Good morning, yesterday evening, a rare disaster struck clueless residents of a housing society in Gurugram's 109 sector.
The tragic (and bizarre) accident occurred during the renovation of a 6th floor apartment, when its drawing room floor collapsed. As a result, all roofs and floors from the sixth floor to the ground floor of the building collapsed one after another, killing and trapping people.
Our prayers are with the affected. 🙏
❓ On another note, how on earth can six floors of a modern building cave in just like that? Let's wait to see what the inspectors have to say.
🏃♀️🥝💪
Chai's Giveaways
💝 Love is in the air and because we love our readers to the moon, this Valentine's Day, we are giving one lucky Ginger Chai reader a pair of cool boAt 441 Airdopes.
How Do You Get It?
Simply reading this newsletter on Monday, 14th February, makes you eligible for a boost in your music time, with the Airdopes offering up to 35 hours of charge-free playback.
💌 Want a friend or colleague to become eligible for our giveaway too? Ask them to subscribe to Ginger Chai before midnight, 13th February. You never know how the luck thing works.
*Winner will be announced on 15th Feb. For Indian Residents Only.
4 Issues Plaguing Affordable Housing
If you're an affordable housing advocate - for the record, Ginger Chai is one - the last few years must have brought you some small sighs of relief.
Though India's affordable housing commitment is commendable, spanners in the work remain.
The 4 Main Issues That Need Resolution
🛠 Urban Planning Reform: The foremost issue leading to the dearth of housing is a lack of land allotment and urban planning policies. If we want to increase the supply of affordable housing — homes that serve essential workers who keep our cities running — we must prioritize cost-effective housing creation that supports these individuals rather than drool over glitzy towers coming up all over town.
🛠 Simplifying Statutory Approvals: Drag in the permissions and approval process for new and existing home construction is another big blockade in the path to affordable housing. Time is literally money for any builder, and speeding up construction with faster approvals reduces costs and accelerates supply. How about a set of pre-approved plans? New Town, Kolkata is a great example of this.
🛠 Streamlining Affordable Housing Funds: Funding for those seeking affordable housing is a good thing. But as we’ve all seen through decades, earmarking these funds is not enough. In our past, central affordable housing programs have been drowning in bureaucracy, making funding inaccessible in reality. The PMAY, et al, are thankfully resolving this to an extent today.
🛠 Assessing Property Taxes Differently: The final issue is the growing property tax burden that ultimately forces rents to go up. Because of massive price appreciation in metro cities, tax assessments are based on comparable sales every year, making ownership and renting dearer. Property tax based on income from property, instead of circle rates, could be a real world solution.
GIF: Locked Out - The Nib (Cool storytellers and we love them)
The TGIF Quiz
Weekend Conversation Starters
🍻 The House of Gucci is looking for a designer to create handbags with in-built lithium ion battery packs offering wireless charging.
🍻 New York-based proptech startup, Occupier, has developed an intuitive lease management software for commercial real estate tenants and brokers. And in a short span of time, their tech is being referred to as the OS for corporate real estate teams.
RBI Stays Put On Interest Rate, Makes The Mood Buoyant
In an expected move, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) didn't move the interest rate anywhere, aka status quo.
And this has triggered a happy response from India's real estate inc., which is still on antacids, trying to douse the budget22 heartburn.
Here's What The Real Estate Sector Folks Are Saying
📢 the historical low mortgage rates will continue to drive demand for housing.
📢 it is high time prospective homebuyers enter the market and close that dream-home deal.
The Backstory
In 2021, demand for housing saw an uptick by around 50-70% across the top-8 cities, thanks to good things like low interest rates on home loans, offers by builders and stable property prices.
Leaving the interest rate unchanged will catalyse the ongoing housing demand as homebuyers will continue to benefit from the lowest-ever home loan rate.
But, But, But...
🎙 "A continuation of this low interest rate regime supports the overall environment of affordability for some more time. While the window of opportunity for homebuyers to avail low interest rates has been extended for some more time, it is unlikely to prevail for much longer - sooner or later, repo rates will rise," said Anuj Puri of Anarock.
🎙 "However, trends indicate that this historic low may not continue for long, and home seekers would be advised to pick up the home loan while still at such low rates," feels Niranjan Hiranandani.
And as housing sales remain robust, it seems the fear of missing out - FOMO - is legit, after all.
✅ Answer to the TGIF Quiz: The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania. The building is made out of 700,000 tons of steel and bronze, 350,000 sq. m. of marble, 3500 tons of crystal and 900,000 sq. m. of wood.
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Last week, a wandering hen was caught sneaking around a security area at the Pentagon, and was promptly taken into custody.
We can all go into the weekend, finally knowing why the chicken crossed the road - to get to the Pentagon. 😅
See you on Monday morning, usual time. 💚
☕ The Crew@Ginger Chai