Sanjay Bajaj, MD – Pune gets strategic oversight of West India and Industrial Services

Mumbai, 9 March 2017:  JLL, India’s largest and leading International Property Consultancy, today announced the elevation of Karan Singh Sodi to Managing Director – Mumbai (MMR). Simultaneously, Sanjay Bajaj, Managing Director – Pune has been given strategic oversight of JLL’s Western India businesses, including Mumbai and Ahmedabad. He will also take on direct responsibility of the Firm’s Industrial Services division.

Karan Sodi has been with JLL India for over 16 years, headed the Mumbai Office Markets division for over 8 years, and has been instrumental in its exponential growth. He became a Regional Director in 2016 and will now also join JLL’s India Leadership Council (ILC).

Sanjay Bajaj – also a Regional Director and ILC member – has been given his new responsibilities on the back of his amply demonstrated leadership skills, results-oriented focus and process-driven approach. Serving with JLL India for over 11 years, he has been instrumental in setting up JLL’s Investment Sales platform in Pune, structured some of the largest land transactions and established an unmatched office and Industrial Services businesses there.

Santhosh Kumar, CEO – Operations & International Director, JLL India says, “Both these elevations are backed by extremely strong performance graphs, and are well-deserved and timely. Over the years, Karan Sodi has successfully led the Office brokerage business to make it the leading player within Mumbai’s commercial real estate space. He has excellent relationships with the Firm’s leading clients, been a strong champion of technology adoption, and also displayed a relentless focus on JLL’s Diversity agenda – women team members account for a third of the Mumbai Markets team. Likewise, under Sanjay Bajaj’s leadership, JLL’s Pune operations have retained the #1 market position in the city over the last 8 years.”

These key elevations are in line with JLL India’s strong reputation for rewarding exceptional performance and fast-tracking career moves and key leadership positions. Both Karan and Sanjay assumed their new and additional roles on 1 March 2017.

About JLL India

JLL is India’s premier and largest professional services firm specializing in real estate. With an extensive geographic footprint across 11 cities (Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Chandigarh and Coimbatore) and a staff strength of 9300, the firm provides investors, developers, local corporates and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services including research, analytics, consultancy, transactions, project and development services, integrated facility management, property and asset management, sustainability, industrial, capital markets, residential, hotels, health care, senior living, education and retail advisory. The firm was awarded the Property Consultant of the Decade at the 10th CNBC-Awaaz Real Estate Awards 2015 and the Best Property Consultancy in India at the International Property Awards Asia Pacific 2016-17.

www.joneslanglasalle.co.in

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Major leadership infusion will significantly enhance JLL’s pre-eminence in Delhi NCR & Kolkata

Delhi, 16 February 2017: Leading international property consultancy JLL India has appointed industry veteran Manish Aggarwal as Managing Director – North & East India operations. Previously, Mr. Aggarwal was MD – North & East India at Cushman & Wakefield, and prior to that held key positions at Knight Frank and Colliers. He assumed his new role at JLL on 1st February 2017 and is based in Gurgaon.

Manish Aggarwal will primarily focus on strengthening JLL’s Delhi NCR transactions businesses, while simultaneously overseeing the Firm’s Eastern India operations. As a part of his new role, Mr. Aggarwal will also assume a senior leadership seat within JLL’s India Leadership Council (ILC).

Santhosh Kumar, CEO – Operations & International Director, JLL India says, “Drawing on his extensive experience as a real estate expert across asset classes, Manish Aggarwal will drive our growth in North and East India. He has managed a variety of complex, high-value assignments with major Indian and international corporate clients, developers and funds. His indubitable abilities and deep connections with key stakeholders in these two critical markets made him the natural choice for JLL.

“As a real estate services professional, the move to JLL India is a logical transition for me”, says Manish Aggarwal. “During my long career in the realty space, I have witnessed the transformational growth of this Firm globally as well as in India. It is the pre-eminent and leading name among International Property Consultancies in India, with a vast operational platform that presents me the kind of challenging professional opportunities I prefer. I am highly enthused about applying my core competence in the North and East Indian markets to advance JLL’s business there, and to spearhead the next phase of growth in these critical markets.”

Manish Aggarwal’s multi-faceted expertise, which includes identifying new business avenues, cross-selling opportunities, strengthening client relationships and ensuring service delivery, have come into play from Day 1 of his appointment at JLL India. He is one of the rare real estate professionals specialized in virtually all key aspects of the realty business. Apart from office real estate transactions, he is an expert in real estate-focused Capital Markets, Land & Industrial services and Investment Services, including Valuations.

With the Delhi NCR office being one of JLL’s most dynamic business centres, Mr. Aggarwal’s leadership will contribute significantly to reaffirming the Firm’s stature as the region’s leading International Property Consultancy.

