilities will always yield better capital appreciation as well as potential rental income for property investors.

Kishor Pate, CMD

– Amit Enterprises Housing Ltd

In fact, it can be said that support services are the backbone for any shopping mall. Moreover, with the growing popularity of e-tailing, a superlative experience and provision of outstanding facilities in malls have become even more important to give customers are reason to visit, shop and use malls as social destinations that go beyond just plain shopping.

The expectations and aspirations of the consumers have increased over the years. The differentiating factors for the shopping malls today have become offer of integrated value-added services and facilities. The ambit of key support services has also expanded to include more facilities and services. Services which were considered value-adds few years back are now basic requirements which any mall should provide.

These services include valet parking, pharmacies, clothes alteration and shoe repair, car wash, first aid, travel desks, rent-a-stroller facilities, baby feeding and changing rooms, privileged parking for women, wheelchair ramps and various forms of assistance for the differently-abled, digital mall directories, currency exchange, cab service on call, and concierge desks, among others.

Almost all the Grade A malls in India provide excellent support services and facilities for their visitors. Nevertheless, despite the massive progress seen so far in Indian malls, we have still to see the arrival of genuinely international standards. In international malls, a variety of other support services such as lockers on rent, print and copy centres, tour buses, Metro ticket machines, coupon books, pet stations, prayer rooms, post boxes and security escort are provided to visitors.

Some of these aspects are obviously dictated by the culture of a nation, while others have more to do with what other infrastructure and social facilities are available in a city.

For instance, The Dubai Mall offers superlative services and facilities to its visitors. It is a mall of truly international standards that caters especially to tourists from around the world. From personal shopping experience to tour buses and mobile charging stations to Metro ticket machines, it provides a genuinely bracing and superlatively convenient experience to shoppers and the tourists alike.

Not surprisingly, it is one of the most visited shopping and leisure destinations in the world, attracting over 92 million visitors in 2015 alone. It is also home to one of the world's largest aquariums and aquatic zoos, and other attractions that make it immensely popular.

The Role of Mall Management

Professional mall management is a critical component for the smooth functioning of a shopping mall, and we are seeing increasing adoption of such services by the mall developers. As the Indian retail real estate sector moves towards for greater sophistication and maturity, the demand for increasingly advanced and efficient mall management service providers will see a quantum forward leap.

In today’s dynamic market, it has now become imperative not only to manage shopping malls well but also keep the operational cost competitive for optimal net returns. Professional mall management ensures that all operational aspects of the shopping mall are taken care of in an integrated manner.

Support services are required in every region and each city as they attract the consumers to the mall, and mall management has become an integral factor that decides how successful a mall is. Today, consumers need a reason to come to malls over and above shopping. They expect a high quality of services, comfort and hassle-free shopping.

An efficient customer interfacing strategy adds to the image of the mall and leads to repeated visits. Likewise, a clean and attractive ambiance, good infrastructure, efficient and sufficient parking facilities and frequent organization of events extends the stay of the consumers in the mall.

By Pankaj Renjhen,

Al Namal Group. a multinational conglomerate founded by Bahrain-based NRI Varghese Kurien, is entering the co-living homes sector in India through an 'operating agreement' with Square Plums, an upcoming brand of co-living homes based in Bengaluru.

Co-living homes are fully furnished, ready-to-move-in homes based in gated communities available on rent for youngsters relocating to cities for job placement.

Al Namal Group and Square Plums have been in discussions for the last few weeks and cemented the deal during Kurien's visit to Bengaluru for Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January.

As part of the agreement, Billionaire Kurien led Al Namal Group plans to build 2 million sq ft of co-living homes in Indian metro cities. The group has earmarked investment of Rs. 300 crores for this foray.

Square Plums was founded in early 2016 by Rajesh Kotta and Hemant Attray, both alumni of BITS Pilani. It has managed to create an aspirational brand of co-living homes that is popular among the young executives working at leading MNCs and IT companies. In August last year, it had announced raising an undisclosed amount of funding from Indian Angel Network.

