Real estate has always been a great investment opportunity for investors. In my opinion, real estate can be the safest and best way to achieve financial freedom. However, buying properties has been out of bounds to most individuals as it involves a huge amount of money. But what if I told you that you can participate in highly sophisticated projects which generate high income?

Real estate crowdfunding is a way of investing where a pool of individuals contribute a small amount of capital towards a specific real estate deal. The process is usually conducted through an online platform to reach an audience of potential investors.

For developers, crowdfunding offers them access to capital for a real estate development project. This approach has become a feasible alternative to traditional ways of raising capital.

As for the investors, it offers them the ability to become a shareholder in assets they may never be able to acquire as individuals.

How it works

The idea behind crowdfunding is that when a developer or real estate professional finds an opportunity, they don’t always have the ability to pursue the project by themselves. So they allow individuals to contribute some of the capital in order to execute the project.

First, the sponsor identifies an opportunity, plans the acquisition of property, and even takes the responsibility of its management and eventual sale of the asset. The crowdfunding platform is where the sponsor finds the investors who are looking to create passive income from real estate. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is created to acquire the asset in which the investors are shareholders.

Here’s an example of how this might work: Let’s say that a real developer finds an outdated commercial building that lacks modern amenities for a sale price of say, Rs 3 crore. After analysis, he determines that with an investment of 2Cr in renovations and leasing out the entire building, he can double the property’s rental income and the building will have a market value of Rs 8 crore within 4-5years. So instead of taking a bank loan for the entire Rs 5 crore, he opens up the opportunity for individual investors to become stakeholders in the project.

There are two ways an investor can be involved in a crowdfunding opportunity. When you invest in an equity-based model, you receive returns based on property rental income or earn a share of the property’s appraised value in case it is sold. Equity provides better returns compared to debt investing. Debt-based funding has been more popular as investors receive a fixed interest rate appropriate to the amount that you have invested.

Why you should invest in a crowdfunded real estate opportunity

When a sponsor identifies a real estate opportunity, he usually doesn’t have the capital to execute the project himself. So they allow individuals to contribute to the capital to execute the project.

Crowdfunding allows you to invest in highly sophisticated projects with low investment amounts. Unlike REITs, crowdfunded opportunities tend to be more transparent as it allows investment into specific projects without the hassles of maintaining and managing the assets.

Like any investment opportunity, it is important to evaluate crowdfunded real estate investments as they are highly illiquid. Unlike when you own a property by yourself, you can’t sell your investment whenever you want. You are committed for the entire holding period of the project.

Real estate crowdfunding opens the door to many investors who cannot otherwise invest in real estate. This is a great model for low investment investors who get access to high income-generating real estate. However, you need to evaluate a crowdfunding opportunity before investing.

Raiyaan Nayeem is the founder of Hubloft, a home-sharing company that enables homeowners to create passive income from their second homes.

Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, on July 31, launched the online platforms of the two developers’ bodies CREDAI and NAREDCO to market residential properties.

He also released a guide book for affordable rental housing scheme for migrants.

The minister launched 'CREDAI Awaas App' and NAREDCO's online portal 'HousingforAll.com' through a video conference.

He also released the knowledge pack of the government's 'Affordable Rental Housing Complexes' (ARHCs) scheme that has been launched to provide rental accommodations to migrant and urban poor.

The CREDAI Awaas App would work as a gateway for homebuyers from around the world to connect with genuine member developers whose RERA registered property will be available on this app, the minister said.

On the e-commerce portal by NAREDCO called Housing For All, he said that the portal would host e-commerce housing sales where buyers from across the globe can explore and buy ready-to-move-in homes. It aims to ease the challenges faced by the real estate industry while building confidence in consumers by promoting transparency, accountability, and efficiency.

"We have launched these two portals. The idea came recently and we have been able to implement it," Puri said.

The Union Cabinet on July 8 approved the affordable rental housing complexes (ARHCs) scheme for urban migrants employed in the industries, service sector and manufacturing sector close to their workplace in industrial as well as in non-formal urban sectors. The scheme has been launched under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

The ARHCs scheme is expected to aid real estate developers in retain the labour force on their sites, the minister said, adding that rental housing would also be beneficial for young people.

On the sector’s demand for one-time debt restructuring and 100 percent FDI in affordable rental housing, Puri said these demands will be considered.

He also disagreed that the real estate industry was being treated as a step child, saying the government has taken various measures for the growth of the sector.

He also suggested setting up of a permanent working group comprising members from the department and industry bodies, for faster decision making.

