ASK Property Investment Advisors, the real estate private equity arm of ASK Group, has invested Rs 200 crore in real estate Kalpataru Group’s mid-income housing project in Baner, Pune. This is an ongoing mid-segment residential project on 16 acres with a saleable area of 1.9 million sq. ft, comprising over 1,200 units spread across one-to-three-bedroom homes. Baner has grown as an IT employment hub with about 13 million sq ft of IT parks and office complexes, including RMZ Icon and Panchshil Business Park. This is ASK’s first investment in Kalpataru Group. The developer will use the capital to replace an existing lender and for working capital.

“This is our fourteenth project in Pune, and with this investment, the ASK Group has now invested in projects spanning across 12million sq ft including over 8,500 residential units, city-centric office space and IT-SEZ in Pune. The project is in line with our strategy of providing funds to mid-income housing projects for mid/last mile execution and completion,” said Amit Bhagat, CEO and MD, ASK PIA.

After a few months of disruption led by the lockdown last year, ASK PIA in October had invested Rs 125 crore in Gulshan Homz’s mixed-use project in Noida. “The last couple of years have witnessed a consolidation of demand for homes to reputed, execution-focused and large-scale developers. Affordable and mid-income housing have seen a substantial recovery and prices have bottomed out in the last one year which has also led to sustainable demand. Decade-low home loan rates, concessions in stamp duty and flexibility by developers have increased the affordability for house purchase. Thus, all the affordable projects nearing completion that are located in growth corridors and have achieved financial closure would see a significant advantage,” said Sunil Rohokale, MD and CEO, ASK Group.