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

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet has approved an increase in the floor area ratio (FAR) by 0.5, thus, paving the way for extra realty space along the Metro corridors in Greater Noida. The new FAR will be applicable within a 1,000-metre radius of the Metro corridors in Greater Noida. The approval for the amendment in Greater Noida's building regulation came through a cabinet meeting held by the state government recently. Read more

The Bengaluru-based realty major M J Infrastructure plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in Kerala in the next two years. Company chairman and managing director Dr P Anil Kumar said the company had planned five residential projects with three in Kochi and one each in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam. Read more

Essar Group has sold its luxury housing project in Bengaluru for Rs 300 crore to SNN Builders as part of the company's strategy to monetise non-core assets. The company had last month sold its 1.25 million square feet Equinox Business Park at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai to realty firm RMZ Corp for about Rs 2,400 crore. Read more

Now, some good news if you are planning to buy a loan. Short-term working capital loans have become cheaper as banks will adopt the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) from today. The new framework requires banks to set rates based on their marginal cost of funds rather than their average cost of funds and was introduced to improve the transmission of cuts in policy rates to the end-borrowers. State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Bank of Baroda have already detailed their MCLR benchmarks for various loan maturities. Read more