SEMI LUXURIOUS APARTMENT, LATEST PLOY OF CITY DEVELOPERS

Real estate developers have come up with a new gimmick to attract buyers. After budget-houses, builders have come out with 'semi-luxury' flats to cater to high-end buyers. The purpose is to provide various amenities offered by premium projects, but keep the houses affordable by making them smaller. Such houses cost 10 to 20 percent more than low-cost houses but 30 to 35 percent cheaper than luxury apartments. Buyers would be provided facilities like clubhouses, landscaped gardens, children's parks, swimming pools and modern security equipment. These apartments are located in prominent or easily accessible areas unlike affordable houses, which are in far-flung suburbs.

CEMENT INDUSTRY HIT BY REALTY SLOWDOWN

The slump in the realty sector, which accounts for about 65 per cent of the total cement consumption in India, has affected the cement sector. Since most realtors are facing a severe cash crisis, it is quite unlikely that too much real estate development will take place in the near future. IT/ITES segments account for about 75% of the office space across India and lower growth in employee recruitment for the sector shall translate into muted demand for cement. Cement exports have also declined from 10 million tonne (mt) in FY05 to 2.1 mt between April-December 2008 on account of additional capacity addition and the real estate slowdown in the Middle East region, which is the main export market for Indian cement producers.

SLUGGISH REALTY MARKET TO JUMPSTART AGAIN

Measures announced by the Central government to stimulate the economy by ensuring cheaper loans for homes and industry has raised hopes for people in the real estate and banking sectors. Banks like IDBI Home Finance, ICICI and SBI are anticipating that demand for home loans would increase by 20% in a couple of weeks as queries for home loans have already started pouring. People are now inquiring about home loans after finding that the Union government has decided to make loans cheaper, said a senior bank official. Bank officials also feel that steps being taken by the government to revive the economy would also end all the rumours that have affected the loan business more than the global slowdown