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Published in: Times Property
Date: 25th April, 2008
By: A staff reporter
City: Pune
Estate Agents Meet
A meeting of the Estate Agents' Association of Pune (EAAP), convened by President Mr. Ravi Varma, was held at the Residency Club on April 18, 2008. The Chief Guest was Prof Dr. P.S.N. Rao Chairman, NAR·India (National Association of Realtors India) which is headquartered at New Delhi and other dignitaries were Mr. Naresh Malkani, founder member, NAR-India, both the Vice Presidents of Promoters and Builders Association of Pune (PBAP). Also present were Mr Satish Magar, Director, Magarpatta City and Mr. Rohit Gera, Director, Gera Developments.
Addressing the meeting attended by about 150 EAAPians, Mr. Varma announced that EAAP had received the prestigious ISO 9001 certification, one more first amongst any realtors' association in India.
Mr. Satish Magar said that there was enough business to be done; what with such a robust economy and ever-growing demands, all odds are in favour of Pune. He also pointed out that more educational institutes and universities were coming up, making available a talent pool that was the raw material of any service or engineering, industry. Other aspects he referred to included the growth of Pune's real estate market with the expansion of the engineering and IT sector, in addition to the new entrants making Pune their destination of choice.
Mr. Rohit Gera stressed the need for better synergy between builders and realtors since client service was a very important factor in selling real estate. Besides, he said, realtors are tuned to any market condition and with their vast knowledge can suggest the best of products to the consumers. Hence increased interaction among realtors and builders was very necessary.
Prof Dr. P.S.N Rao gave a presentation on NAR·lndia. NAR-India is an association of associations and is affiliated to the NAR USA under bilateral agreement for providing the necessary know-how. NAR-India already has with it about seven member associations, such as Pune Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Baroda, with a membership strength of about 700 members, growing rapidly. The role of NAR-India, amongst other things, is to provide to its members, ongoing education, arranging seminars, get-togethers for networking, promoting referral programmes, and liasoning with government bodies.
Mr. Naresh Malkani shared his experience with NAR in the USA. He said it had been his dream to get NAR USA to India and was delighted to see fellow realtors being exposed to the best education and systems to serve clients.
Mr. Malkani also informed that Mr. Ravi Varma, who at the last board meeting was declared President elect of NAR·India for 2009-10, will take over from the current President Mr. Farook Mahmood during the national convention to be held in Pune around March 2009.
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Published in: Hindustan Times
Date: 10th March, 2008
By: Sweta Ramanujan-Dixit
City: Mumbai
Real Estate: Success in square feet.
"I was the guy parents warned you about"
It is tough to take a suit and tie-clad Janak Malkani seriously when he says these words. At 26, Mumbai-born Malkani works as manager (occupier services, tenant representation) for a renowned global property consultant. He draws a six-figure salary, works in a swank office, coordinates with international clients and is rewarded with generous incentives for every deal he closes.
But the Colaba resident chooses to highlight something most people would want buried and forgotten. He failed in Class 12.
"I was down in the dumps. But I didn't let it get to me," said Malkani, his Blackberry buzzing with calls and messages. "I learnt to deal with failure. So today if a deal does not come through, I don't brood over it."
Malkani was born into a family of highly educated people. His father was an engineer and his grand father a doctor. The pressure to "keep up" led him to take up science after his Class 10 exams. But he did not succeed in clearing.
After appearing for his class 12 exams through the National Open School, he moved to commerce. He tried his hand at various jobs while he was studying to be a graduate - from an event organiser to a staff member at a pastry shop.
Somewhere in between he was introduced to the world of real estate through a grandaunt who was in the business for years. "I spent time with her and my uncle who was a realtor in the United States and understood the business," he said. "It is during my interactions with my grandaunt that I heard the word 'broker' for the first time."
He joined his uncle, Naresh Malkani's property listing portal indiaproperties.com. "My responsibility was to tap agencies for property classifieds that could be listed on the site. I would also network with brokers and builders to convince them to use our services," said Malkani.
His first successful deal was the sale of an apartment at Worli's Madhuli building for Rs 72 lakh in 2002. "Soon, I realised that I loved dealing in the residential part of real estate," said Malkani, sipping coffee out of a spotless white cup. "The joy you experience when you get someone a house is something very few jobs can offer."
