Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Better the land prices sink

The official line of bullshit from Real Estate developers is that slowdown is only in residential segment; commercial properties are still in demand. I said cheese off!

Now hear it from the Future Group CEO Kishor Biyani

“We are about to conclude two deals where we do not have to pay rentals for three years” – No rentals for 3 years? Huh? Hear more. He only expects surplus space to be larger in 2009. Why shouldn’t he?

The man who started off India’s retail revolution can’t be wrong. I don’t want him to be. Real estate in a third world, infrastructure starved, poverty ridden country like India shouldn’t be costing so much. Look at wafer thin retail margins. Can they be housed in expensive real estate? I can understand if India’s IT vendors that once enjoyed a margin of 35% did that. Now dollar has tanked and their margins have also been hit. Uncertainty looms everywhere. Why should real estate be any different?

The land prices/rentals have to sink, otherwise the structures they erect over the land will. You like that?
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