Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Regulate real estate !!

THE HIMALAYAN TIMES
The government agencies should not do anything that may go counter to the building code and other related regulations The tragic incident that took place in Taukhel of Lalitpur on Friday when a wall fell on a school killing two young students and injured around 24 others has sounded the alarm bell. This accident happened due to the recklessness of the land plotter. According to the reports, the wall was built without adhering to the building code for walls. Apart from the lack of its solid construction, the height of the wall was well above the maximum height for walls specified by the government. Although we have such a code for various structures these are not strictly adhered to and taken lightly as a result of which many houses are built by private individuals on their own without getting the approval of the authorities to construct such buildings. Therefore, the guilty responsible for the calamity in the school should be brought to book after carrying out the necessary investigations. Several such incidents killing and injuring people have occurred over the years due to the collapsing of tall walls that were not built according to the code. These days the lucrative real estate is taking place in a hazardous manner by throwing all caution to the winds. Moreover it is regrettable these days to observe the risky purchase and plotting of particularly big land plots. The need to regulate and formulate the real estate sector is of utmost importance. There is also growing concern about the increasing fragmentation of fertile land and unplanned urbanisation. It is believed that three per cent of the homes in the Kathmandu Valley are constructed by private sector developers. There should be strict provisions in the law that would allow only competent companies to develop land plots according to strict and specific criteria, otherwise, it will continue to put in danger the lives of people, encourage unscrupulous people to cheat buyers and sellers without accountability, deprive the government of much tax revenue, mar the beauty of the landscape, make the structures prone to natural disasters, etc. Land has been divided into agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial, among others and also the risk-prone areas. Construction works in such land should be closely monitored and action taken when deviations occur. There should be regulations that permit only licensed and registered companies, not every individual, to deal in the buying and selling of real estate. Many of the blue-prints of the houses and other structures are approved without meeting all the set criteria through undue influence, pecuniary or otherwise. Following the major earthquakes that hit the country more than a year ago, the government has come up with a revised building code, which specifies, among other things, the minimum area of the plot of land, the spaces to be left open on the sides of the house, the width of the road etc. leading to the house, etc. But the land revenue offices of the government pass the registration of even those plots of land which cannot meet these specifications. This irresponsible action has only endangered the investment of buyers in small plots of land that fall short of the building code. The government agencies should not do anything that may go counter to the building code and other related regulations. No impact Plastic bags are the major source of pollution and blocking the drainage system in the city areas where consumers use them widely because they are easily available. In a bid to control the use of plastic bags which are below 40 microns the government had introduced a ban on the use of plastic bags in April 2015. But it could not be implemented in the city areas except in the Singha Durbar premises. Nor has the government been able to impose the ban on the manufacturers of plastic bags. Plastic manufacturers have accused the government of imposing the ban on it without giving them an alternative to their business. Around 200 plastic bag factories that produce seven metric tons of plastic bags daily were to be shut down if the ban were to be strictly followed. Businessmen and consumers will easily shift to other non-pollutant products such as jute/paper/cloth bags if the government gives suitable alternatives to the producers along with attractive incentives like exemption of customs duty on import of non-pollutant raw materials. A version of this article appears in print on July 05, 2016 of The Himalayan Times.

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Rentonnepal is an web platform for all kinds of rental solution within the Nepal. Here we provide a platform for all the owners and tenants for sharing their all kinds of rental properties.

Rentonnepal was founded by the team of young and dynamic students of computer science and information technology with an aim to to serve the community people for their flexible sharing of rental informations.



Currently, Rentonnepal is providing service as www.rentonnepal.com for all kinds of  rental informations about the homes, flats, rooms and shutter regarding the need and share of rental properties.

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Australia has never had so many homes for rent !!

There’s a lot of housing built in Australia right now, along with a lot of investor activity. Most is concentrated in Australia’s eastern capitals, particularly Sydney and Melbourne.


As a result, it’s hardly surprising to learn the number of properties advertised for rent hit the highest levels on record in the past 12 months.

“There were 362,708 houses advertised for rent and 287,233 units at a national level,” said Cameron Kusher, research analyst at CoreLogic. “The number of rental advertisements over the past year grew 8.7% higher for houses and 9.3% higher for units.”

The recent lift in rental advertisements is shown in the chart below from CoreLogic. The figures are presented as a rolling annual total, with those for houses and units both sitting at record highs.


Source: CoreLogic
And as shown in the following table, the council areas that have seen the largest increase in advertisements over the past 12 months have been in just two states — New South Wales and Western Australia.

It’s again courtesy of CoreLogic, and only shows those council regions that have recorded over 1,000 rental advertisements over the past 12 months.


Source: CoreLogic
While council areas in New South Wales and Western Australia dominated the list, Kusher says the factors driving the growth are polar opposites apart.

“Investor activity has been sluggish in Western Australia so this may indicate that as the economy has weakened and people have migrated away from the state. Perhaps home owners are looking to rent out their home rather than selling into weak market conditions,” he says.

It could also be reflective of the unwinding mining sector infrastructure boom, leaving previously tenanted properties empty as workers move on following the completion of projects.

However, for New South Wales, Kusher says the increase in properties advertised for rent is almost certainly reflective of increased investor activity.

“A number of New South Wales regions are also featured on the list and this is probably more reflective of the ramping-up of housing supply purchased by investors,” he says.

At the other end of the spectrum, those council areas that have seen the largest decline in advertisements over the past 12 months have been largely concentrated in regions surrounding Sydney and Melbourne, perhaps an indication that affordability constraints may be increasing demand in areas outside these cities.

Looking ahead, Kusher says the number of properties advertised for rent will likely continue to rise given the record number of dwellings under construction of which most are units who have been purchased by investors.