To achieve the government's target under the Housing For All by 2022, Puri said the ministry has almost sanctioned the entire 1.12 crore dwelling units as envisaged under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (Urban). About 70 percent of the sanctioned houses have been grounded.

Housing and Urban Affairs secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said the two new e-commerce platforms by CREDAI and NAREDCO have the potential to become the Amazon of real estate.

In a bid to keep declining housing sales in check and revive the demand amid COVID-19 pandemic, real estate developers will offer over 2.70 lakh ready-to-move-in houses to homebuyers online.

All National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) members would list their housing properties for sale on the e-commerce marketplace ‘NAREDCO Housing For All.’ This is expected to unlock the affordable housing properties worth over Rs 1.21 lakh crore and offer a great opportunity to the national and international homebuyers to buy RERA registered properties at the right prices anywhere in India.

Niranjan Hiranandani, national president, NAREDCO, and ASSOCHAM stated that there is an urgent need for affordable rental housing schemes in cities like Mumbai.

"We have almost around 650 acres of salt pan land in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation limits. There is a need to open up the land for the construction of affordable and low-cost housing in a city like Mumbai where there is an acute paucity of vacant land," he said during the webinar.

Jaxay Shah, chairman, Credai National said that COVID-19 crisis has made people realize the importance of homes. “‪Proptech is the future of real estate and initiatives such as the CREDAI Awaas App will be instrumental in bridging the hiatus between the customer and developer.”

According to guidelines issued by the housing and urban development ministry, ARHCs will have a two-pronged approach. First, the existing vacant government funded housing complexes will be converted into ARHCs through concession agreements for 25 years.

The concessionaire will make the complexes livable by repair/retrofit and maintenance of rooms and filling up infrastructure gaps like water, sewer/septage, sanitation, roads. States/Union Territories will select concessionaire through transparent bidding. Complexes will revert to urban local bodies (ULB) after 25 years to restart next cycle like earlier or run on their own, the ministry said.

Second, special incentives like use permission, 50 percent additional FAR/FSI, concessional loan at priority sector lending rate, tax reliefs at par with affordable housing will be offered to private/public entities to develop ARHCs on their own available vacant land for 25 years.

Beneficiaries could be labour, urban poor such as street vendors, market or trade associations, industrial workers, manufacturing units, long term tourists, visitors, hospitality sector, students, educational or health institutions.

The Uttar Pradesh RERA (UP RERA) this week approved an order allowing the homebuyers' association of a project in Noida to take charge of the completion of four stuck towers and the remaining 300-odd units.

Interestingly, the association has decided to hire Jaypee Associates Limited (JAL), the original promoter, as the contractor for the work.

The question here is: Can RERA Authority approach homebuyers' associations or the original developer or for that matter bring in a third party to complete a stalled project?

Yes, it can. RERA can take over an unfinished realty project if it is 80 percent complete. It can act as a facilitator and work with the committee of homebuyers to complete the project under Section 8 of RERA.

Moneycontrol spoke to RERA authorities who said this could become a successful model to complete stuck projects going forward, especially after COVID-19, when more such cases are bound to happen wherein developers may not be in a position to complete projects in the wake of liquidity issues.

Balvinder Kumar, member, UP-Rera said that JAL gave its consent and “we permitted the homebuyers’ association to take control of the project that we had deregistered earlier.”

Kalypso Court is a housing project launched by Jaypee Associates, the parent company of embattled Jaypee Infratech, way back in 2007. Its UP RERA registration lapsed in June 2019 following which the regulator invoked Section 8 of RERA. As many as 240 homebuyers had bought into units in the four incomplete towers.

Seven towers of Kalypso Court were registered under UP-RERA in 2018. The project has a total of 15 towers and 11 of them are complete. Work on four towers is pending. The original date of completion of the project was 2012.

UP RERA Authority has held a series of meetings over the last five months with representatives of the homebuyers association ever since the registration expired last year. The homebuyers have now decided that the project should be completed by the original promoter which is JAL. The estimated fund requirement for completion of the four towers is Rs 104 crore of which 40 percent would be contributed by Jaypee and the remaining would be in the form of receivables from homebuyers.

"This is a unique case because the original promoter is being brought on board. Had a new promoter come in, he would have had to re-evaluate the entire project and that could have become both time consuming and an expensive exercise," said Kumar.

Earlier, UP RERA had offered PSA Impex’s Sampda Livia in Greater Noida to homebuyers’ association. It has also deregistered Bhasin Group’s Festival City in sector 143.

