Land as an asset

The doyen of Indian housing finance, Deepak Parekh is today quoted as saying that land is no longer an asset (“There is no need for irrational pessimism”, Business Standard, November 7, 2008). Parekh says “Land prices have collapsed, land is no longer an asset – people don’t want land as a security. Today, there is surplus land, low demand ... the value of land is probably half of what it was ...”

This explains why real estate companies reportedly have to pay 35% interest after providing collateral (land) notionally equal to three times the value of the loan.

Another interesting statement in this context is in a speech by Fed Governor Kevin Warsh (hat tip Calculated Risk) “We are witnessing a fundamental reassessment of the value of virtually every asset everywhere in the world.”

Posted at 2:58 pm IST on Fri, 7 Nov 2008         permanent link

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