Today, Malkani has moved on from being a "broker" to being a "consultant". But he still remembers how he cried when he had to step out of his cocooned south Mumbai life for his first outdoor assignment in Kolkata. And his first ever apartment inspection. "It was a flat in Colaba. I was so excited that I bought new clothes for that day," he recollected.
What happened next was an eye-opener for Malkani, who had then just stepped into his 20s. "When I introduced myself to the domestic help who opened the door, he called out to the owner of the flat saying, 'Memsaab, dalal aaya hai'," said Malkani. "That day I decided I would work towards improving this 'dalal' image."
Malkani decided the real estate industry was his for good. After he graduated in 2004, he worked with various international property
consultants (IPCs, as they are called). As Mumbai grew into a megapolis and demand for real estate accelerated Malkani's profile got better. The retail boom brought along more opportunities for people like him. It meant more work, more travel and more money. It took four years for his salary to move from Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,000. Today, seven years after he joined the industry, it runs into six figures.
The real estate industry has moved from being an unorganised business run out of tiny sheds to an organised industry with many developers, builders and IPCs playing in the market. "Many parents want their children to be doctors, engineers or bankers. But not once did my parents make me feel that I was in an industry that wasn't organised," said Malkani.
He joined the business when it was in its early stages and today has a job anybody would envy. He made sacrifices but they were worth it. "I would be working when my friends went out for movies. But I bought my own car at 20," said Malkani who owns a Maruti Swift but prefers traveling by train to save time.
He has travelled the country in state transport buses. "With livestock," he added.
His job requires him to adapt to diverse circumstances. "I could be sipping cutting chai at the local tapri (as a small tea vendor's shop is known in Mumbai) one moment and walking into a five-star hotel the next. I am comfortable with both," he said.
Malkani, who now concentrates on corporate real estate, says he cannot see himself doing anything else. "If you are a go-getter, enthusiastic, with fire in your belly, this is the job for you," he said. "Come with an open mind and an intention to learn something not just to make money immediately."
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Published by: IndiaProperties.com under Blog
Date: 11 th March, 2008
Pune Business Parks - The New growth drivers
Times – they are certainly changing. Not so long ago, in India a commercial address – whatever the city you were
talking about – meant some run down building which had only one thing going for it, it was located in the Central
Business District of the city. As a result, it did not matter whether the building had paint peeling off, wires
hanging, walls that dripped during monsoons and floors that had tiles coming off – so long as it was in the
central business district, the landlord had companies – including trans-national companies – queuing up to lease
space.
No longer this. Today even start – ups would scorn at a place like this, even if it came cheap not that it would!
Increasingly, companies, be they worth billions of dollars or just starting out, are demanding office spaces that
make a statement. Enter the concept of Business Parks!
According to real estate experts, the very name encapsulates the definition “Business parks are not just places
where you come to work. They are also places where you can relax, de-stress, commune with nature and generally
carry out your business in more healthier, more uplifting environment,” says an industry analyst.
By this definition a typical Business Park would not only have tastefully done offices incorporating the very
latest in international trends as far as interiors are concerned, but also state-of-the-art connectivity,
excellent conferencing facilities, options for recreation like a gym and an amphitheatre, a nice garden / park
that stressed executives can just stroll around, a food court with an option of cuisine and international quality
facilities management.
“Given today’s ultra-competitive world, a typical executive spends any where from 10-16 hours working. This means
that he or she is spending far more time at work than at home. It is therefore incumbent upon the employers to
ensure that these executives have comfortable working environment which also takes cares of issues like
recreation and destressing”, says Rajan Datta, President Human Resources of Lupin Limited.
It is this belief among HR professionals- who increasingly have a greater say as to where their company offices
are located – that has led to massive growth in specialized business parks around the country. Not surprisingly
have a greater say as to where their company offices are located — that has led to massive growth in specialized
business parks around the country. Not surprisingly, the IT industry which was probably the first industry to
realize the value of human capital that has led in this demand.
The establishment of business parks is one area of real estate development that is actually being led by the HR
Community. They have realized that, all other things being equal, what swings the decision between remaining or
good talent is the working environment that is being offered to the individual. Offer a good environment and you
can retain talent. Offer the best work environment and you could probably even afford to pay slightly less,” says
an industry analyst.
Not surprising then that the IT industry has led the growth of business parks. Not only have IT giants like
Infosys and Wipro established some of the best and biggest campuses for their staff, even smaller companies are
ensuring that when they move into a commercial address, in terms facilities, it is compatible with the best in
the world.
