The real estate sector is on the cusp of a new phase, largely brought upon all of us by the Covid-19 pandemic. With a number of physical and operational hurdles to encounter, this new era will be largely defined by the adoption of digitisation.

To provide a more fulfilling and comprehensive buying experience, developers have now started investing in virtual experiences to ensure complete transparency of their projects.

From virtual tours, sample walks as well as mostly using digitised mediums for transactions, this will be a major characterisation point in their constant efforts to bridge the trust gap in the eco-system.

Covid-19 has had an adverse impact on the housing sector, diminishing demand and liquidity avenues for developers. According to an internal survey conducted by CREDAI MCHI, there has been an 85 percent decline in housing sales and 98 percent decline in new launches in MMR region, during the April to June quarter of financial year 20-21.

However, with the onset of the festive season, gradual recovery and developers’ continuous efforts to sustain a conducive environment for all stakeholders, the sector is bound to witness a new era of real estate development, providing a sound foundation for reviving economic growth.

Indian real estate has been on a rollercoaster ride for the last three decades, pivoting its trajectory one way or the other. The 90s witnessed the beginning of an era which enabled homebuyers and investors to recognise housing as a viable asset class.

rimarily led by comprehensive market research and industry insights, developers have gradually redefined the architectural and liveability quotients by providing a 360-degree experience to buyers. From initially providing nominal additional facilities including a parking space and a park, developers have upped their game and started providing a range of services including gymnasiums, recreational halls, jogging tracks, among other things.

On the flip side, given the focus of the government to fulfil every Indian’s dream to own a home, developers have also actively taken up affordable housing projects on a large scale across the country.

Transparency and accountability. While the introduction of RERA played a huge role in laying the foundations in making homebuyers the key stakeholder of the eco-system, developers have largely embraced this change by building on the added trust factor and using transparency as a key USP to their products.

No one knows the date when it all began but it is undeniable that today Bandra is the most vibrant part of Mumbai. The coastal suburb, home to icons like Sachin Tendulkar, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, was always a high-profile micro-market. But it was always something of a poor man’s South Mumbai where property rates were 30-35 percent lower as recent as a decade or so ago. 

Its history, however, is richer than that of most of Mumbai. Around 500 years back, a pirate entered the Bandra creek and burnt down the fishing town he found, establishing the rule of the Portuguese.

When Bombay was given to England in dowry when King Charles married Catherine of Portugal in 1661, Bandra was not part of the treaty and stayed with the Portuguese. It eventually became part of the British Empire, was granted the status of a municipality in 1876 and merged into the Bombay Municipal Corporation after India’s independence.

I stayed at Pali Hill in Bandra more than two decades ago before shifting to Altamount Road. I was very young then and I couldn’t quite form an opinion. The only thing I know is I didn’t miss Bandra at all—major action was outside, in South Mumbai.

The magnificent Bandra-Worli Sea Link came up, providing smooth connectivity between South Mumbai and the suburbs. It was also an easy gateway to the then-emerging commercial hub of Lower Parel in central Mumbai. That edge, however, would pale in comparison to the miracle that was the new commercial business district of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). It ended the monopoly the locations in South Mumbai had over the premium commercial space market. It changed Mumbai like never before.

It gradually killed the vibrancy of South Mumbai and placed Bandra at the heart of India’s financial capital. It thrived as a bastion for creative artists, corporate professionals, entrepreneurs, etc. It built on its reputation as a buzzing hub with cafés, bakeries, gyms and bars. (Fact: Mumbai’s first McDonald’s opened in Bandra) 

Expats and well-earning singles chose it as their place of residence. Unlike many other areas of Mumbai, Bandra has largely managed to retain its greenery and open spaces, thanks to the active role played by the residents. 

While autorickshaws were generally indisciplined (South Mumbai residents should thank their fortune that three-wheelers are not permitted in their zone), the delivery staff of Swiggy and Zomato have exploited weak traffic enforcement, making Bandra—along with many other suburbs—appear as a lawless small-town. Every monsoon is a nightmare in terms of flooding.  

