JOIN USGood connectivity, worthy properties, fine location – you name it, Sarjapur has it, writes Bindu Gopal Rao about this popular residential hub.
Sarjapur is a fast-developing part of Bengaluru with good connectivity to key IT cluster areas like Whitefield, Electronic City, Outer Ring Road, Marathahalli and Koramangala. As a micro-market, Sarjapur is booming, thanks to rapid development in terms of commercial and residential spaces.
Plus factor
Sarjapur’s connectivity to IT hubs and its location along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) is what makes it an excellent destination for residential and commercial developments. “There are about two lakh employees working in the Outer Ring Road stretch making Sarjapur Road a busy IT corridor. Home buyers enjoy the convenience of living close to their work place. Another good reason is that real estate prices on Sarjapur Road have been more affordable compared with certain similar upmarket counterparts,” opines Bijay Agarwal, MD, Salarpuria Sattva Group.
Sarjapur is emerging as one of the most promising markets for villa projects in Bengaluru. “The density of population in the Sarjapur area is high vis-a-vis other well-developed areas. However, this can also be advantageous, as any investments will lead to sharper price appreciation, spurred by robust demand in the local market,” explains Ashish Puravankara, joint managing director, Puravankara Projects Limited.
“The primary advantage of the region is that land is available at a cheaper price and primary work has been done by IT companies already,”adds J C Sharma, vice chairman and managing director, Sobha Limited.
Price talk
Availability of large land parcels for both commercial and residential development makes Sarjapur an attractive proposition. “This location has about eight multi-storey apartment projects, which are actively selling with around 2,400 units and another 1700 units yet to be sold. Residential prices have appreciated by about five to ten per cent in this location, depending upon the type and quality of the projects,” says Trivita Roy, assistant vice president, Research and REIS, JLL India. In addition to this, the residential market in the locality is primarily driven by the end-user demand, especially from the IT sector employees.
“The capital values range between Rs 4,500 and 6,300 per sq ft, and the rental values range between Rs 20,000 and 35,000 for a two-BHK configuration and Rs 30,000 and 45,000 for a three-BHK configuration. This micro-market has witnessed a capital and rental value appreciation of five to seven per cent in the last one year,” avers Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, South Asia.
With significant Grade A office space supply in the pipeline and a rise in affluent employee base in this part of the city, the demand for housing is likely to sustain in the years to come. “A good portion of the demand is expected to drive sales in the mid-segment housing category in this sub-market in the near term. There are more than 40 apartment projects across categories of developers available in this market, with prices ranging from Rs 2500 per sq ft to Rs 7000 per sq ft. Upcoming residential localities in this belt are
Haralur Road and Kasavanahalli,” says Swaroop Anish, executive director,
business development - Prestige Group.
Pros & cons
Nagaraj Reddy, CMD, Zonasha Estates and Projects, says, “If you look at the growth thrust, it has been towards South and East Bangalore in the recent past and while saturation is being witnessed in other areas, this region is still seeing huge development and new project launches at a rapid pace. This is because of the potential in the area and the ample space available for development.” In last one year, average prices in Sarjapur Road have increased from Rs 4,281 per sq ft to 4,545 per sq ft, thereby registering six per cent annual growth.
Accessibility and availability of social and physical infrastructure are Sarjapur’s strongest attractions. “The Infosys SEZ Tech Park is located in Sarjapur. Also the locality is known for its greenery and Billapura Lake. It is also an educational hub and houses Bangalore Technological Institute, ITM Institute of Hotel Management, Bangalore College of Engineering and Technology,” says Ganesh Vasudevan, CEO, IndiaProperty. com.
While the ORR itself is a significant civic infrastructure project that connects Bengaluru laterally, connectivity was further heightened with the signal-free corridor initiative, cutting travel time considerably. Most of the high traffic junctions now have flyovers or underpasses. Kumar A, senior manager - sales & marketing, Soul Space Projects Limited adds, “This area allows the residents to travel to different parts of the city with ease and speed, as this locality provides an easy connectivity to NH-207 (towards Hoskote/Kolar) and NH-4 (towards Hosur), which makes commuting to offices and schools easier.”
Traffic congestions at a few major intersections and poor development of internal roads and issues with water supply are major constraints. The infrastructure in the area has aided in boosting office space demand.
“Despite being such a high-end market, one of the major drawbacks in the area is the lack of traffic management. Given that the area is densely populated with residential and commercial properties, there has to be efficient road network and traffic management that is the need of the hour,” says Snehal Mantri, director, marketing & HR, Mantri
Developers Pvt Ltd.
J C Sharma from Sobha agrees. “There are problems of roads, water, sewage. Also, the Metro has also not been planned in this area.”
Demand saturation
There are at least 2,700 completed residential units on Sarjapur Road alone and
another 16,000 units will be added to the existing stock in the coming years. “While there is a sustained demand for housing from end-users, the existing supply has surpassed the demand requirement. Pre-launches and launches are expected to continue, but most likely at a slower rate,” says Sanjay. “Sarjapur road and surrounding areas like Haralur Road and Gunjur have almost 30 per cent of Bangalore’s upcoming residential supply. The demand for commercial development continues and absorption has been the best in this belt with vacancy levels dropping drastically,” says Satish B N, executive director, South India, Knight Frank. Realtors, however, feel that the area still has potential.
“A total of 746 new units were launched in the last four quarters in Sarjapur Road and 1,645 units were sold in the same period. Nearly 90 per cent of the demand in Sarjapur road is driven by end users and over 50 per cent of it is for houses in the Rs 50 lakh budget range or less. Another 40 per cent will be in the Rs 50 lakh to one crore budget range. Only 10 percent demand is for high-end projects of Rs one crore and above. However, despite the strong demand, there are still 2,655 unsold units in Sarjapur road,” says Dhruv Agarwala, CEO and co-founder, PropTiger.com.
Guha Lakshmanan, director - Bangalore, Casa Grande Pvt Ltd adds, “The market value in Sarjapur is more affordable when compared with other areas like Koramangala, Indiranagar. The demand for the area will not reach a point of saturation any time soon, since there is constant growth and development.”