REAL ESTATE NEWS
|
Residential Upswing
|
Growing urbanisation has propelled a huge demand in the residential sector of the booming real estate market across the country.
The recent India Residential Market Review by Knight Frank India says that nearly 80 percent of the total real estate demand originates from the residential sector across all markets. Almost 530 million square feet of residential space would be developed in seven major locations of the country over the next three years.
Demand has been at a low in Mumbai along with limited housing stock released into the market in the last two quarters. Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) too have suffered low demand.
Property prices have been on the upswing across the country, except the northern belt of Delhi and NCR where a price correction has just begun.
"Prices in the north have come down by 15-20 percent, especially in markets like Gurgaon and Noida where there is a problem of oversupply. Smaller markets like Bangalore and Kolkata have seen a rise in property prices. In Bangalore, prices in some areas have gone up by 50 percent," said Pranay Vakil, Head of Knight Frank India.
The recent hike in interest rate, Vakil said, is another reason deterring property buyers in the middle-income group.
Demand has seen interesting movement in smaller markets like Pune, Bangalore and even Kolkata. In Pune, for example, the population has grown by 24 percent over the last five years. However, ICICI Bank estimates say that the home loan segment for financial year 2006 has moved by 20-25 percent, down from last year's growth of 35 percent.
In Hyderabad, the number of home loans has reduced after March 2007 due to the rise in interest rates and could lead to a drop in demand in the future.
There has been a lot of movement in the Bangalore property market with foreign groups like Emaar Group from Dubai, Salim Group from Indonesia, Ciptura, IGM and Hohup from Malaysia lined up to enter the market. The government is also planning to set up five satellite townships with the concept of ?walk to work' in order to alleviate the city's congestion. Moreover, there is speculation that the floor space index (FSI) would be increased from 1.5 to 3, which could change Bangalore's skyline Kolkata is probably the most stable market across the country with steady supply and increasing demand to match it. "Despite price appreciation, one would still find a high-end two-bedroom apartment in a good locality in the price bracket of Rs 25-35 lakh," Vakil added.
Source: Madhurima Nandy
Hindustan Times (Mumbai edition)
|
| Previous I Next |
Back to Top |
|
|
 |
View our collection of our news articles and company events.
|
| Our archive provides you with information on all our company news, events and happenings. |
|
|