Quality options among buildings are few. Given the easy demand from tenants, landlords pay scant attention to maintenance. There has been minimal new construction and most of the buildings are old and creaky. Local developers have made their niche in that market. 

One such prominent developer is Satguru—a financially conservative player constructing edgy buildings. Sharan Babani of Satguru says, “Bandra today is neither dominated by the old rich or the new rich. Instead, it is more the cool rich. But the underlying reason in a housing purchase remains the same: good building at a defined timeline.”

The affordable housing brand from Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd, Mahindra Happinest, has launched its second project in Palghar, Maharashtra’s newest district and an emerging residential destination. The company is investing around Rs 100 crore into the project.

More than a 100 Happinest Palghar homes have been sold online within just a week of launch, the company claimed.

The project is located in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and offers value homes with an Energy Park replete with over 30 carefully selected outdoor activities catering to all age groups.

Phase 1 of Happinest Palghar spans 3.94 acres and includes four ground plus four buildings with around 450 studio and 1BHK apartments. The size of the units ranges from 157.48 sq. ft. to 390.51 sq. ft.

“For the first time in Indian real estate, the entire sales process is being concluded entirely online via a customised, mobile-first technology platform, without any face-to-face meetings­­ or physical visits. The success of Happinest Palghar is a testament to growing end user demand for high-quality homes from trusted developers in planned communities that foster social and cultural interactions amidst healthy, natural surroundings,” said Arvind Subramanian, MD and CEO, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.

Happinest Palghar is IGBC Green Homes certified. All construction materials for the project will be sourced within a 250 km radius, thus reducing its carbon footprint by around 60 percent.

The project is registered with the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority. It also meets the qualifying criteria under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, through which eligible customers can avail a loan interest subsidy.

The sales office of Wave City in Ghaziabad was sealed by the authorities for a few hours on September 17 on account of non-payment of dues by the builder. It was later reopened after the builder made a partial payment of Rs 5 crore of the Rs 28 crore dues that were outstanding, officials told Moneycontrol.

The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) sealed the sales office due to non-payment of city development charges, the officials said.

According to officials, the developer has agreed to pay the remaining amount within the next few months.

A Wave City spokesperson has confirmed that the company owes a sum of Rs 28 crore to GDA of which Rs 5 crore was paid on September 17.

“We have been regularly paying the development charges to the authority in installments. We have made payments during the pandemic too – Rs 50 lakh was paid in April, Rs 1.5 crore in August and we will continue paying the remaining amount over the months. The outstanding amount due is now Rs 23 crore,” he claimed.

The realty firm is constructing a township on NH24 which is a mix of independent floors, mid-rise apartments, villas, affordable housing units, shops and office spaces. Wave City has features like GPS-enabled intra-city transport facility, central command centre, city-level surveillance, street light automation, connected community through web and mobile app among others.

Integrated real estate platform, Square Yards, has launched an app-based rentals and property management platform Azuro aimed at renting properties faster through online tenant screening and rent collection.

The App, available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play, apart from enabling property owners to manage showings and getting their properties rented faster through Azuro’s tenant scouting teams; also enables tenant screening and background verification, gets rent agreements signed digitally, enables online collection of rent and even gets repair and maintenance services executed through a click of a button.

For the tenants, it enables swift rental payments including payment through credit cards and downloads rent receipts. Maintenance issues are taken care of by Azuro’s property management teams.

"Rentals and property management is a multi-billion opportunity that is currently under-served in India. Most landlords find it cumbersome to attract quality tenants, follow up for rent payments and most important to serve frequent demands of tenants for maintenance of the property. Tenants tell us they want the entire rental process to happen online, from property agreements, rent payments and maintenance requests,” said Tanuj Shori, founder and CEO of Square Yards.

Square Yards acquired Mumbai-based start-up Azuro earlier this year and completed its full stack service spectrum with rentals and property management services. Currently present in five major metro cities in India, it manages over 1500 properties with an annual rent of 6.5 mn dollars.

In the last three months, it has signed exclusive mandates with over 25 developers like DLF, Godrej, M3M, Emaar, L&T Realty, Mahindra Lifespaces among others to execute and manage close to over 5000 apartments for rentals and property management services.

