Investment Tips – Pune Property Blog

Puneville: Redefining luxurious living with a dash of modern lifestyle

With the Pune real estate market now counting among the most vibrant and attractive property investment destinations in the country, the focus is now squarely on which regions and real estate typologies are in highest demand by end users and investors. West Pune has emerged as a clear winner. One of the major global industrial hubs, West Pune is a dynamic economic generator drawing power from its massive cluster of mechanical, automotive and information technology clusters.

Pharande Vaarivana Pune

Integrated townships have become the most preferred residential real estate configuration in Pune, and Punawale in West Pune is now home to what is by far the most luxurious as well as future-ready townships of its kind. Puneville, the masterpiece of luxurious township living by Pharande Spaces, has completely redefined the West Pune real estate landscape. Conceived and executed in partnership with globally acclaimed architects Aedas, this ultra-luxurious project is the culmination of Pharande Spaces’ constant quest towards perfection in township development.

Pharande Vaarivana Pune

“Puneville has been created to be the penultimate statement in luxurious township living,” says Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces. “We have spared no effort, expense or stretch of imagination to make it the most desirable residential address in Pune, and we have succeeded. The response from end users and investors has been unprecedented. By design and intent, Puneville is a unique creation that has no peers. Here in West Pune, we have given the city its ultimate real estate destination.”

Puneville consists of 16 towers, each with 23 storeys of uniquely crafted living spaces. In keeping with its elite ethos, its 2, 3 and 4BHK apartments are equipped with highest quality fittings, fixtures and marble flooring, sourced from leading manufacturers in Europe and Asia. The outdoor perfectly complements the interiors with every conceivable luxury feature, including Olympic-sized swimming pools for every cluster of buildings, landscaped gardens, tennis courts and a jogging track.

Puneville also features a completely unique sky walkway that circumnavigates the residential towers, effectively connecting all the towers to a central green area and children play zones.

Pharande Vaarivana Pune

Is Pune ready for such a luxurious, futuristic township?

“Absolutely,” says Anil Pharande. “Luxury living in Pune is driven primarily by its burgeoning Information Technology sector – and in terms of what buyers from this segment expect from their luxury homes, the stakes are extremely high. At the same time, integrated townships have emerged as the most desirable residential real estate offering, since they offer self-contained and self-sustained infrastructure as well as all the ingredients of a modern, convenient lifestyle. Puneville is the perfect marriage of residential luxury in a full-fledged township environment in West Pune, which is now the city’s most sought-after real estate investment precinct.”

Mar 28 2015 : The Times of India (Pune)

Indian Millennial Homebuyers: The Times Are Changing

Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces

Everything that your parents may have communicated to you about owning a home may be incorrect if you are a millennial under the age of 35. However, don’t blame yourself for this – your parents operated by a rigid set of values that they have simply passed on to you. It was a simple enough formula – get a good education, get married, have kids and buy a big flat in the city. This is – or was – the quintessential Indian middle-class dream.

This dream – and the formula – may continue to have relevance to quite a few younger people in India, but the way life works for today’s millennials in India is no longer so cut and dried as it was for their parents. In the first place, we have a rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive job market in India.

The career charts of Indian millennials are no longer as predictable as those of their parents were – nor does a sound college education mean that one can actually get the best jobs anymore. Also, millennials are the ‘job hopping’ generation which wants to sample different lines of work and also different companies with varied work cultures before they ‘settle down.’ This is one reason why many Indian millennials initially prefer to rent rather than buy their homes.

Secondly, because their careers are no longer cast in the concrete of limited options like engineer, doctor, lawyer, banker or ‘Government job, young Indians today are marrying later and are not necessarily in a hurry to have children once they do, either. When they do decide on having children, having one child is, more often than not, enough. The typical millennial family of today is essentially nuclear and does not subscribe to the values that drove the much larger and much more complex joint family package.

They are more flexible and value their freedom, so they are not overly invested in making heavy financial commitments as soon as they are able to (making such commitments was a defining factor of the previous generations of Indians).

