Editor’s Note

A profuse thanks to all readers for the overwhelming response to the inaugural issue of Realty & More last month which generated momentous interest in the real estate sector. Really, we couldn’t have asked for more. On hindsight we were lucky with our timing. The last few weeks has seen a buzz in the realty sector like never before.

With all political stakeholders in the election-mode, the Congress-led UPA government seemed like it was in a tearing hurry in the Monsoon session of Parliament. For realty, it started with Housing Minister Dr Girija Vyas presenting the Real Estate Regulation & Development Bill in the Rajya Sabha, followed by Rajiv Awas Yojna [RAY] and continuation of the Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) scheme. These two key issues were followed by UPA government’s final poll ‘brahmashtra’ — the Land Acquisition Bill. The ease with which the Bill got passed in both the houses was surprising. Almost all the political parties were on the same side of the fence. Allaying industry fears on escalation of land cost, the architect of the Bill, DrJairam Ramesh, speaking exclusively to ‘Realty & More’ says, going ahead, land buys, not acquisition should be the norm.

Considering all the aspects of the Bill, Realty & More assistant editor, Madhusudan Sahoo takes a three-sixty-degree view on the Bill. We also examine in this issue, whether RAY will pay in the forthcoming polls.

Yet, in the midst of all these came RBI’s shocker to the industry – the country’s central bank warned the banks of home loan schemes like the 80:20 or the 75:25. We take a look on the fallout of this stricture. While former RBI chief D Subbarao, before remitting office warned banks on 80:20 like schemes, the new, globally acclaimed governor Raghuram Rajan gave another shocker – at a time when the industry was expecting a cut, surprisingly, Rajan hiked repo rate by 0.25%. The signs are getting clear for increased EMIs on our home loans.

Speaking to Realty & More, chairman of National Housing Bank (NHB), opened up on all these ongoing issues. In what could make senior citizens happy, he says NHB plans aggressive moves to promote reverse mortgage. Verma also reveals NHB’s future strategy. Far from these policy issues, Realty & More travels to an upcoming residential hub of the NCR, Rajnagar Extension. We take a panoramic view of the locality.

In addition to all these are our regular reads, the latest home loan rates, pan-India property rates, apart from a brokerage report on a listed company allied to real estate.