Last week a prospective homebuyer asked me to evaluate a “luxury” project that he was thinking of purchasing an apartment in. It was located in an up-market area of Mumbai and had a bouquet of amenities like a swimming pool, gym, space for indoor games, etc. “If you are looking for luxury then this project is not for you,” I told him.

I had a simple reason for my view—the apartment had a size of less than 650 square feet. Now I don’t care if a developer builds a helipad in the project, in that meagre a size, it is embarrassing to even claim that it is ‘luxury’ of an apartment.

In fairness, this is hardly an isolated case. Apartment sizes have been shrinking across segments over the years. Neither is this a phenomenon confined to India. Between 2008 and 2018, the average size of apartments in the US shrunk by 5 percent. The bizarre market of Hong Kong has slashed home sizes even further. Bangkok had to impose minimum size requirements.

In the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), there has been a gradual lowering of apartment sizes. Data from Liases Foras shows that apartment sizes have shrunk by 22 percent since 2011.

While the average size of an apartment earlier was 919 square feet (carpet, always carpet), it is now 717 square feet. In some locations the cut has been sharper— apartment sizes in Navi Mumbai have shrunk by a third. On the other hand, a market like Thane has seen home sizes drop only marginally.

The biggest apartments are in South Mumbai where there is a flurry of luxury projects — it often means large apartments — though even there, the size of apartments has been slashed by more than 30 percent. The smallest apartments are in the Panvel market that is seeing rising developer activity on the back of planned infrastructure growth like the international airport, trans-harbour link, etc.

Unsurprisingly, the result has been weak sales. RERA data at an MMR basis has its limitations but it is easy to infer that products that have squeezed 1BHK and 2BHKs mindlessly have been rejected by consumers. Developers lowered the ticket price but most of them lowered the value proposition for a homebuyer even further.

Credible builders, to an extent, have got away with it, so far, as consumers ride on the shoulders of developers who provide superior assurance of at least completing the project (pathetic benchmark but true). But it will not sustain, as residents realise a certain size combined with an efficient layout is necessary for livability.

Delhi Metro’s Red, Green, and Violet Lines resumed services on September 10 with the same schedule of four hours of passenger service each in the morning and evening under Stage-I plan of resumption of services.

Seven lines of the Delhi Metro network are now open.

DMRC will be running 35 trains on the Red Line (Rithala-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda), performing around 413 train trips during morning and evening hours from September 10, officials said.

Similarly, 40 trains with approximately 344 trips will be put into service on the Violet Line (Kashmere Gate-Raja Nahar Singh). On the Green Line (Kirtinagar/Inderlok- Brig. Hoshiar Singh), 20 trains with 268 train trips will be put into service.

The trips will be subsequently increased as the operational timing of services get extended on September 11 and September 12 with the opening of other lines in a graded manner, Dayal said.

On September 11, the remaining lines will also be reopened under stage-2. These would include the Magenta Line from Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden and Grey Line from Dwarka to Najafgarh.

Under stage 3, the Airport Express Line from New Delhi to Dwarka Sec-21 is expected to be reopened on September 12, making

The entire Metro network will be made operational for passenger services throughout the day from September 12, with all social distancing norms/guidelines to be followed by the passengers during the travel due to ongoing pandemic.

The home ministry had issued guidelines allowing metro services in the country to resume operations in a graded manner, following which DMRC had said it would be done in three stages from September 7-12.

DMRC had appealed to passengers to travel light and "talk less inside trains to prevent the possibility of short-range aerosol transmission".

Due to the pandemic and strict social distancing norms, the carrying capacity of a train has been drastically reduced to around 20 percent of the pre-lockdown period.

Passengers have been advised to avoid unnecessary travel as far as possible.

Besides Delhi, Metro networks also restarted operations on September 7 in a graded manner in Lucknow, Kochi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, but remained closed in Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolkata and Jaipur.

The Kolkata Metro, the country's first rapid transit system, is yet to resume service.

The Maharashtra government had on September 1 decided against the immediate resumption of Metro and local train services.