What does this mean in terms of their home purchase decisions? For one thing, it means that a smaller flat – even for a dual-income household – is perfectly adequate to begin with. What increasingly matters for the young, smart socially conscious Indian nuclear family of today is not necessarily size, but:

Value for money (banks and developers should understand by now that dual income does not equal dual gullibility)
Being able to get to and from work conveniently (not because getting to work fast matters most, but because getting home faster leads to better work-life balance)
Good public transport connectivity (because using public transport is good for the family budget as well as the environment)
Two car parking spaces (because two earning members may need to be as mobile as possible)
Fast broadband + Wi-Fi connectivity and other smart home features (because many Indian millennials can and do work from home, or from home as well as an office)
Environmental sustainability of the project (because most Indian millennials do believe that the world can become a better place)

Upgrading to larger homes should be an option, but it is by no means the only acceptable path for the Indian millennial to follow. For the previous generations, the ‘upgradation’ route was more or less socially enforced – but that trend is now history.

Strangely, many residential developers in cities like Pune have not caught on to the reasons why their projects are not selling as fast as they used to. They choose to believe that it is because ‘market conditions’ are currently ‘slow’. That may be true, but the larger fact is that housing projects that appealed to their parents may not have the same attractiveness for today’s millennials.

Projects that do not meet the requirements of today’s younger generation of working professionals are not going to work for this buyer segment, regardless of the market conditions.

One truth about the real estate market has not changed, even for millennials – while it is not all about ‘location, location, location’ for them, location is still certainly very important. It’s just that ‘central location’ is no longer the Golden Rule – Indian millennials are far more inclined to purchase their first homes in the suburbs, not in the city centre.

They are also far more likely to buy homes in organized townships with stand-alone infrastructure and their own schools, healthcare and shopping / entertainment facilities. Townships with their own office complexes offering potential walk-to-work or cycle-to-work possibilities and those close to major employment hubs such as IT parks and manufacturing belts are the most preferred.

About The Author:

Anil Pharande is Chairman of Pharande Spaces, a leading construction and development firm that develops township properties in West Pune. Pharande Promoters & Builders, the flagship company of Pharande Spaces and an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is a pioneer in the PCMC area offering a diverse range of real estate products catering especially to the 42 sectors of Pradhikaran. The luxury township Puneville at Punavale in West Pune is among the company’s latest premium offerings. Woodsville in Moshi is another highly successful PCMC-based township by Pharande Spaces which is now in its 3rd phase.

How Infrastructure Drives Real Estate Demand

– Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces

All property investors are familiar with the phrase ‘market drivers’, which has become one of the most utilized terms in real estate investment. What exactly are market drivers? They can be explained as advancements within a region which boost the overall worth of the location, and the desirability associated with residing there. It is a well-established fact that the infrastructure of an area is a key criterion for home buyers, and therefore property investors.

Infrastructure has numerous types. For instance, roads are considered key infrastructure, as they enhance the connectivity of the area. There is also civic infrastructure, which involves the availability of public services in the region. In India, the primary aspects covered under civic infrastructure are reliable water and electricity supply, without which an area falls flat as a residential location and therefore as a real estate investment destination.

Then there is the factor of social infrastructure, which accounts for the liveability of the area. At the most basic level, civic infrastructure will include public transport and shopping outlets, but educational institutions and hospitals are also important. People expect to have colleges, schools and healthcare facilities close to where they live. Therefore, the level of saturation of social infrastructure will play a big role in the overall value of the location as a residential and investment destination.

The global standard for urbanization which is evident in most developed countries is that all or most of infrastructure required to make an area livable and desirable as a real estate destination are set up prior to or opening it up for large-scale real estate development. This is because efforts to put the necessary infrastructure in place retrospectively results in inconvenience to the existing population because of decreased public mobility during construction of such projects.

Retrospective construction of infrastructure projects also pollutes the environment during the actual construction process, and this is nothing but bad news in an area which is already inhabited.