The developers are, of course, quite happy to oblige the IT industry. Apart from the obvious demand, there is an
attendant benefit as experts point out. Ashok Kumar MD, Creasa Partners, an international real estate consulting
firm says, “IT Parks have double FSI, which means your saleable area doubles, that is why developers have come
for ward to do IT Parks.”
According to R Vasudevan, MD Vascon Engineers, the company’s 1,75,000 sq.ft. Almonate project at Kharadi will be
an IT building with all the latest amenities. Nucleus Kharadi, coming by its side, would also offer good
commercial offices.
This has led to the mushrooming of IT Parks, especially in cities like Pune which have a significant presence in
the IT industry. On the forefront of this are developers like Panchshil who are developing a whopping seven
million sq.ft. of space for IT/ ITES industries as well as other companies in four distinct projects.
Other major developments in Pune include – a 500,000 sq.ft. development in Kalyani nagar by Vascon, as well as
other projects by major developers like Magarpatta, Kumar Builders and Amit Enterprises.
While the demand for Business Parks is growing, real estate industry analysts believe that government’s short –
sighted policy is responsible for their slower growth as compared to IT parks.” IT parks enjoy all the
advantages, while Business Parks don’t. it, therefore, makes sense for a developer to get his/ her project
categorized as an IT park. Such a distinction is artificial and should be done away with,” an analyst says.
This idea has a lot of takers. Prashanta Biswal, Head of Biotecch Park, Business, TCG Real Estate feels that
there is an increasing need for well defined, well maintained business parks. “A business park is a crying need
given that our cities are not planned well and infrastructure is lagging. As business parks bring in more
amenities, it will help differentiate one from another and make it more attractive”, he says. In fact in the
United States, you have facilities like health clubs, washing machines, food courts, even shoe shine available at
such places, he points out.
Developers and experts are of the views that since business parks create a conducive atmosphere for work, they
need to be extended at least some benefits that are now available to IT parks. “Even medium-sized businesses
today have foreign tie ups and they want to project their image correctly,” says Shashank Paranjape, MD Paranjape
schemes who are planning a business park. “Having an office in an old building does not help. Besides, there are
a lot of ancillary industries who want independent offices of 25,000 to 30,000 sq.ft. and business parks can
help,” he says.
Milan Kothary, MD International Property Consultants, GVA Intercapitalis says that while the rent in a typical
business park might be higher, the leaseholder gets value for money. He points out that in countries like the US,
some business park promoters go to the extent of even picking a stake in a start up in lieu of rent. This gives
the developer the scope to participate in the future scope of the company. “Such an arrangement is possible only
if there is proper policy framework existing,” he says.
Zaheer Bandukwalla, Director, Urban Link Consulting Ltd., a consultancy firm says, Business parks are of
different types, namely: IT parks (Government & Private), Hardware Parks, Biotech Parks, Animation Parks,
Commercial Parks and now the famous SEZ Parks etc. “ In Pune, we have over ten such parks already completed and
operational and over 25 more either under construction or under planning stage.
Most of the townships coming up in Pune have either an IT Park or an SEZ planned within the township. The total
square footage of IT/ Biotech / Hardware parks under construction and planning in Pune is over 30 millions sq.
ft., which would be ready in the next 2-5 years,” he says.
Bandukwalla points out, that the state government can play a vital role by providing financial and technical
support to the city. “The state government needs to tie up with the developers and corporates for infrastructure
development like roads, bridges, etc. besides promoting the city to large trans-national and domestic companies
planning to expand or set up their base in India. The state government also needs to smoothen the development
process, rules and guidelines so that the city can grow and develop faster and in a more defined and planned
way,” he says.
Pune has several advantages when it comes to setting up state-of-the-art business parks- chief being the
availability of space. What is needed is a government policy that takes a more omnibus view of economic
development and not restricting it only to a few sectors like IT or Biotech, analysts point out.
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Posted: livemint.com - The Wall Street Journal.
Date: 17 th January, 2008
By: Rachna Monga
Property Portals: House hunting
With the housing market booming, more and more people looking to buy or rent homes are turning to real estate portals to choose their dream home.
It’s a crowded space. People looking to buy or rent accommodation are increasingly turning to the Internet to get information on homes. For 24-year-old Ananya Saha, a journalist with Impact Magazine, relocating from New Delhi to Mumbai wasn’t as stressful as it could have been. Before shifting, Saha spent more than two weeks browsing real estate websites. She gleaned information about brokers and went through one of them to rent an apartment in a Mumbai suburb.
