NEW DELHI, Dec 2 (Reuters) – If India needed any more proof that it was in the midst of a huge housing boom, it got in this week’s GDP data, heightening expectations that the industry will continue to power the economy for years to come.
The construction sector grew 13.3% in July-September from a year earlier, up from 7.9% in the previous quarter and its best performance in five quarters, the data released on Thursday showed.
That helped India expand at a forecast-beating 7.6%, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies. In contrast, Western economies have been squeezed by high interest rates and energy prices, while China has been hobbled by a debt crisis in its property sector.
The long-awaited boom – which has created millions of jobs – comes after about six years of debt and pandemic-induced downturn before the construction sector began improving last year and hitting its stride this year. It has been driven by rising incomes for many Indians, a severe housing shortage in big cities and strong population growth.
The world’s most populous nation had an urban housing shortage of around 19 million units last year – and that is expected to double by 2030, according to government estimates.
“The robust growth in construction has significantly contributed to the economic growth – and is likely to play the same role in next couple of quarters,” said Sunil Sinha, an economist at India Ratings and Research, an arm of rating agency Fitch.
Builders are bullish long-term with many saying the boom could last two to three years and some even more optimistic.
“The housing market could continue to perform well for another three to four years,” Sanjeev Jain, managing director at Parsvnath Developers, a leading real estate company, noting that India is in the initial stages of a housing growth cycle.
Home sales in India’s seven largest cities, including Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore, rocketed 36% in the July-September quarter from a year earlier to more than 112,000 units, despite an 8%-18% increase in prices, according to real estate consultancy Anarock.
There was also a 24% increase in new residential projects being launched, data from the consultancy showed.
“The home sales are driven by first-time buyers, and nearly 80% of the houses have been bought by end users,” said Prashant Thakur, head of research at Anarock, adding that there was also strong demand from existing home owners to move to more spacious apartments.
In Mumbai, for example, demand has been strong despite an increase in interest rates of about two percentage points, according to Jayesh Rathod, director of Mumbai-based Guardian Real Estate Advisory.
His company has sold over 5,500 flats in Mumbai and on its outskirts in Thane so far this year, a jump of more than 50% compared to the same period a year ago, he said.
Underpinning demand has been salary hikes for workers in big cities. Average hikes for sectors such as e-commerce, healthcare, retail and logistics have remained above 10% for a second straight year, according to EY estimates.
Home prices in India are expected to rise faster than consumer inflation next year, according to a Reuters poll, with property analysts saying growth will be driven by higher earners snapping up newly built luxury residences in cities.
Housing demand has also picked up significantly in smaller cities in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, according to construction companies who say demand has been spurred by increases in incomes and the migration of workers from rural areas.
The government is also trying to boost the availability of affordable housing by providing subsidies, which is encouraging construction in India’s smaller towns and cities.
Shares in property companies have naturally surged.
The Nifty realty index (.NIFTYREAL) is up some 67% for the year to date compared with a 12% gain for the blue-chip Nifty 50 index.
Notable gainers include Prestige Estates Projects (PREG.NS) which has jumped some 120%, DLF (DLF.NS) which has climbed 67% and Godrej Properties (GODR.NS) which is up 52%.
($1 = 83.3143 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Manoj Kumar, Additional reporting by Nigam Prusty; Editing by Ira Dugal and Edwina Gibbs
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Conrad Wilkshire with intern Campbell Tylee.
Kem Ormond meets a young man spending his summer building connections and confidence as a rural real estate intern.
By being proactive and putting himself out there, Campbell Tylee, a third-year Lincoln University student has been able to secure a summer internship with Property Brokers Rural in Manawatū.
This is while he is on summer break from studying for his Bachelor of Land and Property Management, with a double major in rural valuation with a primary production specialisation. He comes across as a young man who has set himself some goals and knows that hard work will let him achieve them.
Each year, part of his studies includes practical hands-on work and this year his internship will include analysing, number crunching and office procedures, not quite the same as hands-on among the animals and land, but necessary to pass his degree.
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Once Tylee graduates, it will be another three years before he graduates as a registered valuer which is where he is heading.
Tylee said being a valuer was a great career path for a young person and once graduating it could also open doors into agri banking and farm consultancy.
Taking on a family farm in today’s climate is not always what children from farming families wish to do, and family farm succession can be difficult.
Luckily, there are various options now available that can be just as fulfilling and still let you be involved in the rural sector.
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With three weeks under his belt as an intern, Tylee has mastered the phone system, knows the correct attire to wear and already has started mingling with the locals both in Pahiatua and Manawatū.
So, make sure you look out for him and introduce yourself to him.
Over the past five years, interns have been employed as part of the Property Brokers rural team.
Why an intern you may ask?