“For owners of investment properties and property managers, they should be mindful of their local rental conditions, and set their weekly rents accordingly to maximize their occupancy as well as income,” Kusher says.

“Landlords in areas where the supply of rental properties has shown a rise may find they need to hold their rents steady or provide a discount on their rental expectations in order to keep or attract tenants.”

Source:businessinsider

Growing Demand on Real estate !!

Compared to the same period last year demand has grown by 200 per cent
The demand for individual housing has increased significantly after earthquake in 2015. According to real estate developers, of late demand and sales have doubled for plotting and individual houses in the valley. Earlier the government temporarily banned new construction after the massive earthquake hit the country. Later the real estate industry faced turmoil due to the blockade and confusion over housing policy. Now with clarity on policy and a gradually improving economy, the real estate industry is also growing.



Image Credit: THT

Developers stated that buyers are now gaining confidence. “In the last six months, we have got overwhelming demand for individual houses. Compared to the same period last year, the demand has grown by 200 per cent,” said Gaurav Ratna Sthapit, Business Advisor at Civil Homes. Citing that they have reached a similar market situation as before the earthquake, he said, “We have introduced new projects in Godawari, Dhapakhel, Sunakothi and Sitapaila. And we have got an overwhelming response.”

With the increase in demand, the price of both land and houses have increased. On average the price of land has increased by 40 to 50 per cent while the cost of the housing increased by 20 to 30 per cent. “Due to the price hike in construction material, the price of construction has also increased this fiscal year,” Sthapit informed. According to him, their clients include both first time home buyers and investors. Being optimistic about the future, he said, “If everything goes right, the real estate industry will surely boom this fiscal.”
Despite high demand for individual houses, developers said that they are not able to introduce new projects due to complex provisions on acquiring land. “Land acquisition has become one of the biggest challenges for us to start a new project,” said Bijay Rajbhandary, Chairman of CE Construction, adding, “The ceiling of land acquisition up to 60 ropanis is still not clear whether it is for a single project or for the company.”

Rajbhandary said that they plan to come up with another new project at Hattiban. “We will probably launch this project just before Dashain. Now we are busy developing a master plan,” he said. According to him, the company has increased construction cost by Rs 500 from Rs 4,500 per sq ft to Rs 5,000 per sq ft owing to the price hike in construction material. He also informed that they have even started to sell apartment units of Retreat and Grande Tower.

With the escalating investment in real estate, Nepal Rastra Bank has taken corrective measure by reducing the limit of real estate lending for commercial purpose by 10 per cent. In a new monetary policy, NRB has limited the loan value of collateral from 60 per cent earlier to 50 per cent. “NRB’s corrective measure also shows that the investment in real estate sector is growing,” said Minman Shrestha, General Secretary of Nepal Land and Housing Developers’ Association. He said, “Booming share market, slow down in businesses and the basic need for housing has started to make people invest in real estate.” According to him, due to soaring demand, land prices have been hiked by 40 to 45 per cent in general while in some specific areas the price has doubled.

Citing that the future of apartments is also bright in the valley, Shrestha said, “For some time now, individual houses will be in demand but ultimately the scope of apartments is immense.” He further added, “Apartments are affordable as compared to individual houses. One can acquire a one room bedroom apartment at only Rs three million and that comes along with facilities and security.” He said that the minimum price of an individual house is around Rs 10 million. He stressed on the need for fostering the apartment projects properly with proper zoning and one-door system.

SUJATA AWALE

Banks halt loans for Real Estate !!

Decide to stop extending credit against collateral of stocks • To prioritise productive sector


Following Nepal Rastra Bank’s concerns about aggressive lending, high interest rate on credit and concentration of loans in the unproductive sectors by banks and financial institutions, the 28 commercial banks of the country today decided to halt loans for automobiles, real estate and loans against collateral of stocks (margin lending) temporarily.

The central bank had summoned heads of the associations of class ‘A’, class ‘B’ and class ‘C’ financial institutions yesterday, and asked them to take corrective actions to control unfair practices prevailing in the banking industry to ensure ‘financial stability’.

A meeting of the Nepal Bankers’ Association — the umbrella association of 28 commercial banks in the country — agreed today to float loans only based on deposit growth and loan expansion will be prioritised to the productive sector as defined by the central bank, according to Anil Keshary Shah, president of NBA.

Bankers expect the ‘credit crunch’ situation to improve once the government’s capital spending gathers momentum. To properly implement fiscal budget 2016-17, the government needs to spend Rs 1.80 billion every day for the remainder of this fiscal ending in mid-July, which seems ‘unrealistic’.

Shah added that to a large extent the banks adopted aggressive lending policy on expectations that the government would also properly implement the budget to stimulate economic growth. Slow capital expenditure of the government has, however, put cold water on such hopes and they are now facing acute shortage of loanable funds.

Commercial banks witnessed loan growth of 30 per cent in the first half of this fiscal against the average annual growth of 19 per cent in the last five years.

“The demand for credit surged this fiscal due to the expansion of businesses that had more or less been stalled in the last two fiscal years due to the earthquake and border blockade,” explained Shah, adding, “The decision taken by banks to halt credit in certain sectors may hit economic activities and ultimately the government’s revenue.”

While the banks are clueless as to when the credit situation will improve, loan expansion for the remainder of this fiscal will be more modest, Shah added.

Bankers also agreed to keep the interest rate on deposit and credit at a rational level, maintaining the interest rate spread of five percentage points.

“The whole economy will suffer from high interest rate on credit, which is why we should be careful not to allow the deposit interest rate from skyrocketing. So, all the commercial banks have agreed to maintain reasonable interest rates on deposit and credit,” said Shah.

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE