Sunday, March 03, 2013

The culture that is India: Luxury living edition

Fascinating article in the NYT about booming property values in desirable areas of New Delhi, where teardown properties can allegedly go for over $10 million.

There are some specific points in the piece that do not bode well for India's chances develop.

First, the best areas of New Delhi seem to be government owned and given out to politicians as perks:


Few properties come available in the leafiest, most prestigious section of the capital, known as Lutyens’ Delhi, because the area is mostly dedicated to government housing. Powerful government ministers live in British-era bungalows with stately lawns of several acres, while lesser officials are eligible for different categories of government housing in an oasis largely separated from the rest of the chaotic capital, where many people live crowded into slums or shanties. “This is the best part of Delhi, the core of Delhi,” said Munish Kumar Garg, who oversees the allocation of government housing. “If these properties in Lutyens’ Delhi were put on sale, there would be a queue two kilometers long.” Mr. Garg, the director of the government’s Directorate of Estates, controls one of the more valuable residential real estate portfolios in the world. Asked how many New Delhi properties fell under his agency, he shrugged. “It would be difficult to know,” he said. “Maybe 10,000.”

Yes, in 2013, the Indian Government is managing 10,000+ residences for government employees, just in New Delhi.


Second, the process of buying a house is not extremely transparent. There aren't often public real estate listings and purchases frequently require large amount of unreported cash payments that avoid tax issues:

Though India’s economy has cooled, the demand for property in elite areas remains so strong that even finding a house for sale is tricky: formal listings do not exist; prices usually circulate by word of mouth. Transactions often require some “black” money, or stacks of cash paid under the table to avoid taxes. The buyers are often Indian industrialists looking for a trophy property, a real estate Rolex. Or, real estate agents and sellers say, they can be politicians or their proxies, who often pay with trunks of cash.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHITE LOANS
Windsor House, Greville Road,
Bristol, BS3 1LL United Kingdom.
Email: whiteloans@admin.in.th

White Loans is a trading name of Freelancer Financials Ltd, Avondale House, 262 Uxbridge Road, Middlesex, HA5 4HS.
Company Number: 07676401.
Data Protection Number: Z2957996.
CCL Number: 562464

We specialise in finding short/Long term credit solutions for customers in the hurry. The instant payday loans available through this contact can be arranged online without deposit of valued asset.


It can occasionally take up to three working days to have the funds cleared, depending on who you bank with. Most mainstream banks however are extremely quick at allowing you to access the funds.

Our service is available to you at 2% interest rate. We do however receive commission from payday lenders and brokers when customers enter into a consumer credit agreement with the them, having been introduced via our service.

Specialize in offering:

*Refinance
*Home Improvement
*Investment Loan
*Auto Loans
*Debt Consolidation
*Business Loans
*Personal Loans
*International Loans.

Applying for a payday loan through White Loans couldn’t be easier. Simply choose how much you’d like to borrow and when you intend to pay it back.

If you really acknowledge this content, you are to send the details information to the account overleaf.


EASY WAY TO APPLY.


(1) Full Name:

(2) Loan Amount Needed:

(3) Duration of Repayment:

(4) Country:

(5) Marital Status:

(6) Gender:

(8) Age:

(9) Occupation:

(10) Mobile:

Email: whiteloans@admin.in.th
Tel: +447042035199
CUSTOMER CARE
Enjoy Online Transfer Services.

Tiago said...

I don´t know much about India, but it is a good moment to invest abroad. Moving capitals from a country to another has never been easier and the american real estate market is having a hard time.
I spoke with a top real estate agents from Australia who put me in touch with some people and I did several successful business.