Legal experts said that, it would now be legally presumed that the project is being completed by the Association of Allottees and the propriety rights will remain with JAL even though it would now take on the role of a contractor.

“There’s nothing wrong with the original promoter taking over an incomplete project. The only thing which can perhaps come in the way is initiation of insolvency proceedings against JAL which is pending. This may bring the project completion to a standstill,” said Ashwarya Sinha, a Supreme Court advocate who is representing homebuyers in the Jaypee Infratech case.

Difficult for RERA to undertake projects from scratch

It should be kept in mind that RERA can step in provided a project has reached its completion stage. Doing something from scratch is difficult and not advisable.

“It all depends on the size of the project and should be taken up on a case-to-case basis. It is not something that can be applied across the board,” said RERA experts.

Agreement among all the allottees is also important. The allottees have to trust the committee. "They have to make the payment of the balance amount to the committee," experts said.

Who pays for the remaining construction?

In these cases, some buyers may have paid 80 percent, others may have paid more. But all buyers may have to pay some amount.

"They will have to show the receipts that they have so far paid and the balance money that is due from them to the committee. These amounts will be kept in a separate account and the committee will have to work with corpus," said RERA experts.

The committee will have to make do with the funds collected. They have to decide whether they would want to reduce certain specifications as funds may not be enough.

The country's top consumer court has directed Gurugram-based Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure Ltd to refund the entire principal amount of Rs 3.45 crore with interest and Rs 25,000 as litigation cost to a homebuyer for a four-year delay in handing over of an apartment.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) also held as wholly one-sided and unfair the terms of an “apartment buyer’s agreement” signed between the two sides. The court overlooked the developer’s argument that the delay was because of circumstances that were out of its control.

“The interest at 9 percent per annum has been awarded in the light of the observation of the honourable Supreme Court in a catena of judgments awarding interest, keeping in view the current market situation and that the banks have lowered the interest rates,” the order dated July 23 said.

In view of the disruption caused by the coroanvirus outbreak, the court gave the developer three months to comply with the order, failing interest rate will be raised to 12 percent.

The homebuyer alleged “deficiency in service” as the developer didn’t complete the construction or handed over the possession by October 2015 deadline as mentioned in the Apartment Buyer’s Agreement of March 7, 2012  for a unit of super area of approximately 3,498 sq ft.

The homebuyer applied for a house in the Pioneer Group’s housing project Araya in Sector 62 in Haryana’s Gurugram, by paying a booking amount of Rs 30 lakh, the court was told.

The developer was to apply for the occupation certificate of the project within 39 months from the date of the excavation. The developer was also allowed a grace period of 180 days.

The money asked by the developer from the buyer at the time of excavation was paid in June 2012 but on visiting the site, they found no work had started, the buyer said.

The site looked like an abandoned piece of land, with some construction here and there. There was no one to address their queries, the buyer said.

By December 16, 2015, the buyer had paid Rs 3.22 crore, almost 95 percent of the apartment cost.  The apartment was delivered late in 2019.

Even after five years, the developer failed to give possession of the unit. Repeated requests, letters, email, phone calls and even personal visits didn’t help, the court was told.

The homebuyer also alleged that they were forced to sign a one-sided agreement. The builder, as per the agreement, had agreed to pay compensation at the rate of Rs 10 per sq ft per month for the delay.

But, if calculated in terms of financial charges, it comes to approximate at the rate of 1.4 percent p.a. rate of interest and even these charges were to be paid after 39 months which is period for completion of construction, the buyer had said.

The consumer court held that the agreement was unfair to the homebuyer. “The builder could not seek to bind the respondent with such one-sided contractual terms,” the order said.

The builder said that delay was due to the reasons beyond their control.

The builder also said the complainants wanted “to seek more than the contractual benefits from the developer” and were expecting high speculative gains but failed due to a depressed real estate market.

"The continuing support of NCDRC for homebuyers is very encouraging and shows the strict approach of the court. However, it is surprising why RERA has failed to take stringent measures," said advocate Aditya Parolia, who represented homebuyers in the matter. He was referring to the real estate regulatory authority that regulates the sector and is responsible for protecting buyers’ interests.

The special fund created in November last year to provide priority debt financing for the completion of stalled housing projects has approved over 80 real estate projects with an investment of Rs 8,767 crore that will enable completion of 60,000 homes, the finance ministry said.

These projects are spread across the country, including 27 in Mumbai, 26 in National Capital Region (NCR) and 10 in Bengaluru, it said in a statement.

