Sherwoods to open Delhi office

Sherwoods Indpendent Property Consultants just announced that it will open a regional office in New Delhi in July, "offering Middle East-based investors and Non Resident Indian & Persons of Indian Origian buyers an opportunity to invest in one of the most exciting property markets in the world."

Exciting is the right word for it. Last month, The National's Richard Orange reported on the property crash in Kerala, once booming thanks to Gulf money, now facing 90 percent reduction in transactions, according to one broker. But his article pointed out that while property prices during the boom times in "tier-two" cities like Kochi rose by as much as four times, making them very vulnerable now, while "tier-one" cities like Mumbai and Bangalore only saw prices rise by 2.5 times.

Internestingly, Sherwoods is focusing on both tiers. "Sherwoods is targeting all metropolitan cities in India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore as well as tier-two, urbanised cities such as Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and Noida," said Puniet Singh, the company's chief executive. "We believe that this is a highly favourable time for real estate investments as India is now showing strong signs of recovery and opening excellent opportunities in the mid-to long-term horizon."

Yes, that, and the fact that property is relatively cheap right now. Sherwoods notes that interest rates have dropped below 10 per cent recently, while property rates have dropped 15 per cent.