Property Brokers’ general manager rural NZ, Conrad Wilkshire said they were “a breath of fresh air” around the office.
“The interns, whether employed over summer, one day a week, or on a regular basis, have so much to contribute, from their youth and fresh approach to the way they like to explore and research,” he said.
“Most of them who have finished their internship have ended up going on to really good jobs to which they are well suited.
“The time spent as an intern has given them the time to build up connections and also build confidence.”
Wilkshire has been employing interns since 1994, through all aspects of his ag career and suggested any business should seriously consider employing interns.
What they have to offer can be far more productive than you will ever expect.
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The internship is a paid position and while they all bring their own contribution, eventually they outgrow the position, with others waiting in the wings to jump at the opportunity.
With Tylee finishing his internship in February and heading back to Lincoln for more study, there will be a full-time 12-month position waiting to be filled by another graduate from Lincoln or Massey … so, if this sounds like you, I would look into it now!
The most expensive suburbs were Langs Beach, Russell (pictured) and Mangawhai Heads.
Northland house prices are finally starting to catch up to the rest of the country, according to a new property report released this week.
The OneRoof Property Report highlighted a range of national property statistics, including the most expensive and cheapest suburbs, the best and worst-performing suburbs and overall latest suburb property values.
Despite a slow start, the report showed Northland was starting to show an upswing in property price growth, similar to what the rest of the country had been experiencing in the last quarter.
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said Northland had always had a tendency to lag behind other regions, but the market was on a trajectory heading towards positive growth.
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“Northland has traditionally always been slower, but the pace of decline has now slowed considerably,” Vaughan said.
“In the last couple of weeks, Northland has started to feel the benefit the rest of the market has had due to a lack of stock, which is creating upward pressure on prices.
“It won’t be rampant growth like we saw during the boom, though, and that’s mainly because interest rates are still high, so will provide a natural curb in huge growth in values and prices.”
As of Monday morning, Northland’s property prices had risen to 1 per cent- a marked increase from -0.5 per cent on August 20.
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According to the report, the top settled sales for 2023 (up until end of October 2023) were in the Far North, Whangārei and Kaipara, with the top house selling for $4.1 million in Russell in January.
The next most expensive was a property in Hihi/Mangōnui in March, which sold for $3.87m, followed by a property at One Tree Point which sold for $3.7m and a Mangawhai Heads property that went for $3.65m in January.
In terms of the most expensive suburbs, these were Langs Beach, Russell and Mangawhai Heads, with the average property values coming in at $2,167,000, $1,478,000 and $1,332,000 respectively.
On the other end of the spectrum, Northland’s cheapest suburbs were Kaikohe, with an average property value of $398,000, followed by Kaitāia at $440,000 and Kawakawa at $500,000.
Despite Mangawhai Heads and Russell achieving high property sales in 2023, they also came in as the region’s weakest-performing suburbs, dropping 7.20 per cent and 6 per cent respectively in the past three months.
Kawakawa also took a knock, sinking 4.20 per cent in house prices between August and October.
Three Whangārei suburbs proved to have the strongest house price growth in the last quarter, with a growth of 2.3 per cent in Morningside and Riverside and 2 per cent in Raumanga.
Valocity Global senior research analyst Wayne Shum confirmed the housing market in most places in New Zealand had now hit (or were close to) the bottom, including Northland.
He said while the region as a whole had dropped around $100,000 from its peak of $925,000 in April 2022, it was still out-performing its pre-Covid average price of $614,000 by more than $100,000 ($827,000).
“In Northland it really depends where you are, because places like Whangārei have their own market which is doing well,” Shum said.
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“The Far North is also performing well, but places like Kaipara are still lagging behind.
“The National Government has promised the new highway which will go further north, so the Auckland demand for a bach in Mangawhai or those working in the North Shore commuting once a week to the office will be strong.”
In terms of first-home buyers, Shum said most first-home buyers were already in the market.
He said house price increases plus changes with the incoming Government could make things potentially more difficult.
“The National Government has said they will likely bring back some of their former investment policies, so once investors are back, the market will start to pick up,” Shum said.
“The key issues for Northland is that flooding is definitely still a concern for people, so while there is a sense of a fear of missing out, first-home buyers and buyers in general are being a bit more careful and doing more homework than before.”
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Myjanne Jensen is a part-time reporter for the Northern Advocate. She was previously the editor of the Northland Age, joining NZME in 2021 after moving to the region from Australia.
Naresh Goyal, Chairman of Jet Airways speaks during a news conference in Mumbai, India, November 29, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
BENGALURU, Nov 1 (Reuters) – India’s financial crime agency has seized properties worth 5.38 billion rupees (nearly $65 million) as part of its probe into money laundering allegations against the now-defunct Jet Airways (JET.NS) and founder Naresh Goyal, the agency said on Wednesday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it has seized 17 residential and commercial properties in London, Dubai and India that were registered in the names of various companies and people, including Goyal, his wife and son.
