Surge in demand for housing and office space after general elections Expected

Real estate developers are looking forward to a revival in demand for housing and office space after the general elections. Experts, however, rule out an immediate easing of the slowdown and point out that demand can be revived only in the medium term after the economy picks up pace and reforms start to kick in. 

"There is a challenge today because of the slowdown and also (poor) sentiment. The latter will improve if a stable government comes in, which is already being indicated by the stock market and strengthening rupee," said JC Sharma, managing director of Bangalore-based Sobha Developers 

Sharma feels the new government, formed by whichever party or coalition will be bolder and could undertake stronger policy measures. "They will want to show that they mean business. They will bring in a fresh approach that will augur well for the economy," he said. 

Anuj Puri, country head of property advisory firm JLL India feels a stable government will take more and faster policy decisions. "When I say stable government, I refer to a limited number of coalition partners. The fundamentals may take a little longer (more than a year) to shape up, but the sentiment push following the formation of a stable government will start improving the real estate market," he said.

Source: The Times of India

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Senior Citizens - The New Niche Market for Real Estate Developers

Senior citizens are emerging as a new customer segment for property developers as well as other allied services providers for creating a proper assisted living environment for them, say realty experts.

As the number of the elderly population is expected to grow to 173 million by 2025, senior citizens are now being looked at as a potential real estate market, according to a report by property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle.

A good number of seniors today are independent, financially stable, well-traveled, socially connected, and as a result have well developed thoughts of how they want to spend time after retirement, it said.

There are around 30 senior living projects in cities like Kochi, Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Pune, Goa, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bhopal, Jaipur, Delhi, Nagpur and Punjab.

Some of the prominent players in this sector are Paranjpe Schemes, Ashiana Housing, Clover Builders, Max India Group which entered the segment through its Antara Senior Living project and Tata Housing.

Tata Housing recently announced Rs 1,200 crore investment for developing houses specially designed for senior citizens.

According to JLL, majority of these developments have 50-100 units in the form of residential complexes, with larger ones having over 400 units.

The units vary from 1-3 BHK units, villas and studio apartments with sizes range from 500-2,500 sq ft super built-up (saleable) area. Prices of these apartments vary from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

"Seniors in the country are typically taken care of by their children or family members. But now, with the younger generation travelling to different parts of the country and abroad a large segment of seniors today are staying alone," Disha Direct managing director and CEO Santosh Naik told PTI.

Insecurity, loneliness, restricted ability for physical work and daily chores and lack of quality health and geriatric care are some of the issues the aged often face, he said.

Source: Times of India

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