JPMorgan sees chance in property crack

Many India and Chinese developers are struggling to complete ambitious projects because local banks have clamped down on lending to the construction industry and a stock market slump has closed off equity raising through IPOs.

It8217;s a fantastic opportunity for us at a time when a lot of our competitors are scaling down because of difficulties accessing their balance sheet.

8212; Bryan Southergill, Asia retail real estate head, JP Morgan

Commercial Realty Plunges

Global real estate consultant Cushman 038; Wakefield says the general economic slowdown has caught up with the commercial real estate sector as is evident by a fall in demand during the April-June period of the year

9.74 million square feet Commercial real estate demand in April-June period

18.07 million square feetThe supply in the same period

Retail Mall Rentals Dip

CB Richard Ellis says while the mall rentals in some of the micro-markets of the cities remained stable, certain pockets of Delhi and Gurgaon in NCR and Bangalore registered a declinebetween the first and the second quarter of this year. The above, combined with the fact that consumer spending has suffered a setback due to compounding inflation, has led to talks of retail space surplus being created in the country.

Rentals that are up

Overall rental values across micro markets in major cities witnessed an increase in the range of 3-5 per cent over the previous quarter. The highest rental increase during the April-June period was at Malad in Mumbai where rental appreciated by 11 per cent followed by the Dalhousie area in Kolkata which witnessed 10 per cent rental increase, but that was mainly due to paucity of supply.