Creating the infrastructure which is required to make a location liveable and also supportive to various economic functions can be compared to creating vast green cover in an area . In both instances, there is a primary requirement of adequate space. Another vital factor for successful infrastructure creation is time. In the case of trees, the root systems must be given adequate time to penetrate deep enough to provide anchorage as well as access to deep-lying groundwater. Similarly, infrastructure must be given enough time to be deployed, become functional and start servicing the area properly. Without space and time, both forestation and infrastructure creation become futile exercises.

If we take the cases of Pune and the adjoining Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), we see a vast difference in successful infrastructure deployment. In Pune, the PMC has been unsuccessfully trying to provide retrospective infrastructure support to its massively congested and largely dysfunctional city areas.

Almost every new infrastructure project in Pune is hotly contested by local political parties and becomes road blocked by bureaucratic red tape. One of the reasons is that these projects affect already populated areas, which represent vote banks. The result is that most of these projects take ages to be built, and many are eventually shelved altogether.

The advantage that the PCMC has enjoyed is that it follows a proactive rather than reactive approach to infrastructure creation. In other words, massive Greenfield areas are taken up by the town planning authorities for infrastructure creation, and only then opened up for further development by private builders. This has resulted in extremely viable, plug-and-play residential neighbourhoods and commercial districts which start delivering the goods from day one.

This proactive approach to infrastructure has earned PCMC the distinction of being one of India’s most sought-after destinations to live and work in. PCMC’s superior infrastructure has attracted the highest number of multinational companies and industries to the region, and this has also led to the highest rate of employment creation in PCMC. As a result, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has emerged as the most preferred city for home buyers who are looking to live close to where they work – and simultaneously enjoy a superior quality of life.

About The Author:

Anil Pharande is Chairman of Pharande Spaces, a leading construction and development firm that develops township properties in Western Pune. Pharande Promoters & Builders, the flagship company of Pharande Spaces and an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is a pioneer in the PCMC area offering a diverse range of real estate products catering especially to the 42 sectors of Pradhikaran. The luxury township Puneville at Punavale in West Pune is among the company’s latest premium offerings. Woodsville in Moshi is another highly successful PCMC-based township by Pharande Spaces which is now in its 3rd phase.

Festive Season: Tips On Freebies And Offers On Property

– Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces

In Maharashtra, Diwali is definitely the time of choice for property buyers to invest in their dream home. In fact, property buyers look forward to this festival to sign the papers on their homes because this city cherishes this traditional time of investing in the future.

Obviously, builders also respond to the vastly improved market sentiments and do all they can to sustain them. During the Diwali period, property buyers will be presented with a slew of offers which developers introduce to induce sales. The Diwali period this year will see a lot of such activity, because property developers are eager to create sufficient interest in their projects. The residential property market has seen slackness over the preceding months, and Diwali is the time that developers have been looking forward to as much as property buyers.

The question here is – do such ‘freebies’ constitute real value for property buyers? The answer to this does not depend solely on what is being offered. It is a normal market phenomenon for incentives to be offered during the festive season, but property buyers should consider the actual value of the property.

They should be cautious about extravagant freebies and take a close look at the factors that add or reduce value in the case of real estate. If the project is by a developer known for sub-standard construction, or if it is located in a ‘blind spot’ of the local real estate market, no amount of freebies can compensate. The property itself will not represent a good investment, and the buyer will not benefit in the long run.

Another aspect to watch out for is freebies being offered for properties in over-priced projects. At a time when property buyers seek the best options for their money, getting a free car along with an overpriced flat does not make sense. If the flats in this project do not represent good value for money, freebies will not improve the situation. If a buyer wants to buy a flat in Pune such a project, it is best to negotiate for a better price than to accept freebies – or ask for them in addition to a discount.

Home buyers should especially beware of freebies being offered by investors who have put their money into properties in locations that are known to be ‘overheated’ (in other words, where rates have been artificially inflated by excessive investor activity). In such cases, freebies are meant to act as psychological encouragements to make an unwise property purchase.