Kurien remarked, "We are bullish on the India story and have already invested hundreds of crores in commercial and real-estate projects in many cities of Karnataka and Kerala. Co-living homes are a new class in the sector and we have been watching this space for a while."

Mohammad Mansoor, MD of Exelon Solutions who advised Al Namal on the deal added, "After

doing our diligence, we have found that Square Plums, with its focus on high-end, branded homes specifically designed keeping in mind the needs of co-living youngsters, is an ideal operator partner for us. The technology and marketing platform they have built is the key for us to succeed in this venture."

Rajesh Kotta, founder & CEO of Square Plums, commented, "Finding a quality rental home is still a challenge in Indian cities, especially for singles. Over the last one year, especially following the investment from Indian Angel Network in August, we have built a branded product that ideally suits youngsters looking for a home in the city."

Hemant Attray, co-founder of Square Plums, signed off, "Homeowners who partner with us have found that on an average, rental yields from Square Plums branded homes can be up to 80% higher. In this partnership with Al Namal Group we look forward to bringing the Square Plums co-living home experience to over 7000 youngsters across 3 cities in India."

Piramal Enterprises Limited has announced a strategic partnership with Ivanhoé Cambridge, a real estate subsidiary of CDPQ (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec), to provide long term equity capital to blue chip residential developers across the five major metro cities in India.

Ivanhoé Cambridge is allocating an initial US$250m for this purpose. PEL will commit an additional amount alongside and co-invest between 25% and 50% of each transaction.

There is a strong demand for equity in the capital stack as blue chip real estate developers increasingly prefer the option of partnering with investors in the early stages of the development life cycle over high cost financing.

Naturally, the capital will be made available to a selective list of Grade A developers who have already demonstrated a track record of execution capability, corporate governance and strong return potential. The investment focus shall include the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Delhi (NCR), Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.

Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises Limited said, "We are extremely pleased to be partnering with Ivanhoé Cambridge, a global institutional leader of great reputation with a long term value system and investing philosophy aligned with our own. Given the scale of our existing real estate offering and roster of existing developer relationships, the partnership will enable us to execute on very compelling opportunities to deliver high quality residential developments in the local markets that we service."

Khushru Jijina, Managing Director, Piramal Fund Management said, "This alliance with Ivanhoé Cambridge is consistent with our philosophy of acting as a perpetual provider of capital and underlines the confidence reposed by institutional investors time and again in our abilities as a fiduciary. We believe that the timing is opportune for the provision of both pure and preferred equity capital at an early stage in the project life cycle. Such equity funding with Tier 1 development partners will enable us to deploy capital over a longer time horizon and facilitate participation in larger projects with the ability to generate returns across real estate cycles."

Michael Sabia, President and Chief Executive Officer, CDPQ, said: "India represents a key market for our global growth. We look forward to a long-term and fruitful business relationship with Piramal in the years to come."

Daniel Fournier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ivanhoé Cambridge said: "We are excited to participate in India's success story alongside one of India's leading fund manager. Piramal, with its long experience, impressive track record and strong relationship with India's top developers, will certainly play a key part in the success of this important investment. India's compelling demographic and economic fundamentals combined with supportive government policies bode well for a long-term residential development strategy such as this one."

This is a big question in every property investor's mind - do you stand to profit more from luxury properties or budget homes? Generally, lower-end real estate needs lower capital, which makes it especially appealing to small-time investors. Luxurious real estate, however, is an asset class reserved for people with a lot of capital to spend on a prime residential property.

So, what are budget properties?

Budget housing primarily targets the middle and lower-middle income bracket of buyers. This would include regular starter homes in emerging or non-prime areas. Such homes are cheaper and not top of the line, but they are adequate to meet the requirements of the mid and lower income groups. In other words, investors with smaller budgets can invest in such properties - though even the more well- heeled property investors in India often investing in bulk in budget housing projects to capitalize on the high-demand middle and lower middle-class marketplace.

Now that we've defined budget housing in a nutshell, what is high-end real estate and how does it compare as an investment with budget housing?

What is luxury property?

