Sunday 17 October 2010

Tata in housing sector in Sri Lanka

Tata Housing, a unit of Tata Sons, is moving into international markets with the launch of projects in Sri Lanka and Maldives in the current quarter, a top executive of the company was quoted as saying in Indian news reports.
The real estate company, known for low-cost housing projects, plans to do a mix of luxury and affordable housing projects in these markets, he said.

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Source: Sunday Times

Most Sri Lankan families can’t buy even a basic house : WB

While housing developers are doing good business and Sri Lanka’s rich are buying and selling luxury condominiums for profit, most families can’t raise the money for even a basic house, according to the World Bank.
“Newspapers are full of real estate classified ads for both rental and purchase properties. At the same time, more than 80% of the households in Sri Lanka have no access to home financing, and about 7% are lacking homes. One third live in semi-permanent housing and 6% live in line room estates and shanties,” it says in a report on housing finance.

“Information on land prices for 2003 and 2006 obtained from finance companies showed that average land prices in 18 selected areas have increased by about 28%, with a growth range of 12% –71% annually,” says the report.

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Source: Sunday Times

Overseas Realty to moot tax drop

The Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC is making representations to the Ministry of Finance for a process of what it calls ‘fairplay’ in applying Value Added Tax (VAT) to property development projects, officials said.
"This tax is applicable at 12% to 'large' projects that are worth more than US $10 million.

But we say that large projects (by their developers) can be targeted at lower middle income segments as well - it's just that the projects are larger. We're presenting a paper on this to the Finance Ministry before the budget with another property sector developer," W.D. Barnabas, CEO ORL told the Business Times on the sidelines of a media conference to launch the company’s rights issue.

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Source: Sunday Times

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Six Senses Ahungalla to open in 2012

Sri Lankan diversified conglomerate Aitken Spence recently announced that its hotels’ arm had signed a "50:50 joint venture" agreement with international luxury brand Six Senses Resorts & Spas, and local representatives, the Favourite Group, to set up Six Senses Ahungalla which has an estimated opening date of 2012.

Located close to Aitken Spence's existing Heritance Ahungalla property, this US$ 40 million hotel and spa project will encompass 10.5 acres of beachfront land and a 27-acre nearby island. Described as architecturally inspired by the late Geoffrey Bawa and comprising 20 one bedroom villa suites, 14 two bedroom beach front residential villas and 15 island villas, this resort expects to charge as much as US$ 450 per room.

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Source: Sunday Times

Sri Lankan real estate holds up in tense times

'Resilient" is the word that almost everyone is using to describe Sri Lanka's housing market - and its economy in general.
Despite a long-running armed conflict and the 2004 tsunami, "Sri Lanka is one of the best countries around in which to have real estate," said Lalitha Saleem, senior manager of Ceylinco Housing & Real Estate, which is developing one of the Sri Lankan capital's largest new developments. "The market can go up very fast, showing high returns."
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(Source: NY Times)