Goyal has been in judicial custody since September when the ED arrested him in relation to the money laundering that was filed by state lender Canara Bank (CNBK.NS) in May.
Jet Airways had siphoned off loans from a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India (SBI.NS) and Punjab National Bank (PNBK.NS), the ED said.
The agency doubled down on its claim that under Goyal’s leadership, the airline had siphoned off funds under the garb of professional and consultancy fees to overseas entities and towards the expenses of Goyal and his family members.
“Naresh Goyal implemented a massive financial fraud,” it said on Wednesday.
Goyal’s lawyer told Reuters, “We are going through the charge sheet and are currently evaluating our options.”
Goyal founded Jet Airways in 1992 and led it to become India’s second-largest carrier in India by market share. It shut down operations in April 2019 after running out of cash.
($1 = 83.2615 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
By RNZ
Westpac says inflation is likely to remain above the Reserve Bank’s 1 to 3 per cent target range for all of 2024, with the potential for another increase in the official cash rate (OCR) in the first half of next year.
“While we are seeing lower imported goods and food inflation, domestic price pressures are still running red-hot,” the bank’s chief economist Kelly Eckhold said. “We continue to forecast a protracted period of sub-trend economic growth.”
Eckhold said household budgets would continue to be squeezed as rising interest rates increasingly bite.
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“A significant portion of past interest rate increases are still to pass through to borrowers.”
Eckhold said the new Government was likely to tighten the fiscal purse strings to try to bring the Budget back to balance, which would help reduce inflation pressures.
“Nonetheless, Budget deficits will likely persist in coming years and the Government will have to make some tough choices, given that population growth will increase demand for core public services and infrastructure.”
Eckhold said strong migration would support economic growth.
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“Population growth is running at multi-decade highs and is adding to demand as well as the productive capacity of the economy,” he said, adding the growth would affect the housing market.
“Higher long-term interest rates will restrain future house prices to some extent, but the impact of the surge in population will be significant. On balance, we expect house prices will rise by 8 percent over 2024.”
Eckhold said China was expected to continue to be a challenge for exporters, along with weak commodity prices.
“As a result, Westpac has revised down the speed at which commodity prices will rebound in coming years.”
He said the bank expected a further increase in the Reserve Bank’s OCR in the first half of next year, and only gradual rate reductions from early 2025.
“Our sense is that further monetary policy action will still be required to ensure that inflation will fall in a timely manner.”
However, Eckhold said there were considerable risks in the market, which created some uncertainty.
“There are a number of pressures in both directions, which might mean that either interest rates have to go up even a bit further than we currently forecast or indeed, that they could even come down maybe a little bit earlier than we’re forecasting.
“So we think it’s going to be quite important for ourselves and the Reserve Bank to be watching the data pretty carefully to see how things pan out.”
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A worker installs power lines inside a luxury residential project by Indian property developer DLF in Gurugram, India, February 28, 2023. REUTERS/Amit Dave/ File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
BENGALURU, Oct 30 (Reuters) – India’s DLF (DLF.NS) on Monday reported a 30.6% jump in second-quarter profit, helped by higher home sales and new property launches.
India’s real estate demand has been strong ahead of the festive season which starts towards the end of the September-quarter, on growing consumer confidence despite high inflation and borrowing costs.
DLF’s consolidated net profit came in at 6.23 billion rupees ($74.9 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with 4.77 billion rupees a year ago.
The company’s share of profit in associates and joint ventures such as DLF Cyber City Developers, DLF Midtown and DLF SBPL Developers rose 24.5%, and accounted for 43% of the total profit.
Revenue from operations rose 3.5%, while expenses rose marginally on higher costs of plots and constructed properties.
“Expect a surge in both new launches and housing sales this festive season, despite domestic and global headwinds in the first nine months of 2023,” said Anuj Puri, chairman of property consulting firm Anarock Group.
“Our new product launches planned for the second half of the fiscal remain on track,” DLF said in a statement, adding that it continued to see a sustained demand momentum.
Founded in 1946, DLF develops and sells residential properties and leases commercial and retail properties in 24 Indian cities.
It is the second among top Indian listed property developers to post results, with rivals Godrej Properties (GODR.NS), Sobha (SOBH.NS) expected to report next month.
Oberoi Realty (OEBO.NS) on Friday reported a 43.4% jump in September-quarter net profit, while its revenue surged 76.8% on the back of strong demand.
($1 = 83.2150 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Hundreds more children are expected in two Rotorua suburbs as social and affordable housing build programmes ramp up but the Ministry of Education has no plans to build more schools.
