The Times of India (Times Property House Hunt), Pune - January, 2008

Pune’s property market is undergoing some revolutionary changes, and home buyers have never had it so good in terms of choice and upmarket residences, says Menka Shivdasani

If you are planning to buy a house in Pune, now is the time to do it. The economy is booming, the value of your home is bound to appreciate, rentals are on the rise, and best of all, there is a huge choice of properties available in locations that have become upmarket even if you hadn’t heard of them a decade ago.
              
The quality of projects is going up, international expertise is adding new dimensions, and these days, it is taken for granted that you will be buying not just a house, but a lifestyle. Landscaped gardens, jogging tracks, gymnasiums and swimming pools are, of course, now commonly accepted – and expected – amenities in Pune’s projects; the difference is, they are becoming increasingly sophisticated, in a bid to woo the city’s increasingly discerning home buyers.
               
The cosmetic appeal of this glitzy new Pune is not merely a matter of surface beauty; the fact is, there are fundamental and far-reaching changes taking place at every level of the real estate market.
                
Important demographic and economic shifts are taking place in the country. Growing income levels and changing attitudes towards credit have seen the home loan market grow. Urban families are getting smaller and fragmented, an that is creating demand for housing. The average age of home loan borrowers has dropped from 42 years in 2002 to 31 years in 2007, which means that more young people are buying properties and looking for youthful spaces.
                
The city has proved it is world-class in terms of technology and much more – indeed, Pune Municipal Corporation recently won a World Leadership Forum award, beating cities such as Los Angeles and Lagos in the civil and architecture category, for its AutoDCR software, that helps process information to provide building sanction plans in minutes instead of weeks.
                 
Pune is clearly in the international spotlight – and will increasingly be so, particularly as the Commonwealth Youth Games get underway in the city later in the year. BIG BUCKS ARE COMING IN
   
In the real estate Market, the global influence has never been stronger. It’s been less than three years since the Indian government liberalized its norms on foreign direct investment (FDI) for the real estate sector in March 2005, but already the impact has been stupendous. FDI has made its presence felt in Pune, infusing new life into projects, and developers are realizing the value of ensuring greater transparency to attract these big bucks.
              
Panchshil realty was the first developer to tie up with Indian Real Estate Opportunity Fund (IREO) to fund Rs 350 crore  residential and 450 crore commercial projects in the same year that the government declared its new policy; today, there is an increasing number of FDI Joint Ventures (JVs) being signed in Pune – Gera Developments, Kolte patil Developers limited and Runwal Housing are just a few of the names that come to mind.
                
 While FDI is honing the property market in new and vital ways, Pune developers have also recognized the value of the IPO route. As “Accelerating Transformation – Investments in Indian Real Estate”, a strategy paper released by Trammell Crow Meghraj Knowledge Center a couple of years ago pointed out: “While the influx of global money has been the crowning event in the real estate markets, almost simultaneously there has been a huge upsurge of domestic institutional and classic private equity investment activity in the country.”
                 
“The opening up of investment into real estate markets has meant that real estate project financing can come from various routes including – mezzanine financing, private equity investment, private placement with institutions/HNIs, funding through capital market route either on Indian bourses or internationally (Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange listings) and external commercial borrowings (ECB) in case of integrated townships,” the report pointed out at that time. 

MAKE WAYS FOR TOWNSHIPS
    The combination of mega bucks, new locations at a distance from the congested city and a government policy paving the way, has led to the rise of integrated townships. As 2008 progresses, we will see the township concept coming in; these planned developments will offer row houses, villas, bungalows, group housing and perhaps some commercial development, along with essential urban infrastructure and amenities. With quality lifestyles and ancillary facilities on offer, such townships have been designed keeping in mind specific segments of the population, and there is no doubt they will be popular with DINGS – Double Income Groups, where both husband and wife are earning.
           
The township that is currently being talked about is Amanora Park Town being developed by City Corporation Ltd near Hadapsar. Spread over 600 acres, it would have about 20,000 units for residential purposes, five million sq ft of commercial space which would include about a million sq.ft for IT parks, BPOs, a 200-bed hospital, three to four schools, college, a large sports complex, a 12 screen multiplex among other amenities. The entire township will be a digital city and Intel and CMC are working to make it a user-friendly township.
         
Other developers like Naiknavare and Associates are also looking at the township concept. Hemant Naiknavare talks of the ‘Bharat Pattern’, a mixed housing township having sector-wise allocation for various income levels. Separate clubhouses and recreation open spaces for each sector will cater to various segments of society. The first Bharat Pattern project is being developed on a plot of 20 acres at Hadapsar on the outskirts of Pune.

URBAN LAND CEILING REPEAL
     One of the big events that took place in 2007, after decades of dithering, was the repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling Act _ a long standing demand of the developer community constantly on the lookout for that precious commodity, land. The Act may have been brought in with good intentions, to ensure housing for the poor, but had been a miserable failure _ a hotbed of corruption, and entangled in bureaucratic muddles, and vested interests.

Developers say that though the ULC repeal may not have immediate results in terms of bringing more land to the market, its impact will be seen a couple of years down the line. “Price inflation might be controlled and middle, low income housing will boost up,” says Mr. D S Kulkarni of the DSK Group.