Among these, investments in 18 have been given final clearance, however, money is disbursed to seven projects, it said after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed the progress of the scheme -- ‘Special Window for Affordable and Mid Income Housing’ on Thursday.

The 18 projects include CCI Projects Ltd’s Revali Park in Borivali (Mumbai), Ramprastha group’s Primera in Gurugram, Naman group’s Andheri project in Mumbai, Ansal Housing’s Highland Park in Gurugram and Magnus’ Indrapuram project in NCR. The special window for funding stalled housing project was approved by the Union Cabinet on November 6, 2019.

Mortgage financier LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) on Wednesday said it has reduced interest rate to an all-time low of 6.90 per cent for new home loan borrowers having Cibil score of 700 and above.

LICHFL in a statement said the rate of interest for home loans up to Rs 50 lakh starts from 6.90 per cent for borrowers with CIBIL score of 700 and above.

For a similar score, the rate of interest is 7 per cent onwards for a loan above Rs 50 lakh, it said.

“Home loan interest rates are at an all-time low for the company and thereby resulting in low EMI payment. Attractive price points and affordable EMI will aid in addressing the demand side for buying homes,” LICHFL Managing Director and CEO Siddhartha Mohanty said.

Through this product, the company is trying to create demand, he told reporters.

In April, the home financier had cut its home loan rates to 7.5 per cent for new home buyers having a Cibil score of 800 and above.

Mohanty said there has been a softening of cost of funds after reduction in repo rates by RBI in recent months. The company’s cost of fund currently stands at around 5.6 per cent.

He said below 25 per cent of the company’s total book is under moratorium. Of its construction finance loan book of Rs 13,000 crore, around Rs 8,500-9,000 crore is under moratorium.

The housing finance company also launched a special home loan product, Griha Varishtha, for pensioners. The tenure is till attainment of 80 years of age or maximum up to 30 years, whichever is earlier.

This specially designed product caters to retired or serving employees of PSU insurers, Central/state government, railways, defence, banks, among others, entitled to pension under Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.

For higher loan eligibility, the applicant can also jointly apply with their earning children.

Additional benefits under this scheme include six EMI waiver for customers going for ready to move units or 48 months moratorium period for purchase of under-construction units.

In a relief to 15,000 homebuyers waiting for possession of their homes for almost a decade, the Supreme Court (SC)- appointed Unitech board has submitted the roadmap for completing the stuck projects of the embattled firm with the apex court. It has proposed to complete the construction of all units within four years, sources privy to the case told Moneycontrol.

As per the resolution plan submitted last week, the board would require Rs 5,000 crore to complete construction of incomplete units.

A graded timeline for completion has been proposed. “All units would be completed within four years,” sources in the know said.

“The primary focus of the board is on completing construction,” they said.

The amount to complete construction would be raised by utilising additional FAR, disposing of land banks some of which are located in prime locations and money receivables from homebuyers. The board is also looking at raising finances from the SWAMI fund, banks and financial institutions, sources said.

“The board has also sought waiver of around Rs 5,000-crore interest and penalties charged by the Noida Authority, a reduction in interest rate from banks, and sale of some assets to raise funds to complete flats and villas,” they said.

As per estimates, Unitech owes Noida Authority around Rs 8,000 crore of which around Rs 5,000 crore is interest and penalties for delayed payment. The liability to banks is estimated to be around Rs 5,000 crore, with interest forming around 40 percent of the amount.

The embattled firm has unsold inventory of around Rs 3,000 crore and land worth another Rs 6,000 crore, sources said.

SC will hear the Unitech matter on July 23.

The apex court, in January, approved the nomination of seven directors to the board of Unitech, now being run by the government. The board was constituted on January 21.

It approved the names of members of the board which include A K Mittal, ex-CMD of National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC); Renu Sud Karnad, Chairman of HDFC Credila Finance Service Pvt Ltd; Jitu Virwani, CMD of Embassy Group; and Niranjan Hiranandani, Managing Director of Mumbai-based Hiranandani Group. Prabhakar Singh, Director General, CPWD was also appointed as a director by the court.

Say it ain't so, Screech! A Wisconsin home owned by Dustin Diamond, a child star on the early 1990s TV show "Saved by the Bell," is this week's most popular home on realtor.com®. But it won't be his home much longer—one way or another.

The distressed property landed on the market this week for $280,000, and according to TMZ, Diamond's lender is ready to foreclose on the property.

