Category: Articles

– by Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces Pune has always been a city full of surprises. What started as a city’s retirement destination – remember Pensioner's Paradise? – has become one of India’s top IT hubs. Now, Pune's northern belt is following suit. Quietly, but very convincingly. What is the NCBD? What most serious developers and institutional investors now call Pune's Northern Central Business District (NCBD) is the stretch running through Baner, Balewadi, Wakad and into the outer ring of Hinjewadi. It is not gazetted by that name anywhere…

– by Akash Pharande, Managing Director – Pharande Spaces: For several decades until fairly recently, marble lobbies, imported fixtures, and sweeping views of the city or landscaped parks, gardens and sometimes reserved forests were the hallmarks of luxury in Indian real estate. This definition has rapidly evolved since the Covid-19 pandemic and recent global warming statistics have redefined comfort, health, and responsibility. Today, luxury homes must tick several new boxes for affluent buyers who have travelled the world and are very aware of climate risks. The trend of eco-luxury housing…

– by Akash Pharande, Managing Director – Pharande Spaces As the world gets increasingly torn by war and Indian retirees worriedly track the impact on their investments, one major area of concern should be housing – specifically, the costs involved, and whether the house is a good fit in the first place. If it is not, good money may be following bad in the worst possible times. For decades, the Indian middle and upper-middle class have viewed the 'big bungalow' or the spacious 4 BHK apartment as the ultimate badge…

– Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces The recent news stories about the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) have been nothing short of extraordinary. People understandably get anxious when the Supreme Court says that a regulator has turned into a 'rehabilitation center' for retiring officials – or that we may as well get rid of it. But as a developer who has worked in this field for decades, both before and after 2016, I see this uproar not as a sign of failure but as a crucial turning point. Let's…