The new age home buyers are tech-savvy, appreciate fine living, and are high-income individuals who prefer a luxurious blend of extravagant house designs with modern amenities. To cater to their altering requirements aligned with the latest home interior trends, modern home buyers always look out for homes, designed with thoughtful and practical features, providing them with all the facilities they need. Considering the customer’s evolving preferences in making homes more personalized, real estate developers constantly endeavor to include unique features to fulfill customers’ needs, wherein the Modular Kitchen feature is gaining utmost popularity.

The real estate industry has made modular kitchens a standard inclusion due to the growing popularity of these types of kitchens among today’s younger generation. Today, a housing property is designed with pre-installed modular kitchens, high-tech amenities, and contemporary interior design. Let’s take a closer look at some of the factors responsible for the growing demand for modular kitchens in the real estate sector. 

Ideal for all properties:

Modular kitchens are suitable for all kinds of properties, no matter the size of the apartments, whether they are small and compact apartments or luxurious duplex apartments. They are designed and installed according to the size and shape of the property and customers’ needs. Hence, they are ideal for all types of properties.

Hassle-Free Cooking Experience:

One of the most hectic tasks involving household chores includes meal planning, preparation, and storage. Kitchen work can become extremely overwhelming with a lack of planning and organization. The customized approach involved in setting up a modular kitchen helps provide a hassle-free cooking experience as the kitchens are designed keeping in mind the frequency of kitchen use, food cooking preferences, and family size. 

High Durability:

Modular kitchens are manufactured using high-quality materials including waterproof and boiling waterproof features that essentially contribute to enhancing their durability. These kitchens are also prepared to withstand the regular wear and tear of kitchen tasks, hence, this can be considered a great investment in the property.

Built-in appliances provide a stylish touch:

Modular kitchens provide an option to arrange a dedicated and customized space to install built-in equipment which also enhances the overall aesthetic of the kitchen. Today, a kitchen design trend of providing hidden cabinets is catching up wherein bulky structures can have their dedicated hidden space in the kitchen such as water purifiers, microwaves, food processors,s, etc. Such trends not only boost creativity and innovation in the kitchen space but also significantly contributes to enhancing kitchen appearance.

Space Organization:

Modular kitchens are specifically designed to provide better and more efficient storage. These kitchens provide a variety of design ideas to organize the kitchen space and provide sufficient space to arrange the necessities without making the room seem crowded. Today, kitchen corner space utilization designs are becoming popular amongst customers as they help make optimum utilization of the kitchen area. 

Smart storage concepts, personalized space design, and space management ideas are some of the key highlights of a modern modular kitchen, due to which there is a growing demand for modular kitchen concepts amongst customers.  Also, the growing number of partnerships between real estate developers and modular kitchen manufacturers is one factor that is expected to push the demand for modular kitchens in the coming years.

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MUMBAI: The GST-Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) Karnataka bench has ruled that the goods and services tax (GST) is not applicable on the sale of plots, even if the plots are sold after basic necessities-related works have been completed (such as land leveling, installation of sewage lines, et al).

The land has always been clearly exempt from GST. GST is charged. However, a never-ending battle erupted over whether the sale of plots following basic development is subject to GST. This case is nearing its end.

“This advance ruling is in response to the circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) following the GST Central Council meeting on August 3,” Harpreet Singh, indirect tax partner at KPMG-India, explained. This circular states that even the sale of plots after some basic development is considered a sale of land and is exempt from GST. However, services used to develop the land, such as land leveling and drainage line installation, will be subject to GST. The CBIC’s clarification and this advance ruling clear the air on the application of GST to land sales.”

Plots are typically sold to individuals for the purpose of constructing their own homes after the seller has completed some basic development (land owner). In this case, Rabia Khanum, an unregistered individual under GST laws, attempted to convert her land on the outskirts of Bengaluru into a residential site. The land will be developed in accordance with the District Town and Country Planning Act, she stated.

Land development entails laying of electricity cables, water pipes, sewerage lines, drilling of bore-wells, setting up of a power substation, and obtaining a connection from the electricity board.
The authorities would not grant permission to sell plots to individuals for house construction unless these basic necessities were met.

She sought a response on whether GST was applicable on the advance received/sale consideration for such sites, as well as whether GST would apply on the ‘sale of plots after completion of works related to basic necessities,’ and received a favorable response that it was not.

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On December 30th, Fitch Solutions said it expects the residential and non-residential building sector of the country to grow by 6.6% in 2020, led by fiscal support and increased focus on providing affordable housing in urban areas.

“A mix of tax support and government policies supporting the housings market, and enhanced activity within the logistics, retail, and industrial constructions sectors, will drive short-term expansion in the Indian construction sector,” the statement said.

On the other hand, long-term growth will mainly be driven by the large population of the country needing continuing investment in the housing industry, the statement said.

The crisis caused by loan crashes triggered by a series of defaults by non-bank financial companies has risen over 2019, contributing to a decrease in the availability of funding for developers and buyers.

The government approved a package of Rs 10,000 crore on November 2019 to help stalled housing projects, with a further Rs 15,000 crore to be provided by the state-owned financial institutions. With more readily available funds, it expects to resume construction for part of stalled housing projects and this will feed into India’s prediction for growth in the building industry in the short term.

Opportunities for constructing affordable housing units are set to stay high in the next few years, driven by Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, which was first launched in 2015, aims to provide affordable housing for all urban poor by 2022, targeting more than 4,000 state-wide towns. In order to provide the homebuyers with financial support, numerous additional schemes have been put in place alongside Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, such as the credit-related subsidy scheme.