Curious clickers were intrigued by the tale of the actor's financial woes and propelled the four-bedroom house to the top of the chart.

Diamond told TMZ he hasn't been to the property in over a year, and the outlet reported he "hasn't figured out how he'll deal with the bank's foreclosure."

Unless he comes up with $270,000 in a hurry, there probably isn't a way to deal with it. The forlorn home now has water damage and is marketed as a "great rehab project."

Moving away from Screech's sordid story, a property featured on "Real Housewives of New Jersey" proved popular. The mansion where Melissa Gorga recorded the song "On Display" was relisted yet again and attracted some serious attention.

A couple of architectural wonders drew interest this week, including a circular, domed house in New Hampshire and a midcentury modern gem in Iowa.

We also saw the return of one of our all-time favorite properties: a 1980s desert party palace we covered in April.

Thanks to a recent tweet from New York Times editor Dodai Stewart to her nearly 50,000 followers, interest in the neon-hued home in Nevada lit up the Web again.

On the back of rising demand from those above 60 years during the pandemic, Max India Ltd's arm Antara Senior Living is planning to invest over Rs 300 crore over the next four years for its existing and new lines of businesses that include residences for seniors, a chain of assisted living care homes and services.

These are expected to come up in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai.

The company opened its first 30-bed Care Home in Gurugram on July 15. This will be followed shortly by another Care Home launch in South Delhi. Antara plans to set up a chain of 35-40 such care homes in the next three years that will operate with an asset-light model. Of these, around 10 are expected to specialise in Memory Care.

“The current launch is a part of Antara’s strategic shift towards becoming an integrated service provider for all senior care needs,” said Antara Senior Living MD & CEO Rajit Mehta.

“Our vision is to be able to come up with independent residences in the next five years covering three clusters - Delhi NCR, Mumbai/Pune and the south cluster (Bengaluru/Hyderabad/Chennai) and then build about 30 care homes in the three clusters and 10 memory care homes," he told Moneycontrol.

The total capital invested in all these services –residences for seniors, Care at Home and Care Homes and the medical care products will be about Rs 300 crore over the next three to four years, he added.

The Care Homes and Care at Home services will cater to seniors over the age of 55, who need more immersive interventions in their daily lives due to medical or age-related issues.

Antara’s Care Homes will include healthcare and monitoring services with round the clock nursing support from medically trained care professionals, daily doctor consults, vital monitoring, medication administration and emergency response protocol, regular physical activity, physiotherapy, and counselling sessions.

The second new line of business, Care at Home services will provide well-equipped, medically trained professionals who can offer seniors the care needed inside their own home’s comfort. The initial set of services under the Care at Home business include critical care, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, nursing, GDA, and diagnostics.

Antara will also provide Med Care Products such as respiratory aids, wheelchairs, walking sticks, and other consumables to help address the diverse needs of seniors and ensure quality stay for its residents.

The company already has an existing business line of residences for seniors.

The potential market size of Assisted Living Services in India is estimated at about $1 billion. The Indian consensus suggests the share of elders as a percentage of the total population in the country will have increased from around 7.5 percent in 2001 to almost 12.5 percent by 2026 and surpass 19.5 percent by 2050. Of the current 120 million senior population, 40 million have vision-related problems, 3.7 million have diabetes and 1.7 million have cardiovascular ailments.

Established in 2013, Antara Senior Living, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Max India, is being led by Tara Singh Vachani, who is the executive chairman.

Morgan Stanley and Oberoi Realty, on July 13, announced that it had concluded negotiations and reached a deal for Morgan Stanley to lease up to 1.1 million square feet office space for 9.5 years from Oberoi Realty. The move is to consolidate Morgan Stanley’s Mumbai global in-house centre (GIC) operations to a single campus in the city.

The new campus will be located at Oberoi Realty’s Commerz III building in Goregaon and will be ready in 2023.

Commerz III is a 2.3 mn sq. ft LEED-certified mixed-use building with state-of-the-art infrastructure and a part of Oberoi Garden City (OGC), the flagship project of ORL. It is spread across 80 acres.

Commenting on the announcement, Robert Rooney, Global Head of Technology, Operations and Fusion Resilience, Morgan Stanley, said, “The GICs are an integral part of our global business and they allow us to operate more efficiently and effectively as a Firm. We believe that bringing together our Mumbai GIC operations into one centralized campus will serve as a catalyst to creating further agility and synergy across all the GIC functions. The investment is a testament to the Firm’s commitment to India and our staff.”

