Realty News Roundup: Rajasthan Govt Launches Jan Aawas Yojana; Bollywood Actors Prefer Real Estate

Realty News Roundup is PropGuide's selection of top stories from the real estate sector

Top News

According to a report published in The Economic Times, Bollywood stars are increasingly investing in real estate, considering it as a safe investment option. According to the report, while Akshay Kumar paid Rs 28 crore for a luxury apartment on the 39th floor of the Skylark Towers in Worli, Abhishek Bachchan paid Rs 41.14 crore for an apartment on the 37th floor in the same project. Actor Aamir Khan has made his fifth real estate purchase and bought a ground-floor apartment in Marina Apartments in Pali Hill for Rs 10.25 crore. Read more

Mint reports that the demand and supply of luxury homes has been growing in India due to a rise in the number of high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and their need for latest amenities. The report says luxury the home market is not restricted to bungalows and stretches to penthouses and sprawling apartments in projects that offer all the luxury amenities, including private pools, landscaped gardens, sun decks, private elevators, etc. The lucrative markets for luxury homes include posh localities of Mumbai as well as Delhi. Read more

Off the front page

The Rajasthan government has launched the Jan Aawas Yojana to provide low- cost and affordable homes. The scheme provides incentives for developers and subsidies for home buyers. In another development, the Maharashtra government has announced that it will soon bring a 'Housing-for-All' policy for the urban areas.

Real estate body Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India's (CREDAI) Delhi-NCR wing has banned two cement companies, Ultratech and Lafarge, for artificially hiking cement prices. “Cement companies have artificially hiked prices by up to 40 per cent in just the past one month. There has been no increase in cement prices in Mumbai, Bengaluru or any other area except the NCR,” Manoj Gaur, President, CREDAI-NCR, has been quoted in this report. Read more

Opinion

"The demand for homes in Pune has witnessed a downward trend since the beginning of 2013, and this momentum continued through 2014 as well. With an increase in land prices, construction cost and improved construction technology, property prices have been hitting the sky," says Dr Naresh Bharde, Founder and CMD, Excellence Group. In this interview, he says prefabricated homes will be the next big thing to take real estate market by storm. Read here