Chandigarh Property Blog

Monday, May 14, 2012

Property Price Spike in Chandigarh Villages

Out of the total 22 village panchayats that were made a part of UT, five more came to Chandigarh municipal corporation about two years ago. These include Hallomajra, Palsora, Kajehri, Maloya and Dadumajra. Residents of these areas too want to cash in on the real estate boom in the Tricity but one hurdle to lucrative sale of property are the names of these areas, which don't match with the image of other upscale sectors of the city. Land is a precious commodity in Chandigarh and people are willing to live in areas like Burail, which is a part of southern sectors or own a commercial plot in Attawa, which is close to the highway. There are plans of hotels coming up in Hallomajra and the second route to Panchkula going through Mauli Jagran. This will increase developmental activity in these areas and if MC provides good basic amenities, land prices would jump further. But there is also a flip side to the issue. A councillor requesting anonymity said real estate rates in Chandigarh are already too high and not realistic at all. Such moves like changes in name will add to the already unwarranted high prices of property It was in 1994 that fortunes of those living in rural and semi- urban areas of Attawa (Sector 42), Burail (Sector 45), Butela (Sector 41) and Badheri (Sector 41) witnessed an upswing with their shops and houses coming within the municipal limits of Chandigarh. Property prices have escalated in these areas and with improvement in basic amenities, buying a prime location plot here is no cheaper than nearby Panchkula or Mohali. Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2012

High court cancels allotment of 12 commercial sites

The Punjab and Haryana high court cancelled the allotment of 12 commercial sites on the east of Chandigarh-Kalka in the notified area committee (NAC), Manimajra. Cancelling the allotment, HC observed that these were made fraudulently by the UT officials. Directing the demolition of these sites, HC has asked the occupants of these sites to vacate these within three months. "The case is an example where he people at the helm of affairs of NAC Manimajra, connected one way or the other with it, distributed 12 commercial sites amongst themselves while throwing all norms and rules relating to the sale of the property to the winds and by concealing the same from the public," held the court.Declaring the allotment process as full of arbitrariness, a division bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice A N Jindal held that instead of throwing the public property in open auction so as to attract the highest bid and to generate the revenue of the state, the property was allotted by president and the secretary either to their relations or to the relatives of Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh, or other officers directly or indirectly connected with the NAC. Importantly, these sites were allotted on July 2, 1979 by the NAC, when it was having six officials and five non-official members. At that time the NAC was headed by Hoshiar Singh, while Joginder Singh Walia was secretary. Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2012

Friday, February 17, 2012

Property Market in sleep mode due to elections

There has been a significant impact on business transactions in the real estate market in Punjab because of heavy seizure of unaccounted cash on the directions of EC last month.

Till December, 2011, the collection from stamp duty and registration fee stood at Rs 2,349 crore.

Property experts pointed out that in the wake of sluggish market conditions, it would be tough for Punjab to collect Rs 550 crore in three months (January till March) to meet revenue collection target.

During the last fiscal, Punjab failed to meet the revenue collection of Rs 2,300 crore from stamp duty and registration fee with actual collections reaching about Rs 2,200 crore.

Confiscation of huge amount of unaccounted cash by surveillance teams to curb misuse of money power in Punjab elections had almost paralysed the real estate market, with buyers refraining from entering into any business deals.

Seizure of cash ahead of elections in Punjab hit the property market hard because people were scared of making any investment. There was hardly any property transaction taking place in the month of January.

Even after the polls that were held on January 30, things have not improved for the real estate sector as majority of investors, including NRI's still not committing investments until next state government comes in.

Property investors are waiting for the formation of new state government before putting in their money into real estate projects.

Spiralling interest rates coupled with slackening demand for property has already made a significant dent on property market in Punjab, with sales prices of real estate products dipping by 15-20 per cent in the past six-seven months, property experts said.

Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2012

Property Tax in Chandigarh

The Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh is planning to impose house tax in the city. It has also sought sanction from the administration on the proposal of imposing house tax and plans to revise commercial property tax in the house meeting of February 16.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in year 2006 amongst Municipal Corporation, UT administration and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM) according to which the authorities were suppose to hike the water tariffs and a minimum house tax was to be collected for the ongoing development projects.

The MC is planning to impose the house tax and generate more revenues for their departments rather than depending upon the grants sanctioned by the administration.

The commercial property tax levied in the year 2004 which was due for revision in the year 2007 has not been revised by the authorities till date. The authorities are planning to increase the commercial tax to generate revenue for the various departments of Chandigarh administration. As per the sources, the house tax levied by the authorities may amount to 1% of the value of the house.

Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2012

Chandigarh:High rise in Northern Sectors

The face of the northern sectors could soon change with the UT architecture department finalizing the nitty-gritty of Apartment Act, which is proposed to be introduced for redensification of the first phase of the city. The master plan committee is studying the commercial and legal repercussions of the move and whether it would actually result in moving in more families in sectors 1-30 with division of sprawling houses. A panel member confirmed that the Act was under active consideration. The idea is to rule out any pitfalls like apartments not have separate kitchens, which would defeat the purpose. There are several kanal houses in sectors 1-15 which have only an old couple living with servants. Their children settled in bigger cities or abroad would be keen to go in for change of land use. The committee is of the view that since three storeys are already allowed in city, redensification of houses would not violate the height control restrictions. The Apartment Act has been hotly debated in the city. Division within family is a scenario to which there is near consensus. f the owner of a three storyed housepasses it on to three heirs and they decide to divide one floor each and have it registered separately.But if somebody has a plot (as in Delhi), gives it to a builder to construct eight floors, half of which he keeps and rest are sold, it could spoil the face of the city. The architecture department has taken the plea that Corbusier had made a case for redensification in the first phase. In a note believed to have been written in April 1964, Corbusier had made a brief reference, "At some point in time, there will be a need for redensification of the first phasea...¦" It was in 2003 that UT allowed redensification for bifurcation of larger plots in the first phase of Chandigarh for construction of flats, which became a serious cause of concern. Later, a delegation met Sonia Gandhi in 2006 that the proposal was dropped. Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2012

Thursday, January 12, 2012

GMAA Sector 88 Flats:Low Demand -assured allotementt

Perhaps for the first time in the history of Tricity, applicants for upmarket flats being constructed by a government agency can hope of an almost assured allotment. Greater Mohali Area Development Authority's (GMADA) Purab Premium Apartments at Sector 88 in Mohali, has received over 3,000 applications till Thursday evening. The scheme for these 4,500 freehold apartments had opened on December 12. It was initially scheduled to close on Thursday. The last date of application for these flats has now been extended to January 21. GMADA officials expect about 2,500 more applicants over the next nine days. GMADA has specified that there shall be a bar on sale of the apartment till two years after handing over of possession, or five years from date of issuance of Letter of Intent (LOI), whichever is earlier. The GMADA official said that a five-year lock-in clause was introduced deliberately so that end users are able to benefit from the housing scheme, “Our mandate is not profit. Almost 80 per cent of the price of these flats is the cost of construction and land acquisition. We did not want speculative investors to edge out the applicants who are seeking premier accommodation in the Tricity at affordable rates," said the official. Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2012