The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has finally decided to change with the times. In a major pro-people move, it has decided to make property transactions in the city hassle-free by allowing mutual sale and purchase of dwelling units by allottees. Until now, the transfer of CHB flats in Chandigarh was based on the general power of attorney, a system rife with defects and legal complications.

But all that is now passé, with the board of directors of CHB deciding on February 20 to make their flat transfer policy people-friendly and transparent. The new move will benefit a substantial number of about 50,000 owners/allottees of CHB dwelling units in the city, and will change the way property transactions are carried out in the region. Most importantly, it will offer relief to people whose properties have been lying blocked for years due to legal wrangles.

The CHB, ever since it came into existence in 1971, has been a witness to countless problems posed by GPA transfer policy. Due to stringent laws governing the sale and purchase of residential property in Chandigarh , a majority of allottees had resorted to sale through general power of attorney.

Since initially the CHB did not recognise GPA, property transaction through this system led to several complications including legal battles between the original allottees and buyers on the one hand and original allottees and the CHB on the other. This often led to blackmailing by allottees or their legal heirs who found it convenient to extract money from interested buyers of residential property. This was besides the hefty premium which buyers paid to allottees/sellers.

The practice naturally allowed property dealers to mushroom and make hay as they negotiated deals between various parties and charged heavily in the guise of completing endless formalities besides charging their commission. The GPA transfer system had bred corruption in the ranks of CHB, particularly in public-dealing branches.

Keeping in mind these complication, the CHB had, in 2001, come out with a policy to regularise GPA sale by fixing charges for the transfer of property by original allottees besides also fixing terms and conditions like clearance of dues, retention of original structure of the dwelling unit, respect for building bylaws etc. The regularisation of GPA, however, helped little, with buyers of residential units continuing to face harassment.

The new mutual transfer policy will bring buyers and sellers face to face for the first time and eliminate the role of middlemen like property dealers. The move will also end the nexus between property dealers and officials by allowing genuine buyers and sellers to own property in a legal way.

Besides, it is expected to bring revenue to Chandigarh Administration as transactions would involve the payment of stamp duty and other prescribed charges. Until now, stamp duty worth crores was being evaded in the name of large scale sale and purchase of CHB flats through GPA. The new policy will protect the financial interests of Chandigarh Administration besides being people-friendly.

Meanwhile, the board had said GPAs taken to date would be acceptable till the time the new policy came into effect. It has added, however, that people would eventually have to own property on the terms and conditions specified in the mutual transfer policy.

Further in a bid to curb speculation, the CHB has categorically said that GPA holders will no longer be eligible to apply for flats in any of its residential project schemes. Residential property, say board officials, must go to the shelter-less people. The board has meanwhile also allowed transfer of residential property in Chandigarh on the basis of one surety. Earlier two sureties were required.

Santiago and Concepción are attractive for residential property investors, Viña Del Mar less so, says the Global Property Guide There are surprisingly large differences between returns on residential property in Chile’s main cities. The Global Property Guide (http://www.globalpropertyguide.com), the research site for residential property, released today the results of research into rentals in major cities of Chile. It revealed that: • Apartments in prime areas of Santiago have excellent average rental yields of 8.16%.• Apartments in the city of Viña Del Mar yield only half as much, on average, with gross rental yields of around 4.31% only.

The rental yield is the annual rental income on a property, as a percentage of today’s property purchase price. This is what a landlord can expect as return to his investment. The rental yield is one useful yardstick of whether property is over-valued or under-valued

The high yields on apartments in prime areas of Santiago – Las Condes, Providencia, and Vitacura – suggest that these Santiago areas make good residential property investments.Apartments in prime areas of Santiago cost on average US$ 98,520 for a 60 square meter apartment, according to the Global Property Guide’s research, versus US$ 87,480 for the same sized property in Viña Del Mar. However, 120 square meter apartments are more expensive in Viña Del Mar than in Santiago.

The result? Looking across the different sizes, prices in the two cities are more or less the same, on average.

Though apartments in Santiago and Viña del Mar cost around the same, per square meter, yet Santiago apartments produce twice as good rental returns – i.e., rents for the same sized apartment in Santiago are nearly twice as high. This means that Santiago is much more attractive as a residential investment.

In the southern city of Concepción, 120 square meter apartments have excellent gross rental yields of 9.04% – also, an excellent level of rental yields, making Concepción a very attractive investment.

Why consider rental yields? Some investors in residential property may ignore rental returns, being more concerned with capital gains.

Yet even they would do well to consider rental yields. The rental yield, or price/rent ratio, is similar to the price/earnings ratio in the stock market. As in the stock market, property investments with high rental yields tend to perform better, and have higher capital gains, in the long-term.

###Extensive Report – http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Latin-America/Chile/Rental-YieldsDescription: The Global Property Guide is an on-line property research house. Terms of Use: On-line newspapers, magazines, sites, etc wishing to use material from this press release MUST provide a clickable link to www.globalpropertyguide.com. Sites and newspapers found not to be providing a link to us will be removed from our press list. Publisher and Strategist:Matthew Montagu-PollockPhone: (+632) 867 4220Cell: (+63) 917 321 7073Email: editor@globalpropertyguide.comAddress: Global Property Guidehttp://www.globalpropertyguide.com 5F Electra House Building115-117 Esteban StreetLegaspi Village, Makati CityPhilippines 1229info@globalpropertyguide.com

The rising Indian economy has led to the prosperity of real estate sector in India. The real estate in India has grown as one of the most attractive investment areas for domestic as well as foreign investors. Indian real estate has great potential demand in almost every sector, but especially commercial, residential, retail, industrial, hospitality, healthcare and so on.

Nowadays, many online portals are popular on the Web for real estate professionals to market their services to home buyers and sellers. These portals are constantly trying to make the process of Indian property transactions more conducive, transparent and stress-free.

An online portal called www.propertyvertical.com provides an environment where the entire property community including agents, sellers, buyers, tenants, banks, attorneys and so on can freely interact to the benefit of the industry as a whole.

PropertyVertical.com provides complete listing of real estate agents, brokers, construction companies in and around Delhi, Chandigarh and other parts of India. The website has a comprehensive yet user-friendly design that facilitates easy and effective property transactions. It also provides a customized interface across property categories making each listed property unique. This real estate portal also provides services in US to serve the NRI clients thus maintaining a multinational base.

As an internet property dealer, PropertyVertical.com provides you with property listings in all residential and commercial sectors as well as agricultural and industrial land too. Here all the property related listings are continuously updated and maintained, to provide you with latest and accurate information. The portal also provides photographs of property listings packed with information so that you can make personalized selections. Their typical property services include property evaluation, marketing and advertising the property, finding a qualified tenant, buyer, preparing leases and helping in property transfers and so on.

Being a property management portal, PropertyVertical.com is dedicated to develop effective solutions to cater your varying property needs, serving as a one-stop guide to all your real estate requirements. With excellent service and support, this online portal is constantly working to regulate the Indian real estate market through this virtual platform.

Propertyvertical is different from other Real Estate Portals – We are not just a Real Estate Portal – but we ourselves are Real Estate Advisors/consultants. Propertyvertical does not put property of an online advertiser on website but markets and sells a property of a seller. We upload a property only after checking all credentials etc. and we ourselves are selling those properties. Whereas other Real Estate Portals are just providing platform for individual buyers/dealers to sell their properties.