Luxury housing caters to the wealthy who have a predilection for first-class amenities and facilities, which they are not averse to paying a premium for. Basically, such properties must be exclusive, desirable and unique in many ways. Premium central location used to be a primary factor while selecting a luxury property - but with the new trend of extremely prime and ultra-modern projects coming up even in newer areas, this is no longer strictly true.

What exactly does exclusivity mean? After all, by virtue of every home having only a single owner, can it not be argued that all homes are technically 'exclusive'? Not really. As far as high-end real estate is concerned, exclusivity means closeness to other high-end residences, and suitable access to a variety of tasteful conveniences like five-star hotels, shopping malls, sports complexes, and parks.

In areas like Pune's PCMC where planned urbanization has preserved a lot of the available green cover, natural beauty is also an essential determinant in defining exclusiveness. While some buyers may favor mountainside views, others are more into countryside or lakeside and park views. In recent years, integrated luxury townships have been offering such features - and a lot more.

Generally, well-to-do luxury home buyers want the same things that all buyers for lower-end properties do, just on a considerably bigger scale. While budget home buyers are satisfied with rudimentary security, regular maintenance of the project and basic fixtures and fittings, luxury homeowners expect advanced facilities and project management that provide a seamlessly comfortable, convenient and visually enriching experience. They also expect round-the-clock electronic and human surveillance of the premises, smart security and convenience features in the properties, and top-grade international branded fittings.

Obviously, luxury properties cost a lot more than budget homes. The question is, do luxury properties make more sense investment-wise than budget homes? There are various schools of thought on this, with a lot of emphasis being laid on the fact that the highest demand in India is for budget housing.

However, market readings also indicate that the number of wealthy home buyers in India is on the rise - and these buyers all seek top-class, refined housing with all the latest amenities and facilities.

Moreover, they are invariably not dependent on home loans and have enough wealth to make outright purchases. Simultaneously, a huge complement of India's highly cost-sensitive budget housing segment of buyers is sitting on the fence, waiting for declining home loan interest rates and a correction in property prices.

Also, over the last couple of years, a volatile economy has significantly impacted pricing of luxury homes, making them more affordable.

It is fairly safe to say that both budget housing and luxury properties are finding buyers in India. It is certainly advisable to run an all-inclusive market analysis locally before embarking on a real estate investment, since the exact dynamics driving ROI on different property typologies differ on a market to market basis.

For instance, investment in a luxury integrated township in the Pimpri- Chinchwad Municipal Corporation make a lot more sense that investment in a small budget housing project, because luxury townships offer residents neighbours of comparable status and purchasing power, highly adequate facilities such as green open spaces, in-project schools and shopping malls and superlative project maintenance and smart home features at a unit level.

By Anil Pharande,

After carving a niche for themselves in the Indian affordable housing sector, affordable housing giant, XRBIA Developers has identified international locations where demand for affordable housing is predicted to increase in the next decade, and has prioritized six projects in UK, Africa and Dubai as initial locations for international expansion.

XRBIA has initiated its inaugural international project, through a partnership with a social housing developer in the UK, which is expected to launch in April this year.

XRBIA's decision to expand internationally is underpinned by the fact that affordable housing shortages are not unique to India, but present across the globe. Similar long-term market trends are driving supply shortages in many cities, namely, population growth, urbanisation and shrinking household sizes.

According to the United Nations World Urbanisation prospects Report (2016), continuing urbanisation and population growth are projected to add 2.5 billion people to the world's urban population by 2050, with 90% of the increased concentrated in Africa and Asia. At the same time, there has been a reluctance of existing real-estate suppliers to cater to the budget-friendly sector of the market and provide solutions on the scale necessary to address the scale of the issue.

In London, for example, the proportion of Londoners aged between 25 and 34 who own their home has fallen from 38 per cent in 2008 to just 25% in 2016, while the supply of 'genuinely affordable homes' slumped to a mere 780 homes in the same year.

Rahul Nahar, Chairman of XRBIA Developers Ltd commented: "Since we are going into an international market, we will have to tie-up with local developers. XRBIA is currently leading the drive for affordable housing supply in India, with a sale and build rate of 2000 houses a month.