“Though we expect that PMAY(U) is to improve residential building sector growth, we believe that, due to the continuing growth of urban population in India, which creates higher demand for affordable housing, and land procurement and construction delays it will not be likely to meet its target within the timeframe specified,” it said.

It also said the “PMAY(U)-linked construction will continue beyond 2022, leading to a short- to a medium-term expansion of the residential housing sector.”

In addition, a large number of unsold housing stocks, mainly medium to high-end luxury units, exist in urban areas that limit the growth potential of the residential high-end industry.

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On December 27, Hardeep Singh Puri, State Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs said that approximately 1.20 crore jobs have so far been generated under PMAY-Urban through forward and backward linkages to around 250 auxiliary industries including steel, brick kilns, cement, paint, hardware, sanitary etc.

According to investments made within the scheme about 568 lakh metric tonnes would be required for approved homes, roughly 178 lakh metric tonne of cement were already consumed in completed homes.

The sanctioned houses will require approximately 130 lakh tonne of steel; around 40 lakh metric tonne of steel in completed homes have already been consumed, said the minister.

He also told that 1 crore houses were already approved out of a confirmed demand of 1.12 crore houses in urban areas. In fact, there are 57 lakh houses in different phases of construction, nearly 30 lakh of which were completed.

Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry reported that PMAY comprised so far a range of social groups consisting of approximately 5.8 lakh senior citizens, 2 lakh building workers, 1.5 lakh local workers, 1.5 lakh artisans, 0.63 lakh differently-abled (Divyang), 770 transgender and 500 leprosy patients.

As of today, nearly Rs 60,000 crore central assistance has already been issued, the ministry said. Houses approved so far under PMAY include an investment of about Rs 5.70 lakh crore with Rs 1.6 lakh crore central assistance.

At the moment, works of about Rs 3 lakh crore are continuing and the whole activity will trigger investment of more than Rs 7 lakh crore after achieving the PMAY targets.

The Government has provided for a raising of Rs 60,000 crore, of which Rs 38,000 crore have been generated and allocated, for Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR).     

In the National Housing Bank (NHB), Government has also established an Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), with a corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore using banks/financial institutions’ priority sector lending shortfall for HFC micro-financing.

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Keppel Land, based in Singapore, has established a joint venture with the Rustomjee Group through its wholly-owned subsidiary, with the aim to develop the 51.4-hectare integrated Urbania township of Thane in the Mumbai region, a company statement said.

Keppel Land is set to buy a 49% stake for over Rs 400 crore in the joint venture firm — Kapstone Constructions Pvt.

This is the first collaboration between an Indian development company and a Singaporean for a township in MMR that is among the fastest-growing regions of India. The Urbania Township has accommodated 2,700 residential units with substantial facilities since its launch in 2006.

“We are pleased to partner with Keppel Land, a proven pioneer developer from Singapore with over one hundred years of legacy and global experience in key Asian markets in our efforts to continue to serve Mumbai’s growing residential and commercial development. This is the beginning to build a strong partnership between two major developers in the MMR market, and we look forward to continuing in emerging together,” said Boman Irani, Chairman of the Rustomjee Group.

Once the acquisition is complete, Keppel Land and Rustomjee Group will jointly build an additional 7,400 houses and retail units covering roughly 5 million square feet on a total gross floor area. The first phase construction expense of the joint venture, which contains approximately 460 homes, is expected to be approximately Rs 401.6 crore.

“Our collaboration for this maturing integrated township with the Rustomjee Group is in line with Keppel Land’s strategy to improve our presence in high-growth areas such as MMR. This powerful collaboration has ended up in a rare opportunity of developing such a high-end project in Mumbai, where the market is experiencing rapid demand for quality homes,” said Ho Kian Kheong, President (India), Keppel Land.

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Tiles play an important role in the décor of a house. They give a completely new look to a place. They add beauty and style to our homes. Many new types of tiles have been introduced to designers lately such as mosaic tiles, tiles with soft patters, subway tiles, metallic tiles, budget and upmarket tiles include porcelain and ceramic tiles.

                    Considering a wide variety to choose from it could be difficult for us to select the right tile which can do justice in creating the perfect ambiance for our rooms. Ceramic tiles are especially recommended for bathrooms due to their innumerable advantages, and can be used innovatively. One can get extremely innovative while designing their bathroom. Non-porous and slip resistant tiles are perfect to be used in bathrooms. Color of the bathroom tiles can bring a different ambiance to the bathroom. Many prefer the crisp white color to make the bathroom look simple, clean, and fresh. Bathroom tiles usually have neutral colors. White bathroom tiles with blue accent look very relaxing and give the bathroom a spa-like feel. The size of the bathroom tiles should be decided according to the size of the bathroom. A small bathroom has to be fitted with small sized tiles; large tiles will look ridiculous and make your bathroom appear smaller. Ceramic tiles were commonly used around the baseboard and shower area. However, today ceramic tiles are used on most of the bathroom vanities. Ceramic and porcelain tile are some of the longest lasting flooring products on the market today. Unlike carpet, vinyl, or laminate flooring which have to be replaced periodically, properly installed tile will last a lifetime. Ceramic tile is easily cleaned, often only with warm water, eliminating the need for chemicals and cleaners needed to maintain other types of floors.

    Mind blowing tile designs are taking storm in home décor. For thousands of years, discerning builders have chosen tile for their projects due to its many benefits. When you begin to factor in how environmentally-friendly ceramic and porcelain tile products are, you’ll see that tile is the obvious choice when building green. A new technology showcased at the Swachhta Abhiyaan exhibition can convert used plastic bottles and plastic bags into colorful tiles. This is going to be a very good revolution for our country.

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