The population booms expected
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MUMBAI, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Indian financial services firm Avendus will start offering investment banking services from Singapore to cash in on an expected technology sector dealmaking boom in the Southeast Asia region.
Majority owned by U.S. private equity giant KKR, Avendus is best known in India for advising large startups such as SoftBank (9434.T)-backed food delivery firm Swiggy and eyewear retailer Lenskart on their fund raising.
Karan Sharma, a managing director for Avendus in India said the operations from Singapore will focus on advising technology sector funding rounds of $40-50 million in Southeast Asia.
Sharma said Avendus India Managing Director Varun Gupta will lead the Southeast Asia operations and relocate to Singapore early next year.
“The kind of massive growth we saw in India the last 8-9 years is what we expect in Southeast Asia now, which has also grown big. The demographics and infrastructure challenges are similar,” said Sharma, who co-heads Avendus’ Digital & Technology Investment Banking division in India.
Over the last decade, India has been a sought-after market for technology investors such as Tiger Global and SoftBank, as many companies raised billions of dollars and made their market debuts in line with the increasing adoption of smartphones, digital payments and online shopping.
But India’s startups have also faced criticism for unrealistic and high valuations, and many have battled a funding crunch and fired employees during the recent technology market rout.
Southeast Asia is also on the radar of investors seeking emerging market exposure as the region is witnessing strong economic growth, an increasing population and consolidation in some sectors. Companies such as ride-hailers Grab (GRAB.O) and GoTo (GOTO.TA) have already clocked multibillion dollar valuations.
Dealmaking in Southeast Asia should help lift Asian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the second half of the year, bankers told Reuters in June. The region was the source of the largest Asia Pacific M&A transaction this year, Refinitiv data showed.
Expanding to Southeast Asia will also help Avendus leverage its relationships with investors such as Accel and Lightspeed which have expanded beyond India, an industry source familiar with its plans said.
Avendus employs about 150 bankers in India, and Venture Intelligence data shows it was the top advisor in India for private equity deals in 2022, advising on 37 deals worth $7 billion. It competes with larger rivals such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
Reporting by M. Sriram, additional reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore, editing by Aditya Kalra and Sharon Singleton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart is selling up some prized real estate. Photo / Getty Images
The Business Herald’s new column offers insight into what those on the inside of the property industry are talking about, what worries them, what they’re celebrating, the rises, the falls and who’s doing what.
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Heel, you property managers
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All on the move – Fisher & Paykel x 2
Sir Bob’s sense of humour
The Devils Henchmen MC sold their clubhouse land to the local council during an armed takeover by the rival Rebels gang.
The site of a former high-profile South Island bikie gang pad, which was sold to the local council by old bikers after a rival gang muscled in, has failed to sell.
The Devils Henchmen Motorcycle Club, whose origins date back 50 years, were based at a fortified clubhouse on the outskirts of Timaru.
They occupied a large piece of land on Meadows Rd, Washdyke, complete with a two-storey pad housing a fully equipped bar.
But in May the old Devils Henchmen gang members faced an invasion when a group of rival Rebels MC gang members came from Christchurch, armed with shotguns, and took over the property.
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They kicked out the Henchmen, stole some motorcycles, and soon draped a Rebels flag from the top-floor balcony, sparking police and community fears of escalated gang tensions in the South Canterbury town.
But over the next few days, as the Herald exclusively reported, the Henchmen brokered a deal to sell the property to Timaru District Council for more than $1 million, which resulted in the red-faced Rebels being booted out and the buildings being demolished by bulldozers. All but one of the Rebels in Christchurch would patch over to the Comancheros a month later.
On May 16, the local authority confirmed it had bought the 8766sq m Meadows Rd property.
With a September 2020 capital value of $1.26 million, according to qv.co.nz, the council wouldn’t disclose the final figure, but the Herald understands it was closer to $1.8m.
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Within hours of the sale going through, trespass notices for the land were issued and then the diggers rumbled straight in.
In July, the property at 90 Meadows Rd surfaced for sale, along with a neighbouring site.
The properties are “high-profile and sought-after sites with excellent development potential”, the council said, and are zoned Industrial H, which allows for a wide range of uses, including heavy and light industrial, storage, and distribution.
“They offer access to water, power and fibre internet, have excellent access to State Highway 1, and are just a short distance from the Timaru CBD and the port,” the council said at the time.
But local mayor Nigel Bowen, who has been outspoken on gangs in the region, said the land has not yet been sold.
“We are looking to put the smaller holdings on the market through an agent before the end of the year and plan on holding the larger parcel for the short term,” he said.
The properties were being sold by private tender.
– Kurt Bayer is NZME South Island Head of News based in Christchurch. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2011.