ASK Property Investment Advisors (ASK PIA), the real estate private equity arm of the ASK Group, said it has invested Rs 215 crore in Mahagun Group’s upcoming mid-income housing project in Noida. The project, spread across 10 acres in Noida’s Sector 107, has a saleable area of over 2 million square feet (sq ft), comprising low-rise and high-rise apartments. This is ASK’s seventh investment in Noida and eleventh in the National Capital Region (NCR).
“With this investment, the ASK group has now invested in projects over 21 million sq ft, including over 8,000 residential units in Noida. The project is in line with ASK PIA’s strategy of providing funds for mid-income housing executed by reputed developers along job growth corridors,” said Amit Bhagat, CEO and MD, ASK PIA.
Amit Jain, director, Mahagun Group said, “This is one of the few projects where land is fully paid for before commencement of sales. We are optimistic on the outlook for the sector in the coming years, and anticipate a sustained recovery in residential demand.”
In July this year, ASK PIA said it has launched a new real estate-focused fund called ‘ASK Real Estate Special Opportunities Fund – IV', with a target corpus of Rs 1,000 crore and an additional Rs 1,500 crore via a greenshoe option. The fund is in line with ASK’s focus on the affordable and mid-segment residential and mix-land use projects, and would focus on job growth corridors across the top six cities– Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, and Hyderabad.
“The last couple of years have witnessed a consolidation of demand for homes by reputed, execution-focused developers and their projects. Mid-income housing has seen a substantial recovery and prices have bottomed out in the last six months. Low home loan rates, concessions in stamp duty charges, and flexibility by developers have increased the affordability and affinity towards home purchase. All these projects are focused on mid-income housing located in growth corridors and have achieved financial closure would see a significant advantage,” said Sunil Rohokale, MD and CEO, ASK Group.
In October, ASK PIA received approval from International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) to set up a branch office in GIFT City, Gandhinagar. ASK Real Estate Fund-2, sponsored by ASKPIA, also received approval for the first real estate-focused fund of funds as an alternative investment fund (AIF), category III.