“Attracting and retaining world-class talent continues to be a top priority for us. The new facility in Mumbai will provide us with the right infrastructure and resources to deliver an innovative workplace environment and promote increased productivity and engagement through efficient ways of working,” added Thomas Nides, Vice Chairman, Morgan Stanley.

“Our relationship with Morgan Stanley goes back to 2007 and we are delighted to have them as our anchor tenant in this world class building. This is one of the largest office space transactions ever and proves our ability to grow the commercial vertical in the coming years,"said Vikas Oberoi, CMD, Oberoi Realty.

“We are seeing major consolidation across all segments in the industry and well-capitalized players like us with a proven track record will continue to thrive in the toughest of circumstances. Our commitment to our annuity portfolio remains strong while we continue to capitalize on opportunities in the residential sector,” he said.

Supporting Morgan Stanley’s global Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management businesses, the firm established the Mumbai GIC in 2003 and the Bengaluru GIC in 2014. Morgan Stanley India GICs house functions across technology, operations, fund services and finance, as well as specialized groups such as legal and compliance, corporate services, human resources operations and internal audit amongst others.

Realty firm Signature Global will invest Rs 225 crore over the next four years to develop a new affordable housing project in Gurugram, Haryana.

The project, comprising 852 units, will be developed under the Haryana government’s affordable housing policy.

Signature Global said in a statement that the project cost is estimated at Rs 225 crore.

The selling prices of the units range from Rs 14.46 lakh to Rs 25.80 lakh.

“The demand for affordable housing has increased manifold. The realisation of the importance of one’s home has dawned on people while staying and working from home, as many of them have faced challenges,” Signature Global Group Founder & Chairman Pradeep Aggarwal said.

In the last five years, the company has launched around 20 affordable housing projects in Gurugram, Sohna and Karnal (Haryana).

It has also launched commercial projects, including a shopping mall, in Vaishali and Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), comprising over 7.5 lakh square feet area.

The government is promoting affordable housing in a big way by charging only 1 per cent GST and interest subvention under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).

Net leasing of office space plunged 73.4 per cent in the April-June period across eight major cities due to sharp fall in demand because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Net absorption of office space stood at 37.15 lakh sq ft during April-June 2020 as against 139.85 lakh sq ft in the year ago period as corporates and coworking players deferred their expansion plans, the property consultant said.

During the first half of 2020, the net office space leasing declined 57 per cent to 110.75 lakh sq ft from 255.48 lakh sq ft in the corresponding period of last calendar year.

“The net absorption in the second quarter 2020 stands at 3.72 million sq ft, which is lower by 49.5 per cent on a quarterly basis and 73.4 per cent lower on a yearly basis as fresh transaction activity was muted during the quarter,” C&W said in a statement.

Also, cities like Delhi NCR and Bengaluru saw negative absorption which also pushed the overall net absorption downwards, it added.

“As the world got more engaged to deal with the impact of coronavirus, the resilience of commercial real estate in India was tested. This is reflected in the dwindling demand and supply numbers in H1 (first half) 2020,” said Anshul Jain, Managing Director – South East Asia and India, C&W.

In an ever-evolving situation, he said, it would be difficult to predict the timeline within which commercial real estate in India might be able to restore its pre-Covid growth momentum.

“But, a certain level of normalcy could be expected in H2 (second half) as companies gradually resume their operations,” Jain said.

According to the data, net leasing in Mumbai rose to 16.45 lakh sq ft during April-June 2020 from 12.72 lakh sq ft in the corresponding period last year. In Delhi-NCR, the net leasing of office space stood at minus 3.58 lakh sq ft as against 9.52 lakh sq ft during the period under review.

Similarly, Bengaluru reported a negative net leasing of office space at minus 83,943 sq ft as against 23.63 lakh sq ft. Net office space leasing in Chennai fell to 5.23 lakh sq ft from 11.65 lakh sq ft, while Pune saw a sharp fall to 60,709 sq ft from 15.85 lakh sq ft.

In Hyderabad, demand for office space declined to 17.58 lakh sq ft from 57.78 lakh sq ft. Net office space leasing in Kolkata dipped to 1.14 lakh sq ft from 2.24 lakh sq ft, while in Ahmedabad the demand softened to 54,900 sq ft from 6.43 lakh sq ft.

Cushman & Wakefield, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is a leading largest real estate services firm with approximately 53,000 employees in 400 offices and 60 countries.

In 2019, the firm had revenue of USD 8.8 billion across core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, valuation and other services.