photo by RedAgenda

In recent times builders have been offering residents of old buildings a handsome amount to get a refurbished flat with additional space.

Who will not grab such a tempting deal? The flat seller not only gets the cash, but also gets a monthly rent for his temporary accommodation. Once the new property is ready, he gets a refurbished, newly-constructed flat, in place of his old one.

Builders do so to redevelop the property and add additional floors to a particular building. They earn money by selling the additional flats. The money paid by the builder to the existing residents depends on whether he asks the resident to shift temporarily or permanently. [Read more]

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Photo by Neopixx

This guest-post is by Jeff Miller. He is an Economist by training, a tech geek by inclination, and an IT Manager and a Real Estate Investor by experience. Jeff also knows a number of people who are smarter and better connected than he is and he hopes to share what he has learnt with you in a series of articles that will complement his somewhat lengthy comment to my post Black Money Saves Our Financial Sector.

As I mentioned in US Housing Market Crisis caused by Mortgage Backed Securities, the recasting of the minimum payment loans caused a lot of what we are seeing. Looking back on those loans will give us a clue as to what is going to happen in the housing market.

The minimum payment loans started being mass marketed in 2004. At that time, many of those loans were set to recast after a set interval. There were two intervals, 3 year and 5 year. The 3 year recasts hit in 2007. The 5 year recasts will hit in 2009. So, we know what will be coming in 2009. I don’t think that 2009 will hit us as bad as 2007. For one thing, the institutions will already be geared up to handle the loans (loss mitigation departments, REO departments, etc.). Also, the public will be use to it and is less likely to panic (unless the new media succeeds in its “the sky is falling” reporting). [Read more]

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As per media reports, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had recently put five plots on auctions in the G-Block of the Bandra-Kurla Complex, comprising two commercial, two residential and a clubhouse. Out of the these five plots, the authority only managed to sell three plots for Rs1,322 crore. Of these three plots, the authority sold one commercial plot, spanning 24,000 square metre, to Jet Airways for Rs826 crore. This implies a selling price of approximately Rs32,000 per square feet (Rs314,467 per square metre) for the commercial plot. This selling price is at a 31.7% discount to the Wadhwa Builders’ bid of Rs46,806 per square feet (or Rs503,636 per square metre). It is also interesting to note that Jet Airways was the sole bidder for the commercial plot in the recent auction.

With the stock markets experiencing a bear phase it will be interesting to see if prices of real estate also undergo a correction and to what extent.. 5%, 10% … 25%?

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