No decision has been taken on restarting metro services in Jaipur.

The loan restructuring parameters approved by the apex bank based on the recommendations of the KV Kamath committee would go a long way in benefiting the liquidity-strapped real estate sector that is reeling under the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The KV Kamath committee has come out with guidelines for 26 sectors including the real estate sector and this long-awaited measure is expected to benefit the real estate sector, real estate experts said.

Most of the businesses including real estate continue to face headwinds due to weak market conditions. In this scenario, it was timely for RBI to allow one-time restructuring of corporate and personal loans (including home loans) in the last MPC meeting held in August 2020, they said.

For the realty sector, the restructuring will mostly be at a project level but the move will help the sector maintain liquidity, debt serviceability and in turn, increase buyers confidence, they said.

“For the timely implementation of this scheme, K V Kamath committee has come out with guidelines for 26 sectors including real estate. Being a long-awaited measure, real estate is expected to be major beneficiary of this,” said Ramesh Nair, CEO & County Head (India), JLL.

Under this mechanism, RBI’s special resolution window would enable lenders to provide one-time restructuring of loans based on the prescribed framework pertaining to Covid-19 impacted assets.

Moreover, banks may restructure loans of more than Rs 10 lakh crore largely attributed to 5-6 critical sectors, including aviation, commercial real estate and hospitality, that have been severely hit by the Covid-19 outbreak, according to bankers.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed greater leeway to the real estate sector with the highest debt to EBITDA ratio permissible among the 26 sectors it has identified.

While the ratio has been kept at less than or equal to nine for residential real estate, it has been pegged at less than or equal to 12 for commercial real estate. With this move, the real estate sector will get more headroom in terms of financial performance and the projections thereof.

Japan’s largest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has picked up 30,000 sqft space in Adani Realty’s commercial building at BKC on lease for 10 years for around Rs 90 crore, sources said.

The bank, which began operations in Mumbai in 1953, is relocating its Indian headquarters to BKC from Nariman Point.

Established in 1919 in Japan, the bank moved to Hoechst House in 2004 in Mumbai’s central financial hub.

"The bank has committed to a 10-year lease with Adani Realty for 30,000 sqft space in its commercial building in BKC – Adani Inspire. For 10 years, the rental is close to Rs 90 crore,” a source said.

The bank’s decision to come to BKC, is in line with the trend of many banks choosing this commercial business district as a destination of choice.

"The proximity to clients and manpower and upcoming infrastructure is a driving factor for such a move,” another source said.

While Adani Realty declined to comment, an email query sent to MUFG Bank remained unanswered.

Property consultant JLL India, which was the transaction advisor to the deal, also declined to comment.

According to the bank’s website, its office in Mumbai serves as the "hub” of MUFG’s operations in India.

The bank has presence in five locations across the country and caters to the banking needs of Japanese and global corporates that are establishing or growing their businesses in India, the website said.

Metro trains will resume operations in a graded manner from September 7. All metro networks having more than one line will open these lines in a staggered manner so that all the corridors are operational by September 12. Passengers will have to follow preventive measures against Covid-19 such as maintaining a physical distance and wearing a face mask.

Here is a look at how travelling by Metro will be different when you hop into a train on the DMRC network on September 7.

Initially, entry/exit of passengers will be permitted only through one or two identified gates at each station.

A list of all such gate numbers for each station will be made available on the website www.delhimetrorail.com and official social media handles.

All passengers will be required to undergo thermal screening and hand sanitisation at the entry/frisking point itself. Forty-five major stations have been provided with ‘auto thermal screening cum hand sanitisation machines’. The remaining Metro stations will have the provision of ‘auto sanitizer dispensers’ for hand sanitisation; thermal screening will be done manually, with ‘Thermal guns’.  This will be facilitated by DMRC/security personnel near the frisking/entry point.

Passengers having a temperature or exhibiting signs of Covid-19 will not be allowed to travel. They will be directed to report to the nearest medical centre.

At the station, passengers will be required to maintain a physical distance for which stripe markers have been provided at frisking points, customer care, automatic fare collection (AFC) gates. Similarly, platforms will have signages to ensure physical distancing by passengers.