Having fine-tuned a business model that works, XRBIA is now rising to the opportunity and international partnerships are the logical next step to expand reach. Such partnerships will combine the efficiencies of XRBIA's large-scale operations with the local expertise of developers."

"The scale of the challenge we face is greater than the capabilities of any one enterprise, and industry leaders, local experts and public bodies must work together if a solution to world's housing shortage is to be realized," he said.

About XRBIA Developers:

XRBIA understands India's need for smarter, efficient and sustainable cities which offer a higher quality of life to its people. With a goal and vision of building '100 future ready cities by 2030', XRBIA is embarking on a new journey that lays the benchmark for quality and modern urban development in the country. The brand is driven by technology in all they do from construction & operations, enabling customers to measure, manage and pay for services that they use.

XRBIA matches the global trend of increasing affordability by designing compact homes and offering standard amenities including free car parking, a community center with a swimming pool and commercial complexes.

This year alone XRBIA built cities across 18 locations in India and launched 40,000 houses spread across Maharashtra. At XRBIA, the aim is not to build only houses, but cities that are environmentally friendly, technologically advanced, committed to education, dedicated to health, and that foster community spirit.

As commercial real estate growth remains sober in cities across India leading to high vacancy levels in Malls, space owners these days adopt new strategy to bring tenants to cover rental revenue loss.

As per the trend, retailers agree to pay less monthly rental but part a percentage of their monthly sales revenue to the shop owners. However, in the absence of a reliable real time sales data capture system, retailers show tweaked sales data to pay low rent to the owners thus causing huge loss to the later.

But with the availability of new POS software to capture real time sales data from shops, mall owners sitting at remote place don’t have to need to worry over rental loss. Not only this! They can use these data to find seasonal footfalls, popular merchandise, peak time sales, customers’ shopping pattern and behaviour, and host of other information.

As the concept is new and picking up in India, several POS software vendors offer reliable, transparent and sustainable Concessio naire Sales Data Capture solution to Indian retail sector. POS vendors also offer such services in international and domestic airports and shopping centres across India which can give real time sales to owners and cut revenue loss due to suppression of real sales data.

Airports and shopping malls require innovative technology to track sales from commercial tenants in real time and POS software such as Pathfinder’s POS PATROL offers exactly the same with additional benefits to both retailers and space owners in terms providing visibility of real time retail operations, customers’ preferences and analytical data on various parameters which can be used to improve sales.

The commercial structures are empowered to automate data capture processes through consistent and dependable system and the requisite data can be accessed online and interpreted for future usages. Sales Data Capture solution has revolutionized airports and shopping centres by offering Retail Intelligence services which has helped brands and space owners alike to improve operational efficiency, reduce cycle time, fast realization of revenue, high cash flow and improved non-aviation revenues.

POS Patrol, for example, has so far wired over 9500 retail outlets spread across 60 shopping centres and four international airports where every sale is accounted for consistent data flow and auditing.

Commenting on the new trend, Bhaskar Venkatraman, Founder and CEO of JusTransact.com, a leading e-commerce portal dealing with Point of Sale technology products and solution in India, said: Capturing real time sales data at Point Of Sales (POS) counters is the best possible way to track sales and avoid tenant-owner conflicts over revenue sharing data. The sales data capture offers Retail Intelligence services which is beneficial for both retailers and space owners.”

Benefits for retailers

Data captured can help airports and shopping malls to develop a good tenant mix, which brings more footfalls and revenue.

The sales and other information can be used to understand the Retail Dynamics of array of stores spread across vast area in just one stroke, which otherwise will be time consuming, difficult to manage, involves huge man power, and also error-prone in collecting sales data.

The data on retail operations can be utilized by stores to improve insights on sales revenues and performance.

Take for example a shopping mall having more than 100 retail outlets. All these shops are provided with POS solution for billing, staff and inventory control. At the same time, a hidden software tool is embedded with each POS system which sends every sales detail to the server of the mall owners. As these days, rents are paid on the basis of revenues generated per month, such sales data capture software restrains retailers from concealing the actual sales data to pay low rent to shop owners.

The same system also works for airports where Concessionaire Sales Data Capture system is used to wire all the retailers inside the airport premises to capture real-time sales data.