Myrtle Maxwell, a coaching institute principal from Kollam, Kerala, wanted to sell her 775sq. ft Mumbai apartment but didn’t have any knowledge about the current real estate market. Her brother, Donald D'Cruz, who had put up his Mumbai apartment for rent and found a tenant by placing an advertisement on a real estate website, asked Maxwell to take the same route. Maxwell placed an advertisement on www.99.acres.com, owned by Info Edge (India) Ltd. Within a week, she was inundated with calls from prospective buyers and brokers and hopes to finalize a sale soon.
Real estate portals with national reach, such as 99acres.com, Magicbricks.com and Indiaproperty.com, which were mostly launched in the last two years, have come as a blessing for people such as Saha and Maxwell. According to San Francisco-based Alexa.com, which monitors Internet use, Indiaproperty, 99acres, Magicbricks and Indiaproperties are among the top players in the field in terms of daily reach.
New players are entering the business, with Mumbai-based People Interactive (I) Pvt. Ltd, which runs the matrimonial portal, Shaadi.com, planning to launch a real estate portal, 2bhk.com, soon.
Naresh Malkani, a Pune-based real estate professional and chairman of the India Institute of Real Estate (IIRE), a non-profit organization that seeks to promote the real estate business, set up Indiaproperties in 1999. Arguably the first real estate portal to be launched in India, Indiaproperties claims to be for individual buyers and sellers. “Around 82% of listings on our website are from individuals and the rest from builders and brokers,” says Malkani.
Real estate classified ads in newspapers cannot provide the scope of information that housing portals can, such as a virtual walk-through of the living space. “Portals are slowly but surely proving to be a substitute for classified ads,” says Varun Arya, a Gurgaon-based property consultant who placed an advertisement about his services on Magicbricks.com, a portal launched by Times Business Solutions. “It helps prospective buyers and sellers reduce the time spent on doing preliminary research.” He adds that after he inserted the advertisement, he has had a 25% increase in the number of queries he gets every day.
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Published in: Express Estates
Date: 5th January, 2008
By: Mamta Mule
City: Pune
Indians find it easier to phone a broker than to send emails.
THE CEO of IndiaProperties.com, founder and chairman of India Institute of Real Estate, winner of several awards. Naresh Malkani is a multifaceted and versatile person, with a zest to change the face of the real estate industry in India. He spoke with Mamta Mule about how the online real estate business has developed in India. Excerpts:
Tell us something about yourself and your business?
I come from a real estate brokerage family in Pune, so I am into this business since my young age and helped build my family business. I later joined Shannon and Luchs Realty in Washington DC after completing my studies in the US. Then I wanted to start an online real estates portal in India and relocated to India and set up IndiaProperties.com.
What was the main objective behind setting up IndiaProperties.com?
The portal was started in 1999 as India's first real estate listing portal. The country lacked such a portal and I felt it would enable a person sitting in any corner of the country to find a property anywhere in the country, which was then a next to impossible job. While buying real estate, the toughest part is finding the right property that fits your budget. IndiaProperties was started to make this job easy. It caters to real estate - related needs of buyers, renters, property owners, real estate agents, and builders; and brings all these people throughout the country on a common platform.
Did you get the expected response from the people when it was started?
My company suffered a lot till the year 2002. Internet connectivity was a big problem at that time. People could access Internet only at their offices and hence the number of visitors would go down after the evening. Only after 2002 did we started getting the expected response.
How does your portal generate revenue?
The revenue comes from three sources. Media revenue comes from organisations like housing loan vendors, who advertise at our website. This is the foremost source of our revenue. We also charge the property owners, builders, and brokers who list their properties on our Web portal. All the information is available free of cost for the consumers to browse through.
How does one list a property on your website? How do you check for genuineness of the property being listed?
Builders and brokers have to undergo a registration process. We have an Activation Verification Department that checks the genuineness of every registration. It follows a three-step authentication and verification policy of the individuals who register. Once the personal details are received from a person, we send him an email. Upon, acknowledgement of the mail, we allow the person to list the property. Next, the department contacts the individual telephonically. Finally this department scans the listing of property to ensure that information on the property is in the prescribed format. All information about the property is thoroughly checked before being included in the list.
What is the USP of IndiaPropertles.com?
