A total of 160 leading developers from all states in India will aim to cater to the growing demand of the non-resident Indians (NRIs) for properties at a major real estate exhibition opening in Dubai, UAE, tomorrow (May 15).

The Realty India Expo 2015 will be held until May 16 at Al Bustan Rotana Hotel.

The 10th edition of the exhibition will showcase varied residential projects from cities like Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and cities in Kerala and the National Capital Region (NCR). This is apart from developers from Tier III cities like Coimbatore, Mangalore and Mysore, which are now driving demand, a statement said.

Plotted development projects, affordable housing, luxury apartments, row houses and villas are among the property categories on display. The organisers also have arranged NRI consultancy services to clarify the customers’ queries on investments, home loans, tax planning and repatriation procedures.

“This year, the mega property show is happening at a time when the property prices are stagnant and home loan lending rates have been reduced with a special concession for women home buyers on the interest rate front,” said MI Sait, CMD at Mindscape ME, organisers of Realty India Expo, speaking at the Press conference.

“The government has taken commendable steps to finalise several landmark reforms. Prominent among them include opening of retail sector to global investors, a new land acquisition law, streamlining of approval mechanism and appointment of a real estate regulator in each state.

“This is apart from liberalising FDI (foreign direct investment) norms in real estate and agricultural sector, introduction of REIT and allowing external commercial borrowings up to $1 billion for affordable housing sector. This is expected to improve the overall business environment across the country in the coming years. It has been estimated that the real estate sector has the potential to increase fivefold to reach $676 billion by 2025, particularly at a time when the government is finalising plans to announce 100 smart cities and 500 other cities across the country,” he added.

Rahul Nahar, chairman – XRBIA Developers, said: “The strong policy announcements made by the government towards providing ‘Housing for All by 2022’, strengthens our vision of providing future ready sustainable homes to every Indian by 2030. Coupled with increased focus towards creating suburban infrastructure corridors outside large cities by increasing the spend on local rail corridors, multi modal road networks and an increased impetus on urban infrastructure, will enable the overall industry to build the millions of units that the country needs for its housing deficit.”

“With the commercial property absorption inching high across metros, there will be increasing demand for housing both for rental and investment purposes. It is said that every square feet of commercial property absorption in a city generates demand for three square feet of residential property,” Sait explained.

“Moreover, availability of property management companies to take care of the properties of NRIs during their absence in India has made investment in multiple cities a viable proposition and hassle-free exercise. Easier lending norms, flexibility in repatriation with minimal paperwork, fiscal sops, and other advantages have all made investment in Indian property sector easy and hassle-free now,”

“The repatriation benefits up to two residential units and annual repatriation limit up to $1 million out of NRO account arising out of income from sale of properties, rentals, have made investment in the real estate a lucrative opportunity for the NRIs,” he said.

The Indian real estate market size is expected to touch $180 billion by the year 2020. The housing sector alone contributes five to six per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Also, in the period FY08-20, the market size of this sector is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.2 per cent.

Retail, hospitality and commercial real estate are also growing significantly, providing the much-needed infrastructure for India's growing needs. According to a study by Knight Frank, Mumbai is the best city in India for commercial real estate investment, with returns of 12 to 19 per cent likely in the next five years, followed by Bengaluru and Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). – TradeArabia News Service