There are certain incentives that buyers can definitely take seriously. These are not in the form of cars or vacations, but represent actual savings to them. Such incentives include:

Reduced down-payments to book flats, with balance payable on possession, resulting in an extension of the period between booking and full payment. Normally, buyers would have to pay the balance as the building progresses
Waiver on stamp duty, VAT and registration charges
Free or significantly reduced clubhouse memberships
Free parking, furnishing, interior decoration and smart home features (which would otherwise be charged for)
Waiver on premium for floor-rise

About The Author:

Anil Pharande is Chairman of Pharande Spaces, a leading construction and development firm that develops township properties in Western Pune. Pharande Promoters & Builders, the flagship company of Pharande Spaces and an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is a pioneer in the PCMC area, offering a diverse range of real estate products catering especially to the 42 sectors of Pradhikaran. The luxury township Puneville at Punavale in West Pune is among the company’s latest premium offerings. Woodsville in Moshi is another highly successful PCMC-based township by Pharande Spaces which is now in its 3rd phase.

Infrastructure: The Key Real Estate Investment Criterion

– Anil Pharande, CMD – Pharande Spaces

We keep hearing the term ‘market drivers’ being used in real estate. What are they? Market drivers can be defined as developments in an area that increase the value of living there. It is a well-established fact that infrastructure is by far the most important driver for real estate demand and property appreciation growth.

Infrastructure can take many forms. It includes road development to boost connectivity of a location, civic infrastructure such as dedicated water and electricity supply, public gardens, etc. that increases the quality of living in the area, and social infrastructure such as schools, colleges and healthcare, which result in shorter travelling time to such very essential services.

Pharande Vaarivana Pune

Infrastructure must be put in place either before or along with other real estate development. Attempts to put it in place retrospectively create the kind of mess that we can see in many of our cities today. The building of flyovers and road widening are attempted in highly congested areas, disrupting the flow of normal activity and taking ages to be built, causing great inconvenience and massive costs to the city because of the incessant delays.

Building infrastructure is like growing trees – in both cases, there needs to be enough space for them to grow, and sufficient opportunity for a root network to deploy. Without space and depth, neither trees nor infrastructure can grow and flourish. If we take the case of Pune as an example, we can see that building infrastructure as an afterthought to real estate development, rather than as a precursor, does not really work well.

Pune’s haphazard development in the past has not been favourable for decent infrastructure deployment to complement its rapid development on other fronts. Battling severe constraints, Pune’ development authorities are doing their best to counter the ill-effects of unregulated development which has so far been taking place.

Pharande Vaarivana Pune

We are seeing some good results in building support infrastructure, but the Pune Municipal Corporation is actually a losing battle. This is amply illustrated by the fact that the Pune Municipal Corporation is not able to provide suitable parking, traffic management solutions and utilities supply despite enormous investments.

Guidelines For Homebuyers & Investors

The infrastructure of a location is a major focus area for property investors for a very good reason. Real estate investors want to attract end-users, either as rental or purchase clients, to the properties. They know that an area without sufficient infrastructure will be unattractive to their clients, because the quality of living quotient is low.
Again, properties in areas without good infrastructure tend to have cheaper property rates for a reason. Developers with projects in such locations know that the area has little or nothing to say for itself in terms of quality of life. The only way they can hope to sell their projects is to offer very attractive rates.
Buyers should place infrastructure availability prominently on their checklist while scouting for suitable homes. Road and rail connectivity, water supply, proximity of schools, hospitals and shopping outlets are of paramount importance. Buying a home cheaply if the location does not offer these is meaningless, and will give cause for regret.
If one is buying a property purely as a long-term investment and primarily for capital appreciation, one can afford to be a bit philosophical about existing infrastructure. After all, one is not planning to live there and does not expect very fast appreciation. As long as there is a reasonable assurance that it will arrive in the foreseeable future, it makes sense to invest in a property located in an emerging area where infrastructure is in its nascent stages.
However, if one is buying the property in order to generate rental income, existing infrastructure is far more important than upcoming infrastructure. People looking for rental options are also looking for a certain ease and dignity of living. They are willing to put the option of buying a home aside so that they can live in a good home in a good location on rent.
Where the option exists, give a high preference to townships over all other options. While checking out townships, ensure that they are located in areas which have a good saturation of support infrastructure as well. Most large Indian cities now have township projects coming up.
In Pune, the infrastructure-rich Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation is attracting the highest number of buyers and investors of township properties. In other parts of the country, Navi Mumbai and the Kalyan-Dombivli and Vasai-Virar belts are becoming important township hubs.
In Delhi NCR, the areas to look at for townships are Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Greater Noida. In Bangalore, the growth hubs for townships are Yelahanka and Devanhalli, and in Chennai they include Sriperumbadur, Perambur, the OMR belt and Anna Nagar.

