Searching the blog and other things

Someone asked me on how to search the blog effectively to find out articles related to duping of buyers by the builders. I've tried to tag all such articles with various tags like fraud etc. Look at the bottom of this posting and you will see those tags. Click on those tags and you will find the relevant articles.
On another note, due to some personal commitments I am unable to follow the market and post articles on a regular basis. I would urge some other folks to take up this mantle for the benefit for all concerned parties. I had given some folks posting rights in the past and I can give some more folks who would like to take up the cudgels from me. We have a good audience and the bull bear story will continue for a long time before everyone is exhausted.

As I see the market in Mumbai, speaking to friends everyone tells me the money has dried up. Some businessmen friends have drops of upto 40-50% in their sales. Rents have dropped. I was shocked to see some rentals going for 32k, which were quoting 50-60k last year.

We are in a deep protracted downturn, specially Mumbai. As I have said repeatedly, be it Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, affordability for Indians or NRI's is upto 4,000 per sq/ft. Anything above is for the politicians and black money operators. Anyone who pays more then that is going to suffer for a long time.

Lastly I spoke to a loan banker who said that most builders have reduced rates but still some are holding on. He does not see any hope for anything more then 7k. He is bit more bullish them I am :)

the areas I was referring to in this and previous posts is in Santa Cruz and Vile Parle.

Builder body opposes hike in cement prices

The builder lobby wants the government to appoint a regulator to oversee the cement industry. This should get the award for the world's smallest violin. "The increase in prices of cement is directly affecting the affordable housing projects.” Now we know why housing is so expensive in Mumbai. Its the cement stupid!!!

The Builders' Association of India (BAI) has strongly opposed the continuing hike in cement prices that is hitting the construction industry hard. They have also demanded setting up of a strict regulatory authority on the lines of SEBI that will ensure that unfair trade practices are not permitted from the cement industry.
The association has called for a total ban on the exports of cement. According to the BAI, the existing Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) does not have penalising clauses to check the malpractices of cement companies. Anand Gupta, secretary, BAI, said that though the government has reduced the excise duty from 12% to 8%, exempted VAT, allowed free import, reduced rail fares, approved the use of fly ash, prices of cement have not reduced. And hence there is a need for a strict law to put a check on these.
While price reductions have been seen all around with a view to stimulate demand, cement manufacturers have resorted to a threefold increase in price (from Rs.15 to Rs. 30 per bag across the country) starting from February 2009. Sunil Mantri, president elect, MCHI, said, "The increase in prices of cement is directly affecting the affordable housing projects.”