About JLL India

JLL is India’s premier and largest professional services firm specializing in real estate. With an extensive geographic footprint across 11 cities (Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Chandigarh and Coimbatore) and a staff strength of over 8500, the firm provides investors, developers, local corporates and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services including research, analytics, consultancy, transactions, project and development services, integrated facility management, property and asset management, sustainability, industrial, capital markets, residential, hotels, healthcare, senior living, education and retail advisory. The firm was awarded the Property Consultant of the Decade at the 10th CNBC Awaaz Real Estate Awards 2015 and the Best Property Consultancy in India at the International Property Awards Asia Pacific 2016-17.

www.jll.co.in

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Santhosh Kumar, CEO – Operations & International Director, JLL India

The National Capital Region (NCR) has some locations that buyers are best advised to avoid. Various issues like delays in delivery, oversupply, speculation and infrastructure deficit have been plaguing these markets, rendering them unsuitable for first-time home purchase.

Greater Faridabad

While Faridabad is a duly plotted area, its younger neighbour – Greater Faridabad – has become notorious for litigated land parcels, delayed delivery issues and a high incidence of broken promises by developers. Everything that can possibly go wrong in a buyer-developer relationship has done just that in this area of NCR.

Although property prices here were always affordable, this market has seen the lowest appreciation in entire NCR. The main reason behind this trend could be Faridabad’s overall ‘industrial town’ ethos. Also, the infrastructure deployment has not kept pace with the considerable residential development in this region. Neither the improved connectivity to Delhi via the national highway nor the under-construction metro or new highway to Gurgaon have changed the realty fortunes of this corridor.

Many instances of fly-by-night operators (and even some established developers) reneging on their commitments to buyers have been evident in Greater Faridabad. There have even been cases of developers absconding altogether after selling as many flats as they could without finishing the projects.

On other cases, buyers have been allotted / shown plots on a map or in a particular location but getting physical possession of plots altogether different from the ones initially agreed upon. In a variant of this scam, buyers were not allotted any plots at all or were saddled with plots not included in any master plan, and bereft of the authorities’ approvals.

In most of these cases, buyers had made partial or full payments against their plots. Between Faridabad and Greater Faridabad, most of the speculative and new residential development has happened in the latter, but very few projects have been delivered so far. This poor track record throws up cause for high caution for end-users – for all and any faith put in location and the developers active here, caveat emptor (‘let the buyers beware’) applies. As far as investors are concerned, this area has fallen off their radar.

Noida Extension

The primary issue impacting this location’s viability as an investment destination is the oversupply of residential units. With 1.5-2 lakh units slated to hit this market, prices are unlikely to appreciate much. Many land acquisition issues involving local farmers have sullied the market here over the last few years. The ensuing delays and litigations, resulting higher compensation being paid to farmers for their land, has also decreased overall affordability.

The government has decided to compensate developers for their losses by allotting them higher floor area ratio (FAR). However, this will result in far greater development congestion than was originally envisaged for this area. Delays in completion of projects are another concern.

Despite its disproportionate housing supply, Noida Extension has lost much of its earlier attractiveness. Houses are available at similar prices in areas like Ghaziabad because Noida Extension’s erstwhile key differentiator – its affordability – no longer exists.

Even though the planned metro and a wide main road connecting Noida Extension to Noida are on the anvil, congestion will turn this area into an uninspiring concrete jungle. Also, in light of the recent earthquakes in Nepal whose tremors were felt across NCR, the issue of earthquake resistance has come into sharp focus.  Rampant construction is also observed in neighbouring Noida. As both these areas are situated on the Yamuna river belt, they have more river soil than areas like Gurgaon. With increased seismic activity, it is important for buyers to additionally check if zoning and structural laws are being properly followed here and if the project is earthquake-resistant.

Delhi’s L & J zones

With the new land pooling policy in place, peripheral areas like Delhi’s L & J Zone have become highly speculative markets for land. Retail buyers should stay away from these and certainly not fall for land pooling options or related schemes. There is nothing lucrative for smaller buyers in going for land purchases here. These locations are mainly lucrative for investors or those interested in having their own farmhouses. Neither of these areas currently have adequate social infrastructure, and are yet to see any semblance of good civic infrastructure. Additionally, in the L-Zone, there is uncertainty about land reservations / demarcations.

Home buyers and investors are advised to be cautious when considering options in the following locations:

The NH-24 stretch in Ghaziabad

Although Ghaziabad has several launches lined up and good options in affordable housing and township projects are available, price appreciation will largely be driven by its future industrial growth. Also, its viability as a residential destination will depend significantly on infrastructure deployment.

A six-lane expressway has been proposed, but that can easily take more than five years to be built. Currently, there is a major bottleneck for traffic at Indirapuram, and residents commuting here will have to face daily traffic congestion. End-users should only consider moving here if commuting under such conditions is acceptable, and investors should factor in a protracted investment horizon for any appreciable payoff.