The site promises to be a cost effective way to market real estate through the Web. Besides our deep knowledge and understanding of the Indian real estate space, we keep on adding value-added services like the Research and Advisory Department. The most important part is our offline strategy. A real estate listing portal can never work only upon online information and help. Offline services are very important to the overall business strategy. Finding a property online is just one part, which has to be followed up by the offline job of personally visiting the site, checking the plans, and inspecting the documents. Most of the information regarding our business (like listing services, enquiries and leads, information on housing finance and project marketing) can be obtained by the customers online. The offline tasks, that require real estate professionals, can also be executed through our network.
Offline services are becoming more important simply because most Indians find it easy to phone a broker rather than get on the Internet and send emails. We have Call Assist centres to communicate with our offline real estate practitioners. Our company has its offices in 18 cities across India.
With several real estate listing websites in the market today, how do you manage to be on the top?
IndiaProperties acts as a facilitator between buyers and sellers. I think we have always given importance to the online as well as the offline medium, and the coordination between them, which is the where we score over the others.
How much interest do you witness from foreign investors? How many foreigners have you registered?
There has been an increasing demand from foreigners for properties in India. Currently, around 30 percent of our registered user base is made up of foreigners.
Are you planning to include the foreign properties in the listing?
No, we just want to concentrate on Indian properties and look after the needs of Indian consumers.
What led you to set up the India Institute Real Estate (IIRE)?
IIRE is more of a passion for me. This institute was started to educate people in the field of real estates. Today the real estate professionals have a large scope in almost every field-right from banks to entertainment centres like cinema halls and parks-and India is short of real estate professionals. This organisation offers real estate education and the related skills, through its training centres across India. IIRE offers a certificate course in real estate and has tied up with National Association of Realtors, a leading real estate association in the USA, to offer the certificate programs in India.
What are your future plans?
We are planning to start a Property Management Cell. This cell will take care of the problems faced by the people during and after buying a property. Some people are unable to take care of their properties and sometimes problems arise after renting the properties. This cell will ensure that all such problems of the clients can get solved.
For more details, log on to www.IndiaProperties.com
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Published in: Deccan Herald
Date: 2nd November , 2007
By: By Shonali Misra
City: Pune
Clicking on the perfect property.
Finding any property for rent or worsesale, is a virtual time-consuming and risky nightmare for any one. A fairly recent, fast and reliable alternative is going through a credible online property listing service like Indiaproperties.com, finds out Shonali Misra.
Property buyers and sellers have come a long way from being mute and blind spectators to the whims and fancies of the real estate sharks in recent years. E- commerce space has grown tremendously as ammunition for the discerning clientele in the last two years.
IndiaProperties.com is a leading comprehensive property listing service in the country. Properties of 27 categories like flats and apartments are listed.
Property owners list their properties for sale or rent; developers and builders list to advertise their projects to a global audience and real estate consultants and brokers list properties to expand their marketplace. Currently property for sale and rent in more than 215 cities across India are listed in the site. Pricing, as a policy, is pegged at highly affordable levels with Rs 500 for a 3-month listing.
Based in Pune with offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, at the core of its initiatives is the Research and Advisory Division that’s highly sensitive to the needs of the evolving consumer. It takes care of queries, FAQs, drafts of legal documents or resolving doubts. One can refer to the Knowledge Bank for home loan interest rates. There are calculators for EMI, amortisation and area conversion. Also included is a list of real estate glossary terms and a book on real estate (Property Matters Made Easy), which is a guide to buying or selling a property.
A seasoned entry
Born into a real estate brokerage family in Pune, India, Naresh Malkani was introduced to the real estate business at a young age when he helped build his family real estate business into one of the most successful brokerage firms in the region. He then moved his sights to the US where, in 1983, armed with a MBA, and a real estate licence, he joined Shannon and Luchs Realty, one of the leading real estate organisations in Washington DC.
Having won several awards and recognition, Naresh decided to set up his own office. In 1988, he set up a franchise firm of RE/MAX, the largest real estate brokerage organisation in the US. Four years later he set up a second office and by 1994 his US operations had over 86 associates and a turnover of over US$166 million.
Naresh has been a member of the panel of the Moderate Housing and the Ethics and Professional Standards Committee, both important and prestigious committees in the real estate business. In 1997, he relocated to India to set up Indiaproperties.com (India) Private Limited. The secret of his eventual but steady success—“It’s not about just selling on the internet—it’s how to make it appealing (and credible!) for the customers.”
