New Delhi: Average housing prices remained stable in the national capital region (NCR) during January-March period compared with the previous quarter on low demand, according to real estate portal 99acres.com. The report focuses on buying and rental price trends in residential real estate across 7 major cities of India. “Prices per square foot in Delhi-NCR region have remained unchanged in Q1-14 as compared to Q4-13. On the other hand, an annual comparison (Q1-14 with Q1-13) reflects no change in capital prices,” the portal said in a statement. Average rental for 3-bedroom flats also remained stable during the first quarter of 2014 calendar year against the year-ago period.
Commenting on the report, 99acres.com Business Head Vineet Singh said: “The real estate market across India is witnessing stability and Delhi-NCR region is no exception to it. The confluence of factors namely slowing GDP growth, higher costs of borrowing alongside the political uncertainty had taken its toll on the real estate landscape”.
Singh expected that developers would start launching their new projects with election process getting completed. “Pockets like Gurgaon and Noida which were witnessing scarcity of transactions will see deals happening in the coming six months,” he added.
In Delhi, Vasant Vihar witnessed an increase of 27 per cent in prices per square foot during January-March period over previous quarter, while Vasundhra Enclave and Mayur Vihar Phase-II saw 12 per cent rise in capital value of apartments. Prices increased by 8 per cent in Greater Kailash to Rs 18,950 per sq ft during the period under review.
On the other hand, localities like Kalkaji and Dwarka Sector 22 saw a decline of 16 per cent each while East of Kailash has seen a dip of 15 per cent.
“The cautious sentiment is pervasive across all territories. If you look at it in terms of region, the northern region primarily NCR has witnessed no movement in capital prices with quarter on quarter analysis (Q1-14 over Q4-13) showing no change in capital prices,” the portal said.
Capital values have improved moderately by 2 per cent in Mumbai, while Pune saw 4 per cent appreciation in Q1-14 over Q4-13.
In Southern region, Hyderabad saw a 3 per cent increase in capital prices while Bangalore has seen an increase of 4 per cent, while rates were stable in Chennai market. In Eastern region, rates were stable in Kolkata.
Federal Bank gets permission to open rep office in Dubai Mumbai, Jun 5 (PTI) Kochi-based Federal Bank today said it has received approvals from the Reserve Bank to open a representative office in Dubai, its second office in the Emirate.
“Federal Bank has been granted approval by the Reserve Bank to open a representative office in Dubai, UAE,” the old generation private sector lender said in a statement. The representative office will function as a source of information to NRIs interested in foreign investments in the country, apart from serving the diaspora.
The bank already has a representative office in Abu Dhabi, making the Dubai office its second overseas office. Federal Bank has a branch network of 1,174 and 1,371 ATMs spread across the country. Its balance-sheet stood at Rs 1.03 trillion as of end March 2014 and its net profit stood at Rs 839 crore for the full fiscal.
