REAL ESTATE

BBMP, Bengaluru's city government has never met its property tax targets in all these years. It wants to change that in 2021 - by revising the calculation, increasing the tax net, and verifying property data. In its yearly budget, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) fixed 2,800 crores as its property tax target for 2021-2022. This is lesser than the target of 3,500 cr. of last year, perhaps because BBMP was only able to meet 57% of that target (around 2000 cr.). The budget also proposed changing the tax calculation basis from the Unit Area Value System to Capital Value System.…

When we were moving to Mumbai, one of the major relocation tasks was finding a suitable house to live in. Suitable as in proximity to children’s school and husband’s office, size, furnishing, rent, amenities, and the like… things people look for while choosing a house. We knew a few people who were already living in the area and they indicated that the most efficient way of going about this would be to approach one (or more) of the many real estate agents who had set up shop for people like us (and for owners who had bought the houses but…

Owning a house is the dream of a lifetime for all of us. In a city, owning an independent home is impossible even for the upper-middle class. So, an apartment is the only choice available for 90% of urban citizens. The other less attractive alternative is living in the extreme outskirts of the city in an independent house and traveling for longer hours to reach office every day.  Despite the housing market crisis post-2012, apartment prices have not come down. The price of apartments has largely stagnated since 2012 and now there's an oversupply of inventories. As of 2017, there…

Translated by Sandhya Raju சொத்தில் முதலீடு செய்வது என்றுமே வீண் போகாது என்பது பலரின் எண்ண ஒட்டமாகவே உள்ளது. இந்த வருடம் ஜனவரி முதல் ஜூலை வரை, சென்னை மற்றும் அதன் புறநகரில் 57 வீட்டு தளவமைப்புகளுக்கு (4461 மனைகள்) சென்னை பெருநகர மேம்பாட்டு ஆணையம் (சி.எம்.டி.ஏ) அனுமதி அளித்துள்ளது. இதில் முதலீடு செய்ய பலர் ஆர்வம் காட்டியிருப்பர். முதல் முறை சொத்து வாங்குபவர்களுக்கு பல சந்தேகங்கள் இருக்கும். சொத்து வாங்கும் முன் ஆவணங்களை சரி பார்த்து முறையான அனுமதி உள்ளதா, அனைத்து சான்றுகளும் உண்மையானதா என சரி பார்த்தல் மிக அவசியம். சொத்து வாங்குவது குறித்த சந்தேகங்களை போக்க ஒரு வழிகாட்டி இதோ உங்களுக்காக: சொத்து வாங்கும் முன் எந்தந்த ஆவணங்களை சரி பார்க்க வேண்டும்? தாய் பத்திரம் மற்றும் விற்பனை பத்திரம் சொத்து உரிமையாளரின் விவரங்கள் அனைத்தும் தாய் பத்திரத்தில் இருக்கும். முதல் உரிமையாளார் முதல் தற்போதைய…

 “The concept of a second home, especially within a radius of 20 to 40 kms from the city has really picked up post-COVID,” said Monil Parikh, Real Estate Expert, Parikh Infracon Pvt Ltd and former chair of Young Indians--Confederation of India Industries (CII). “People realise that an isolated, self-sufficient farm house where they can go and relax and their families can stay safe is a good investment. The demand for such homes, from areas around Shilaj to Racharda, has increased by around 40 per cent.”  Of course, not everyone can afford this, but Ahmedabad has plenty of people with the resources…

Property prices in Mumbai—one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world—have remained constant since 2014. But home ownership has increased only marginally. Many aspire to buy homes in the city but they're forced to navigate the vast formal and informal rental market for housing. As high as 87% of respondents in a survey conducted by Noborker.com, a broker-free real estate portal, wanted to buy a house for end use, but prices, despite the stagnation, have remained forbidding. This is part two of the series where we try to explain why, despite the many unsold flats, prices don't…

Every year, property consultants produce reports that highlight the many unsold flats in Mumbai. The inventory is almost at 3 lakhs in 2020, according to a non-brokering real-estate research firm Liases Foras. The number prompts an inevitable discussion about the lakhs of vacant homes in plush, gated enclaves while at least half of Mumbai's 1.9 million people live in decrepit and squalid conditions. The average per sq ft price for homes in the city has risen from Rs 5,734 in 2009-10 to Rs 12,112 in 2019-20. The number of homes sold haven't caught up. Although the prices fell in 2020-21…

Properties are never a bad investment -- a popular belief shared by most. From January to July this year, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) gave approval for 57 housing layouts (4,461 plots) in Chennai and surrounding suburbs, and many citizens may be mulling over an investment in one of these. However, the process of buying a property can get messy if one is a first-time buyer. All the jargon generally thrown around does not make things any easier. It is very important to check and ensure that the property is completely legal, and that all paperwork is in order,…

Jyoti Aware, a municipal school teacher came to Mumbai in 2009 and since then has been staying in a rented house in Mumbai's northern suburb of Kandivali with her husband and two pre-teen children. Two years back, she purchased a house in Mira Road, a suburb outside Mumbai for Rs 30 lakh, since that was the only place where she could afford a house. However, she could not shift to the new house for that would increase her commute time four times, besides making it difficult for her children to continue in the same school. "The new house is far,…

Jyoti Aware, a municipal school teacher came to Mumbai in 2009 and since then has been staying in a rented house in Mumbai's northern suburb of Kandivali with her husband and two pre-teen children. Two years back, she purchased a house in Mira Road, a suburb outside Mumbai for Rs 30 lakh, since that was the only place where she could afford a house. However, she could not shift to the new house for that would increase her commute time four times, besides making it difficult for her children to continue in the same school. "The new house is far,…