Any good business being a two-way street, the company does its homework before taking on clients too. Indiaproperties has an Activation Verification department that confirms if the client is genuine through a stringent procedure.
Consumer notes
Says Mr Malkani, “The consumer has become savvy and knowledgeable. He cannot be conned anymore for he knows his options. This has forced real estate to scale up and meet up with the demand, for the consumer gives only one chance. Business is all about data and its credibility. If you don’t have qualified data, there is no business. The future is all about accountability and credibility.”
He adds that Indiaproperties quintessentially has a one-on-one relationship with the developers. There is qualified inventory in place to reach out to qualified credible developers.
Too much too soon?
“When Indiaproperties started in 1999, it was too early for its time. With the real estate boom, quality of construction has definitely evolved. The overall consumer industry is now on the way to becoming one of the biggest organised sectors,” feels the never-say-die entrepreneur. “Initially the dotcom industry was a concept, now it is a product,” says Mr Malkani.
With the passage of time, online property listing is today accepted as the preferred mainline media channel with no stepmotherly treatment.
Brokerage industry
Where ethics of the still-evolving Indian brokerage industry are concerned, he feels, “ Either keep up with the industry or step aside.” News travels like wildfire—specially bad news, he adds, so if a company or individual does bad business, it/he is practically out of the race.
As regards the need for some sort of regulation at the small-time brokerage levels in Bangalore and other cities, he says certain initiatives have been taken at the National level, to the US, to put up a Code of Ethics. For “a healthy qualified real estate brokerage industry is the ultimate engine of the developers. With their feet on the streets, the brokers know the prices like the back of their hands.”
Though land prices have come down in Noida and Gurgaon, Bangalore sees good amount of supply, feels Mr Malkani. Though it appears saturated with no one looking at the pentup demand, some level of correction may happen as long as developers maintain quality.
As of now, online real estate transactions are rapidly gaining momentum in the country with online demand for lease rentals for different spaces growing at the following rates: office space – 40%, residential properties —30% and retail properties — 20%. Industry experts believe that by the end of 2009, the contribution of online sales will account for 50-60% of commercial properties, 50% of residential, and 40% of retail properties.
For more details, log on to www.IndiaproPerties.com
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Published in: The Hindu Business Line
Date: 14th October, 2007
By: By S. Shanker
City: Mumbai
Realty players jump on service apartment bandwagon
See rise in business, tourist travelers building growth.
Segment Cart:
- Industry size estimated at about 20% of the total hotel industry biz.
- Ansal API building 5 types of units in Greater Noida, Sushant Nagan City townships.
- Parsvnath building apartments at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, Chandigarh.
With a stupendous rise in business and tourist travel, the serviced apartment segment appears to be carving out a niche for itself within the hospitality sector.
Sensing the opportunity, realty majors such as Ansal API and Parsvnath Developers, besides a host of new aspirants, are in the fray to meet the growing demand.
New players such as Mennen Anation & Hospitality Ltd, which has a land bank of about 100 acres spread across Maharashtra, Goa and Kamataka, plans to set up its service apartments by 2010.
Service apartments are fully furnished and self-catering units open to business travellers, tourists or corporates, offering the conveniences of a home equipped with housekeeping, room-service, 24 hour receptionists, security and travel desk.
Often, such apartments are required for two to six months at a time and in general cost less than a four or five star hotel in the same region.
STANDARDS UP
Parsvnath Developers Ltd is building fully furnished service apartments at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, and Chandigarh. "With high profile executives on the move, and who are increasingly showing their inclination to have high standards of living with a personal touch, there is a growing demand for worthy temporary accommodation. Industries involving high level of travel like BPO and IT show up a huge demand," says Dr B.P. Dhaka of Parsvnath Developers.
Mr Naresh Malkani, CEO, Indiaproperties.com, estimates the size of the serviced apartment industry to be about 20 per cent of the total hotel industry business, where demand is for 1,30,000 rooms and availability 1,03,000 as of 2007. Service apartments function as mini sized hotels and with rising costs in the hospitality industry, present a convenient and cost-effective option. "There is a huge market for the serviced units and they are going to give hotels a run for their money," he says.
POTENTIAL
Mr Kunal Banerji, President, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Ansal API, says, "There is an excellent potential in India and abroad as there is a lot of movement in corporate circles, businessmen and the like. Ansal is building five types of service apartments in Greater Noida and Sushant Nagar City townships.
