With economic growth in the range of 8-9%, India is likely to enjoy the highest salary hike in the world, of around 15.2% in 2008 as against 15.1% in the previous year revealed a survey conducted by global human resource service firm Hewitt Associates.

Employees in the real estate industry never had it this good. The realty sector is projected to witness the salary rise of 25 % in 2008 in India, even ahead of retail and telecommunications industries.

With double-digit growth in the service sector, there is strong demand for talent in the country. Struggle for finding talent to sustain the high growth is growing in the country. The high economic growth rate has provided employees great career opportunities. Therefore, employers are using compensation as a strategic lever in attracting, retaining and motivating the talent pool.

However, the survey forecasts a gradual decrease in salary hikes and stabilization in the range of nine to ten per cent by 2012.The survey was conducted in 540 organizations in India across 19 industries in the last three months.

Faridabad, the once sleeping town of Haryana, is on the fast track of development and is emerging as one of the most happening cities around Delhi NCR. If you are looking for property in a prime location that is away from the noise & clamor of metropolitan cities, yet near enough to ensure that all the facilities of urban India are available to you, then Faridabad is the way to go.

Properties are selling at a brisk pace here. The infrastructures & properties are affordable and this has resulted in a tremendous real estate boom. Being located close to Delhi and NCR, Faridabad has attracted working professionals as well as corporates and businesses.Faridabad is now a preferred destination for MNCs, the IT, ITES and the BPO sector and the retail sector too is at par with the best, with sprawling malls and swanky offices donning the streets. The capital and rental values of property are gradually on the rise and the upswing is going to continue. If you are planning to invest, it's high time you make up your mind!

The much awaited Gurgaon Master Plan 2021 comes with high hopes for residents of the fast flourishing cyber city. The first master plan for the region aims to keep population density in the newly covered areas lower than before. The focus is on having green cover, increasing residential space, enhancing commercial space, and improving connectivity with neighboring Delhi. This will undoubtedly be a step forward in real estate growth around the region.

Moreover, the new supply could be good news for the middle class as the prices of apartments are expected to slip down. So far, property developers were only concentrating their attention on high end housing. With availability of more land, they can now focus on middle and lower segments as well.

New Gurgaon Manesar Master Plan is known to have been inspired by the Chandigarh town planning model. The Gurgaon-Manesar Plan includes great scope for the residential areas which will now feature boarding houses, social, community, recreational and religious buildings, educational buildings, health institutions, cinemas, commercial and professional offices, retail shops and restaurants, local service industries, petrol/CNG stations, bus stops, nurseries and green houses, hotels, cyber and IT parks.

The Indian Real Estate industry is on a roll be it in the country or outside. The sector has witnessed immense growth in the past couple of years. The phenomenal increase in the Real Estate demand and access to funds were the key drivers for propelling the Indian real estate market into an overdrive.India has attracted $3 billion worth of real estate stated by government official report of March 2007. This booming India real estate market is currently more expected to contribute for concerning $30 billion in the upcoming years. When evaluated to last year, real estate 2007 has gone doubled.

In the league of the most preferred property market among foreign investors globally, US has retained its top position, while China was ranked second followed by India, a survey conducted by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) said.

China moved to the second place, garnering 21.4 per cent votes and displacing India in the process, which was preferred only by 16.7 per cent of the respondents favouring the country as the most fancied place for real estate investment.

In 2006, China got 14.6 per cent votes while India had 18 per cent and was ranked in the second position.
One of the significant findings that cannot be overlooked is the jump in investors’ confidence in China. For the second time in three years, China has been voted as the country offering the second best chance for capital appreciation after the US.

Interestingly, the United States, whose economy continues to be bogged down by the subprime crisis and faces the threat of a recession, still managed to retain the the 'most preferred destination' tag for real estate investment.The annual survey respondents included nearly 200 members of the association and was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2007, after the credit crunch and sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Going forward, we expect the Indian real estate market to witness greater M&A activity driven by consolidation and the growing maturity of the market.