About The Author:

Pharande Vaarivana Pune Anil Pharande is Chairman of Pharande Spaces, a leading construction and development firm that develops township properties in Western Pune. Pharande Promoters & Builders, the flagship company of Pharande Spaces and an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is a pioneer in the PCMC area offering a diverse range of real estate products catering especially to the 42 sectors of Pradhikaran. The luxury township Puneville at Punavale in West Pune is among the company’s latest premium offerings. Woodsville in Moshi is another highly successful PCMC-based township by Pharande Spaces which is now in its 3rd phase.

Punawale Now: Taking West Pune Real Estate To The Next Level

Pharande Vaarivana Pune Taking West Pune Real Estate To The Next Level

What Is The Ideal Time To Hold And Sell Investment Property?

– Anil Pharande, CMD – Pharande Spaces

The Indian real estate market is among the most lucrative for making investments. Barring grave global crises such as the most recent one, this market will not go downhill and provide very decent returns to investors.

Before the global financial crisis (GFC) or recession that hit the world in 2008, real estate investors made great profits on properties which they had held for just few months. During the recession itself, property markets plummeted and there were no takers for real estate.

However, this was an unnatural situation – as the situation improved and things came back to normal, real estate market across the world became calmer. In a normal market scenario, property rates rise at a steady pace and uneven or abrupt rises or declines do not happen.

Types of investors

There are two types of investors into properties – those who look at making a regular rental income and have no plans of exiting the same, and those who look for capital gains. For the latter type, earning good returns requires them to time the sale of the property well. Only when the property has seen decent price appreciation does it make sense to put it on the resale market. The question is – what is the right time to sell?

Ideal time span to remain invested

This subject is incessantly debated, and there are various opinions on it. However, it is generally agreed that in normal market conditions, the real estate market should be looked at as a long-term investment bet. What this means in real terms is that a good ‘holding period’ for properties purchased for capital appreciation is around three years, with the ideal period being 3-5 years. However, it has actually been seen that the best returns on investment on properties are actually obtained in a period between 5-7 years.

Ideal time for exiting

The perfect time to exit from a real estate investment will actually depend more on one’s expectations than on market conditions. While exiting after three years should ensure decent returns on investment, one would have to extend the horizon if the expectation is for the highest possible profit.

Investors looking for the highest capital gains from their property investments should target residential projects that are under construction, rather than completed projects. The best time to invest in such properties is during the time of launch. Thereafter, while some experts feel that the best time to exit such properties is when the project is nearing completion (or latest when the developer starts handing over possession to buyers); others advise investors to target one year after possession as the perfect exit time.

Which of these horizons make the most sense will really depend on local market conditions such as demand, supply and infrastructure development of the region. Before taking a decision to either buy or sell an investment property, a thorough understanding of the current local property market is in any case de rigueur.

About The Author:

Pharande Vaarivana Pune

A Home In Pimpri-Chinchwad – The Best Choice For Your Children

While buying property in Pune, most home seekers tend to put their children’s needs high on the priority list. This is because in a typical Indian setting, everything that happens within a family revolves around the requirements of its children. It therefore stands to reason that the purchase of a home is – and should – factor this in.