Gurgaon

A general advisory for end-users and investors interested in this area:

• Check the status of construction in the identified project, as delays in delivery are commonplace – and it is not only smaller, anonymous developers who are involved;
• Keep away from pre-launches. Instead, look for bargain buys when investors exit. At that point of time, construction will be closer to completion or completed, and Gurgaon is witnessing distress sales from investors;
• Several subvention schemes popular these days actually require payment of more money upfront, and the prices per square feet are also higher if one opts for these. The agreements tend to be restrictive, and there is risk of getting stuck with one developer and project. The interest rates as also the terms and conditions of the developer’s chosen bank must be agreed upon;
• The Gurgaon market is already over-priced, pace of infrastructure development is slow and the incentive for quick appreciation has disappeared. A longer investment horizon will have to be considered.

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With the reviving economy having infused a renewed sense of confidence among HNI home buyers, there has been a significant surge in demand for luxury homes asset class in the metropolitan cities of India. Many more developers are now venturing into the premium segment, which has resulted in a massive spurt of luxury projects. In fact, many of these properties are being touted as so exclusive that sales are by invitations only.

Those projects aside, there is no shortage of builders who are marketing their projects as ‘luxurious’ without any real justification for the term. Driven by the rising demand for luxury apartments, many investors (and end-users) are actually buying sub-standard properties which have been tagged as luxurious but do not actually meet the accepted norms of luxury properties.

Such developers highlight and promote certain specifications and amenities in their marketing collaterals, but invariably remain silent on much more important aspects. Luxury home buyers should not be led astray by the perplexing parameters that such developers mention to qualify their projects for the ‘luxury’ label.

So, what kinds of apartments really qualify as luxury homes?

• Great Location

A convenient location is one of the most important aspects that must be considered while choosing a luxury apartment. A centrally-located apartment is preferable for HNIs who want to stay in close proximity to important places like airports, business districts, railway stations, etc. At the same time, such a location could also be marred by issues such as traffic congestion, noise and pollution. True luxury is defined by a careful balance of connectivity and general ambience.

• Perfect View

The window view available from an apartment is also an important aspect. A project may be genuinely luxurious in its specifications and amenities. However, if it overlooks a hyper-busy highway or anything else that is not soothing to the eyes and sensibilities of the occupants (such as a slum, graveyard or even a hospital) then both habitation value and rental/resale potential of the apartment may take a beating. The availability of super-rich amenities such as a rooftop swimming pool and Jacuzzi in every bathroom will not make a difference when the very basic ingredient of a luxurious living experience is absent.

• Ultra-Modern Amenities

HNIs investing in a luxury apartment want the best that money can buy. Luxury homes are meticulously designed to offer maximum comfort, with attractive interiors and cutting-edge facilities. Premium residential projects must offer state-of-the-art facilities such as landscaped gardens, stylish living rooms with LED televisions, sleek and fully-equipped kitchen, Wi-Fi, multiple parking, fast elevators, 24-hour security and gymnasiums.

• Top-Of-The-Line Quality

HNIs investing in luxury homes should ensure that the project is built with high-quality construction materials and that it incorporates standards such as earthquake resistance, RCC frame structure, fire-resistant aluminium sliding windows, imported or high-quality domestic modular kitchens, vitrified tiling and floors, etc. Living in such homes must equal a high quality of life and a consistently joyful experience.

• 100% Safety And Security

Luxury homes are not only about living in comfort but also living in total security. When living in a luxury home, the inhabitants should be safe from any kind of criminal intrusion. Simultaneously, they do not expect to have to install security grilles over their windows or front door as these completely ruin the aesthetics of their homes. The occupants expect to have the assurance that their families and property are safe in all respects. A genuine luxury project has the best of security, both in terms of actual personnel and also the latest electronic monitoring and surveillance. All conceivable safety measures should be firmly in place.

• Low Saturation Of Neighbours

The exclusiveness of a luxury home also depends on the number of people residing in the building or society. In an overpopulated building or complex, the amenities will be shared among a large number of people and this compromise the overall luxury factor for every individual apartment. When investing in a luxury home, buyers should expect –and get – exclusivity and privacy in every sense.

In Short…

When identifying a luxury home for self-use or investment, one should not be influenced by the story a developer is telling about his project, but by true and verifiable parameters which define luxury in every sense.

The post Guidelines To Investing In A Luxury Apartment: Santhosh Kumar, CEO – Operations & International Director, JLL India appeared first on Core Sector Communique.

Santhosh Kumar, CEO – Operations & International Director, JLL India

• Due Diligence For Ready-To-Occupy Properties

• Due Diligence For Under-Construction Properties

• Due Diligence For Redeveloped Properties

• In the first scenario, discussions regarding redevelopment are ongoing between the society and developer, but no agreement has yet been signed. In such a case, buying into the project is as good as buying into a normal resale property.

• In the second scenario, an agreement is already in place between the society and the developer. If one of the society members wishes to sell his property and has found a buyer, there are three parties involved in the transaction – the seller, the buyer and the developer. The developer in question needs to be kept in the loop so that the rights of the existing society member who is selling his property are properly transferred to the buyer, with the knowledge of the society.

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