Hard Deal
RBI’s stance may stunt realty sector growth
The real estate sector may hit a bumpy road as the housing demand is likely to plateau after the RBI decision to keep key interest rates unchanged, reports S. Satyanarayanan
The Reserve Bank of India’s decision not to cut interest rates has sent waves of disappointment in the realty sector all over the country. The hard and harsh monetary stance taken by the RBI has resulted in a slowdown in the booming real estate sector in the past couple of years, especially with the home loan lending rate zooming up from 7.5 per cent to 11.75 per cent.

Make way for villas
Spacious and luxurious villas seem to be catching the fancy of tricity   residents, Chitleen K. Sethi reports about this latest trend
The concept of villas seems to be catching up fast in this part of the region. Going by what some of the top housing promoters are offering to buyers and the way these are being lapped up, the future belongs to villas. Parasvnath Developers and more recently the Emaar MGF group have brought this new concept to the tricity. A blend of luxurious living and functionality, these villas have caught the fancy of the tricity’s jet set with about 50 of these having been sold in Sectors 108 and 109 in Mohali Hills project and over 10 in Parsvnath’s Pride Asia project.

REAL talk
Mohali-City of future
Pradeep Sharma
Given its strategic location and development of infrastructure, Mohali is the city of the future and it would give a tough competition to Chandigarh in the years to come, feels Gursharan Batra, president of Chandigarh Overseas Private Limited, promoters of the Fashion Technology Park (FTP) in Sector 90 of Mohali. “With the international airport project getting clearance and several major realtors, including Ansals, Parsvnath, Emmar MGF, and TDI, developing mega projects, the city is witnessing unprecedented urban growth and set to emerge as the favourite destination for global investors and end users”, Batra told The Tribune in an interview.

Buildings likely to be rated on energy saving mechanism
Coimbatore: The union ministry of new and renewable energy is in the process of introducing a rating system for buildings, based on energy efficiency mechanism installed in there, a senior official informed mediapersons here.

Buzz on Bourses
Parsvnath aims at $15 billion investment in five years
New Delhi: Aiming to turn a ‘conglomerate’ from being a real estate major, Parsvnath Developers has announced an investment of Rs 60,000 crore ($15 billion) in next five years in diversified areas like SEZs, airports, express ways and retails business “We shall be bidding for upcoming airports like Udaipur, Greater Noida, Maharashtra and other states.

• Indiabulls Q3 net at Rs 303 crore
• Vipul registers 42 pc fall in net profit

TAX tips
Get fair value of house determined to save tax on
capital gains LTCG
By S.C. Vasudeva
Q. I purchased a plot for Rs 7,000 in 1976 and constructed a house on it by spending about Rs 50,000 in 1977 and started living in it. With the passage of time, it became inhabitable and dilapidated. In 2007, I sold its debris (malba) for Rs 45,000 and sold the plot for Rs 4,00,000. Kindly calculate the LTCG if there is any.

Realtors spin housing dreams in Punjab
Ruchika M. Khanna
With the city and its periphery now reaching a saturation point in terms of realty development, most realtors are now looking at cash ‘n’ land rich towns of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Bathinda.

GREEN HOUSE
Prudent Pruning
Making topiaries involves much more than a nip here and a cut there, this art requires an understanding of the plant species and deft pruning and trimming, says Satish Narula
Pruning or training a plant in a home garden is usually more of a compulsion in order to contain and keep it in discipline but when it is taken up in large gardens, it is to give the plants a definite shape and size, to create topiaries to enhance aesthetic value of the landscape. You cannot, however, resort to cutting every tree and shrub as proper knowledge of a particular species is essential to avoid indiscriminate cutting.

Now, tea tourism in Dooars
With an eye on attracting both domestic and foreign tourists, the state government has embarked on an ambitious project for the development of an integrated tea tourism circuit. “The Centre has sanctioned schemes worth Rs 6 crore for the development of infrastructure and accommodation in North Bengal to promote tea tourism,” Managing Director of West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Ltd, T V N Rao told PTI in Kolkata.

HOME SENSE
Doorway to success
Harsimrat Kaur
A decked up and impressive entrance door says a lot about the owner of the house. It not only fills the heart of visitors with delight but also ushers in success, peace, prosperity, happiness and wealth. Even in ancient times palaces and temples in various parts of our country had magnificent entrances. They had carved doors embellished with jewels, gems and idols. The peacock doorway inside the City Palace in Jaipur is one of the finest examples of ornate doors. Houses too had huge ornamental wooden main doors with brass knockers.

• Keep in mind

Insurance of property title deed will mitigate financial risk
S.C. Dhall
In order to make land deals fool-proof getting the land title deed insured before selling the property is likely to become mandatory for the real estate developers. This will provide security to buyers in case something goes wrong in the deal later. The move will also mitigate the financial risk of the buyer in case of a litigation in future. The ministry of housing is understood to have processed the case for Cabinet approval, with the twin aim of protecting the interest of buyers and encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI) in this sector.