For us Indians, our kids are our most important consideration. This is why we strive to provide them with every possible good thing – good clothes, the latest and largest toys, a good school, and so on. Providing them with the best possible home is a natural yearning.
It boils down to a simple fact – whether a married couple has children or not while purchasing a home, or the children are still in the ‘planning’ stage, they are a major point of reference. Here are some of the considerations we should therefore take into account while choosing a residence:
Are There Good Schools In The Vicinity?
Pune being the Oxford of the East, it stands to reason that access to the good schools is of primary importance for Pune property buyers. A housing project may offer every desirable facility – but if it does not have a reputable school within easy reach, it does not serve its purpose. The more progressive townships and integrated residential projects have schools within the campus. Even otherwise, there is no shortage of good schools in Pimpri Chinchwad.
Does The Project Feature Children-Oriented Facilities?
Ideally, builders must offer fully equipped children’s parks and playgrounds in their projects. These areas should be free of pollution, since children do a lot of heavy breathing while at play.
While the space constraints and the pollution levels of the central areas in cities like Pune do not permit such facilities, the larger integrated residential projects in areas like Pimpri-Chinchwad do. Remember that children can only thrive when they have enough airy space to play in. Similarly, you should ask about garden areas for family-oriented activities while choosing a home.
Is The Clubhouse Children-Friendly?
If you thought that a residential project’s clubhouse is only for adult entertainment and relaxation, think again. A clubhouse is – and should be – a boon to children. Look for facilities like table tennis and badminton courts, a library and indoor games.
Is There Ready Access To Shopping?
From toddler to teenage years, children have myriad recurring requirements. Fully integrated residential projects such as Culture Crest and Woodsville in Pune’s PCMC area offer shopping facilities within the project’s perimeter. If this is not the case in your chosen project, at least ensure that you have easy access to shopping centres in the vicinity.
Is There A Hospital With Emergency Room/Pediatric Unit Nearby?
Accidents do happen – poisoning, choking, drowning, fractures and bruises, electrocution… children can get into a lot of trouble while exploring the world around them. There are many medical emergencies than can only be handled at a well-equipped hospital. If the project does not have its own hospital, at least make sure that it is within easy travelling distance from the nearest hospital. This is not an issue in progressive, well-planned areas such as the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, but many of Pune’s newer areas still lack such facilities.
How Safe And Supportive Is The Neighbourhood?
One should definitely keep one’s children’s social needs in mind while selecting a residence. By their very nature, the integrated residential projects and townships now coming up in the PCMC area offer social environments suitable to our children (good neighbours) and are also crime-free zones. If you cannot, for some reason, choose such an ideal neighbourhood, at least find out if there is a police station nearby.
Posted by: Avinash Gokhale is Director – Marketing & Corporate Planning, Pharande Spaces – a leading construction and development firm specializing integrated residential projects in the PCMC area of Pune, India.

Pune Property Tax Rates May Rise With New System

Based on the directions of the state government, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to introduce the capital value system (CVS) for computing the Annual Rateable Value of a property, for fixing the property taxes in the city. The civic administration has tabled a proposal before the standing committee regarding the move.
The move has been designed to bring uniformity in the taxation system in all the municipal corporations across the state. As a result, if the proposal is cleared, the property tax charges might go up.
At present, the ARV is fixed on the standard rents fixed by the Rent Control Act. Under the ARV system, the probable gross rent of a property is taken into account. For domestic buildings, 20 percent of the amount is calculated. For commercial buildings 25 percent of the amount is calculated.
Under the new CVS, the calculation of tax is based on the value of the land as well as that of the building. It takes into account the capital value of the building, which is in turn based on the cost of the land as well as the cost of the building, net of depreciation.
The proposal says: “In different municipal corporations in the state, there are different methods of fixing the ARV of a particular property. But, in order to bring uniformity, transparency and introduce simplicity, the new method of CVS is being considered.” The ARV fixed under the capital value system, will be updated every five years.
Source
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/New-system-on-anvil-to-evaluate-property-tax-likely-to-push-up-rates/677588

Free Parking Space Norm In Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation is the first civic body in the state to come up with a decision under which buyers of residential apartments get free parking space.
On June 11, 2009, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) declared that no building permission plans will be sanctioned if the builders refuse to provide free parking space to apartment buyers across the twin industrial township.
This was after a series of reports in Pune Newsline, highlighting the Bombay High Court which had ruled that builders cannot sell parking space and that it should be made available to the flat buyers free of cost.