Mr Shashank Paranjape, Managing Director, Paranjape Schemes, says Pune is turning to be an IT hub and thus his main prospects are the IT professionals who cannot stay in hotels which are very expensive and yet demand the best service. The new trend in Pune is 'walk-to-work' with professionals predominantly in favour of it.
MUMBAI HIGH
A Cushman and Wakefield report in April said the hospitality-Cum-residential options in Mumbai are mostly provided by luxury hotel chains such as Taj Wellingdon Mews
at Colaba, Grand Hyatt Residences at Kalina and Marriott Lakeside Chalet at Powai.
With top-end facilities, they were possibly more comfortable and economical compared to staying in a five-star hotel room for a long period, but were 300-400 per cent more expensive than similar sized residential apartments in prime locations.
Rents for a two-bedroom apartment (l,100-1,500sq ft) range between Rs 4,50,000 to Rs 7,00,000 per month, while a semi-furnished regular two bedroom apartment varies between Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 2,50,000 a month, in a similar location. However, despite their high cost, they were rapidly gaining popularity.
Bangalore, it said, had about 15 such professionally managed apartments in high interest residential localities and most are not class-comparables to 5-star hotels. Occupancy levels are said to be close to 90 per cent.
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Published in: The Mint
Date: 20th June, 2007
By: By John Samuel Raja D. & K. Raghu
City: Chennai/Bangalore
Portals are taking over from real estate agents.
Properties renting for Rs. 5,000-20,000 a month comprise a major portion of ads on these websites.
A real estate "consultant" with more than two decades of experience, K. Premsundar is a worried man. His business, a letting agency for low-end properties, has seen a big drop in the last two years. He says his clients have left him, choosing to place advertisements directly on the many real estate Internet portals and in neighbourhood dailies. Such advertising costs a fraction of the fee that agents charge.
Indiaproperties.com, an online real estate portal, allows owners to post their properties for Rs. 500 per listing, whereas if the deal is done through a broker, it would mean a month's rent as commission, from either the owner or the tenant. Others sites such as magicbricks.com and Sulekha.com also offer similar services. The portals allow for direct interaction between the property's owner and a prospective tenant or buyer.
"Online portals have impacted agents" business especially in the lower range. Their traditional clients have moved away," said J. Sohail Sarooshi, vice-president of the Chennai Real Estate Agents Association. The association, which has 60 members, was formed as an attempt to bring standardized and fair conduct norms into the industry, which is largely unregulated. For a sale, agents get a 3-4% commission on the value of the sale, and for a rental deal, they get 15 - 30 days' rent as commission.
"Real estate agents have so far thrived on information." Said Naresh Malkani, chief executive officer of indiaproperties.com . "Now, the Internet provides the information."
However, he said unlike booking travel tickets online, the "Internet is not going to replace agents, as the transaction has to be done physically". Agents now need to focus on services such as valuation, documentation, registration and field visits, he said.
"We definitely have seen the advanced Internet user take advantage of the free online classifieds platform as an additional option. By interacting directly with other individuals, they have able to reduce lead time and costs", said Satya Prabhakar, chief executive officer of Sulekha.com, a portal that also lists properties. "It still may be a good idea to supplement this with the professional advice of local real estate agents".
According to an estimate by indiapropertie.com, in cities covered by online portals, 40% of the total market, in terms of property inventory, is listed on Internet sites. In the last six months alone, Malkani said, there has been a 120% increase in listings. And, property for a monthly rent of between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 20,000, the traditional bread and butter for letting agents, constitutes one third of the total listings on his website.
On Sulekha.com, Prabhakar said 80% of rentals are at Rs. 20,000 per month or below. Both individuals and real estate agents access the site.
Though the Internet is posing a challenge to agents, Sarooshi and Malkani agreed that both could co-exist. Agents, who pay an annual fee of Rs. 10,000 to enroll as members, can list 100 properties every year, and provide one fourth of all listings on indiaproperties.com.
Local real estate agents, especially smaller ones, Prabhakar said, are using online classifieds as a "platform to reach out to individuals who are looking for rental solutions in the niche areas that they operate in. The lower entry barriers and flexible advertising options have helped those who have been quick to adopt this."
However, Premsundar, in his late fifties, has never used the computer nor browsed the Internet. He says he is too old to start now.
email: john.s@livemint.com
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