Aug 4, 2008 at 14:32 o\clock
Your dream of buying an affordable flat in Delhi might come true very soon. The Delhi Development authority (DDA) on Friday announced a new housing scheme offering 5,020 flats across the city. The one-two and three- bedroom flats will come for prices much less than what private builders ask for. Starting from Rs.7.95 lakh, the price varies depending on the location. The maximum is Rs.77.80 lakh for a three-bedroom flat in Motia Khan. Forms will be available from August 6 and the last date for applying is September 16. The ready-to-move flats are located in Dwarka, Paschim Vihar, Rohini and Pitampura in West and Northwest Delhi, Vasant Kunj in the south and Dilshad Garden in the east among other areas. Among those on offers are 280 expandable flats – independent units on which you can build an extra floor. Realty experts said at a time when property prices in Delhi and NCR towns like Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad are going through the roof, the DDA flats give hope to the middle class. “Despite the fact that interest have gone up, people can still think of getting their homes financed as these flats are affordable,” said Anshuman Magazine of real estate consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis. The only problem: you have to be lucky. The allotment will be decided by a draw of lots. In the last DDA scheme in 2006, there were 230 applicants for each flat on offer. 3 STEPS TO APPLY FOR A FLAT
- Buy a form for Rs.100/-from any authorized bank like HDFC, ICICI, IDBI or SB. You can also buy it from DDA’s head office at INA or pay and download it from www.dda.org.in.
- Make a cheque/demand draft of Rs.1.5 lakh in favour of DDA Housing. This is the refundable registration fee.
- Fill up the form, attach the cheque/demand draft to it and deposit them at any of the branches of the authorized banks. Wait for the result of the draw expected by Dec or First week of Jan 2009.
WHO CAN APPLY? Applicant should not have any flat allotted in his/her name. However, if the individual share of the applicant in jointly owned plot or land under residential house/flat is less then 66.9sq.m., then he/she can apply. One has to be a citizen of India holding a Permanent Account Number (PAN). One person from a family is eligible to apply and can submit one application only. There is no income limit for the applicant and one can apply according to his requirement and affordability.WHEN CAN I BUY THE APPLICATION FORM? The form will be on sale from August 6, 2008.till September 16, 2008. WHERE CAN I BUY THE FORM? From branches of Axis Bank, HDFC, ICICI, IDBI, Central Bank of India, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India. HOW DO I APPLY? Deposit registration money of Rs.1,50,000 by a banker’s cheque/demand draft of any bank drawn in favour of ‘DDA Housing’. Applicants using downloaded form need to deposit a separate draft/banker cheque of Rs.100 in addition to Rs.1,50,000. Form can be download from DDA’s Website – www.dda.org.in WHO WILL BE ALLOTTED FLATS AND WHEN? Allottees will be decided by a draw in the first week of November 2008. Flats will be allotted in December or January 2009. CAN I SELL IT OFF LATER? Yes, you can without hassle. WILL MY REGISTRATION MONEY BE REFUNDED IF I AM NOT ALLOTTED A FLAT? Yes, you will have to approach the main branch of the bank where you deposited the application form. WHERE ARE THESE FLATS COMING UP? Pitampura, Dwarka, Motia Khan, Paschim Vihar, Dilshad Garden, Vasant Kunj, Narela, Shalimar Bagh, Jhilmil, East of Loni Road, Nand Nagari, Peeragarhi, Sarai Khalil, Rohini, Lok Nayak Puram, Bindapur and Zafrabad. The maximum numbers – 1,640 – of flats are in Rohini, Sector 28.Vasant Kunj’s Sector A has just one two-bedroom flat priced at Rs.35 lakh. WHAT’S THE PRICE? The price of the flats, depending on the locality, starts from Rs.7.95 lakh (one-bedroom) and goes up to Rs.77.80 lakh (three-bedroom flat in Motia Khan). ARE SOME OF THE FLATS RESERVED UNDER CERTAIN CATEGORIES? Yes, nearly 28 per cent of them are reserved as under:17.5 per cent for Scheduled Castes7.5 per cent for Scheduled Tribes1 per cent for war widows1 per cent for physically challenged persons1 per cent for ex-servicemen. Aug 4, 2008 at 14:29 o\clock
Most of the properties put up for sale belong to small developers, who don’t have the holding power. They are now approaching bigger developers for a buyout. A buoyant real estate market last year saw several realty firms foray into the hospitality sector. But with slowdown hitting real estate and choking cash flow several small realty firms have been forced to put at least half a dozen hotel projects on the block. A developer has put on the block a 200-room hotel project in Ahmedabad that has a management tie-up with a reputed international hotel brand. Work on the project is around 60% complete. Similarly, two mid-size hotel projects in Bangalore, which are in the early stages of construction, and one each in Pune, Chandigarh and NCR have been put on the block. Almost all the projects are mid-size. Some developers are looking at completely exiting the hotel projects while others are looking at stake sale. “The developers are looking for equity dilution and are now willing to settle for lower valuation in their hotel projects,” says Cushman & Wakefield director (hospitality) Akshay Kulkarni. Till six months back when the going was good, several realty developers, who had parcels of land at strategic locations, were trying to get into the glamorous hotel business. With hotel room shortage taking room revenue to new levels, the hospitality business looked very attractive. And with foreign hotel chains looking to aggressively expand in India, even small developers could easily tie up with them for a management contract. “The initial excitement is over. The hotel room rates are sliding. Moreover, the hotel projects are capital-intensive and payback period is very long, compared to other assets such as housing or commercial,” says Knight Frank India Chairman Pranay Vakeel. Most of the properties put up for sale belong to small developers, who don’t have the holding power. They are now approaching bigger developers for a buyout. “We have received proposals to buy out a few hotel projects. We will go for it, if we get an attractive valuation,” says a senior executive of a Delhi based realty firm, which is developing at least a dozen hotels across cities. In several cases, where actual construction work has not begun, developers have deferred the projects. “Developers are now looking at a longer timeframe for their new projects,” says Marriott area vice-president Rajeev Menon. Marriott has six operational properties in India and plans to add 15 by the end of 2009. The company only has management tie-ups with local hotel owners and developers. Courtesy: - E.T. dt 1st August 2008 
