Chennai Properties Today

27/10/2014

22/10/2014

‘Difficult to give flawless property papers’
Comments Off | March 5, 2014
CHENNAI: As if land grab bids and ‘double documents’ are not menace enough for property owners/buyers, the state registration department shocked the Madras high court on Monday, saying it is difficult to issue encumbrance certificates without any fault.
An encumbrance certificate (EC) is the basic document which reveals the current status of an immovable property. It is supposed to contain correct ownership details of a piece of property and inform the applicant whether it is encumbered or mortgaged in favour of a bank or any individual.
However, responding to an anticipatory bail petition of a landowner who ended up purchasing another person’s property as the EC did not reflect latest ownership, the inspector-general of registration said: “The ECs are prepared by making search based on survey numbers, boundaries, extent, period, etc. It is because of mismatch in present survey number and old survey number and boundaries, encumbrance certificates, at times, do not reflect all the encumbrances relating to a property . This has engaged the department in debate for quite some time.”
Justice S Nagamuthu, however, said he could not agree with the submission. Noting that there had been a phenomenal increase in the number of cases arising out of improper ECs issued by the registration department , the judge said: “In this modern computer world, I do not believe it would be impossible to evolve a comprehensive mechanism by which the ECs could be issued flawlessly, reflecting all encumbrances.”
Giving up
The TN registration dept told the court that an accurate EC was difficult because survey numbers are often mismatched But it said it would soon come up with a better system The admission came in a case where a landowner bought another person’s property due to a faulty EC. The HC said it was hard to believe that in a computerized world, the dept couldn’t come up with a faultless system.

22/10/2014

Chennai in list of top 12 realty investment destinations
Comments Off | May 4, 2014
CHENNAI: Strong English speaking skills and a wide mix of industries that promotes cross pollination of work culture has made Chennai one of the top 12 cities in the world for real estate investments. This is the first global recognition the city has received; it is also the lone Indian city on the list.
The Candy GPS Report, published on Friday, identifies 12 cities around the globe with the potential to show strong residential property price growth in the next few years. The report — produced by Candy & Candy, Savills World Research and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management — said, “Prices in these rising cities are generally much lower than in the world cities, which make them more accessible and attractive to yield seeking real estate investors.” The list ranges from well established cities such as Melbourne, Australia, to centres in developing economies such as Jakarta and Chennai, that have a high number of ultra-high-net-worth residents, it said.
“While all of us acknowledge Chennai as an English speaking work zone, it is also a traditional banking domain speciality location driving inbound BFSI (banking financial services and insurance) businesses, which is a key differentiator to Bangalore and Hyderabad. Apart from these, Chennai has tremendous strengths in high quality healthcare and education systems, a key ingredient for future growth,” S Ramaswamy, chief consultant RECS Group, a real estate consultancy said.
Yolande Barnes, Director, Savills World Research, who conducted the analysis said: “As prime real estate in many premier cities has become more fully valued, emboldened investors are now spreading their wings and looking for high yielding secondary properties in those cities and (properties) in second-tier cities in countries with strengthening economies.”
For example, a two bedroom apartment in prime selling areas is priced at $1.60 lakh or Rs 96 lakh and in secondary ones they sell at $40,000 or nearly Rs 24 lakh.”This more adventurous approach is likely to not only provide higher income returns but also an opportunity for significant capital growth. Real estate values will grow as new cities all over the globe rise on fortune’s wheel. Property rents and values will rise in line with new and growing economic strength,” the report said.
Real estate developers in Chennai offer around 20% internal rate of return or IRR for equity investments in residential projects. While, commercial properties yield about 8-10% rental returns. Residential rental returns are 3 to 5% in the city.
“Chennai is typically an end user market which has a great mix of businesses. Its top tier medical facilities add zing to the city as an investment destination. More importantly, it is not seen as a luxury market like Mumbai, which means there exists tremendous scope for improvement of city skyline,” S Neelakantan, senior partner, CNGSN, a firm which has actively structured real estate investments said.
Source: TOI

22/10/2014

Chennai:
In Chenani, leasing transaction volumes continued to remain below average. Total absorption was 0.56 mn sq. ft. during the quarter. The majority of leases signed were for smaller, sub-25,000 sq ft office spaces. Micro-markets like Old Mahabali Puram Road and Guindy remained the standout performers this quarter. Having quality office space on offer combined with affordability has enabled these micro-markets to be preferred destinations for occupiers. A few projects / phases of projects were completed this quarter, including Ramaniyam ISHA by RamaniyamGroup at Thoraipakkam; KPR Towers at Nungambakkam; and VikramVikra at Vadapalani. All of these projects together add 0.09 million sq ft of Grade A office space to the city’s total inventory.
New project launches continued to remain limited. A phase of about 0.25 million sq ft in DLF IT SEZ-Block 2, located at Manapakkam, was launched by DLF Ltd this quarter and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. The lack of major tenant moves and expansions by large occupiers has seen rents continue to remain steady in almost all micro-markets.
VIEW: The outlook for the leasing market across Chennai over the next 9 months is more positive than the previous two quarters. Improving sentiment and prospects for the global economy as well as rising business and consumer confidence should all combine to boost the sentiment of IT/ ITeS tenants who make up the bulk of tenants in Chennai.