Only 2-3 persons will be allowed at a time to use a lift, depending on the capacity of the lift. Similarly, passengers will be required to stand on alternate steps on escalators to maintain physical distancing.

Providing relief to a homebuyer who paid almost 90 percent of the cost of the apartment to the builder, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, has provided refund with 10 percent interest from the date of receipt. The commission said that any unreasonable escalation on the part of the builder was ‘unfair’ and that a developer could not continue taking bookings in case of problems with landowners keeping the buyer in the dark.

It also noted that pre-litigation with the landowners should be disclosed by the builder.

In this particular case involving a buyer who had booked a unit in Faridabad and paid 90 percent of the cost, the consumer court noted that as per the agreement, the apartment’s possession was to be handed over within 24 months, plus a reasonable time, subject to force majeure events and to timely payments.

The said apartment was to be delivered by January 28, 2013. However, despite the buyer depositing 90 percent of the total amount in 2012 which amounted to Rs 41.39 lakh, the unit was not handed over to the buyer.

“The date of offer of possession, that too without the OC, 09.07.2016, was more than three years, much too large to be simply explained away as a delay due to dispute between the landowners and the OP. In fact this argument has no leg to stand on for it means that the OP, aware of the problems that some land owners could raise, yet went ahead with taking bookings and signing agreements,” the order said.

“It has to be appreciated that the OP was not doing the complainant a favour by taking his money for constructing a flat and then, for whatever reason and howsoever justified, delaying possession for the reason that it was under an injunction order. Indeed, if that was the case, then the OP ought not to have demanded or accepted any payments during this entire period… Thus, in my considered opinion, the OP's conduct clearly amounts to unfair trade practice and deficiency in service,” the order said.

The case concerned a homebuyer Sandeep Nagar who had filed a consumer complaint under section 21 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 (Act) against the builder RPS Infrastructure Limited.

The buyer has demanded a refund of the full amount of Rs 49.53 lakh with 18 percent per annum from date of receipt of payments; compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for mental agony, discomfort and undue hardship and a sum of Rs 1 lakh towards litigation cost.

The builder, on the other hand had claimed that the buyer was offered possession in July 2016 but he had delayed taking possession. It was alleged that the buyer was an investor looking to blackmail and extract money from the developer.

“Land disputes can jeopardise the interests of homebuyers, which in this case it did by delaying the project substantially. Such suppression of facts has rightly been adjudicated as unfair by the court,” said Aditya Parolia of PSP Legal.

Delhi Metro has assured that it would strive to provide a safe commuting experience to travellers once it resumes operations on September 7, Metro officials said. As part of Unlock 4 guidelines, Centre allowed metro services to restart across the country.

“Once metro services resume from September 7, the DMRC will strive to facilitate all necessary measures and precautions on its premises to provide a safe travelling experience to its commuters amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," Executive Director, Corporate Communications, DMRC, Anuj Dayal said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs Saturday issued Unlock 4 guidelines, permitting metro rail operations from September 7 in a graded manner.

The Delhi government also issued a statement saying, services will resume with all safety precautions.

"For the time being, no tokens will be issued to passengers due to high risk of virus spreading through it. There will be a system of purchasing smart cards at every station and passengers will be able to travel only with smart cards," Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot was quoted as saying in the statement.

Metro stations in containment zones will still not immediately open when Metro operations restart on September 7.

“Not all Metro stations will be opened at once. Those in containment zones and few others will not be opened immediately from the first day. A list of stations where travel services are being restored will be made public soon,” he said.

There are as many as 260 Metro stations in Delhi and there are more than 800 containment zones.

Further details on the Metro's functioning and its usage by the general public will be shared once the SOPs are finalised.

The SOPs already circulated will be discussed on September 1, 2020 through video conference by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)  with all metro companies and finalised, the MoHUA said in a statement.

Limiting number of people in lifts and longer halting time for trains at stations to allow commuters to board and alight with social distancing norms, are among the measures the Delhi Metro intends to put in place to ensure safer travel for its passengers.