Location matters

AREAS OF INVESTMENT

In the Bangalore Development Authority Master Plan 2015, the government has allocated 12,000 acres of land for ‘hi-tech’ use. The said land covers Kengeri in the West and Electronic City, Whitefield, Varthur and Begur in the southern part of the city. In Bangalore East, there are seven notified SEZs and the proposed investment is Rs 4725 crore with an employment potential of 1,08,500.

The southern part of Bangalore has already seen the establishment of major IT parks which has triggered the growth and development of residential spaces. The KSIIDC has also earmarked 400 acres for Devanahalli Business Park (DBP) and around 300 acres will be given for commercial development on the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. Growth has been pretty even in most outbound directions.

“The north in particular is seeing the development of a few industrial parks over the next five years which will fuel the growth of ancillary support sectors. Apparels, back office support business and such have been typical of the kind of business infrastructure that the city has witnessed these last two decades,” says Chandrashekar Hariharan-CEO & Co Founder BCIL ZED Homes. The highest demand is currently for 3BHK apartments with a ticket size of between Rs. 40-50 lakh.

“In Bangalore, the real estate market growth had reached its peak at 30% per annum towards 2007. Today, the city is recovering steadily from the effects of the global financial crisis and growth can be pegged at a steady 10-15% per annum,” opines Karun Varma, Managing Director (Bangalore & Kochi) Jones Lang LaSalle India. “The market witnessed slow recovery for all segments of real estate in 2010 but it is expected to grow by 10-15% in the next six months,” says Harinder Dhillon, VP-Marketing, Raheja Developers.

Growth drivers

Bangalore as a whole has a diverse set of economic drivers that include IT/ITES, biotech and aerospace engineering, with a lot of the existing demand coming from these sectors.
Commercial office development is shifting into new areas and opening them up for residential property growth, and most of the micro-markets in Bangalore are still quite affordable. Says Kruti Jain, Director, Kumar Urban Development, “the availability of land parcels for commercial development is one of the main factors driving development in these locations. Other significant factors are the proximity to the airport, and upcoming residential, educational and hospitality developments.”

A steady increase in population has resulted in greater demand for housing facilities and commercial and retail space in the city. “Bangalore has considerably led the recovery within the commercial property space as an anticipated supply of 12.61 million sq. ft. is expected through 2010. Also secondary business districts in the city are becoming preferred locations for commercial activity as there are large land parcels available in these areas which could support corresponding residential requirement at affordable rates,” says Sachin Sandhir MD & Country Head, RICS India.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & MD, CB Richard Ellis South Asia Pvt. Ltd. explains, “Large scale expansion by a corporate occupier means that a large chunk of ‘Grade A’ commercial property stock is getting added to the city’s skyline every year. This implies highly lucrative investment grade opportunities for an investor in the Bangalore commercial property market. Secondly, the residential market which has always been strong in the city, and the IT boom in the city which has brought a lot of migrant population inflow looking for quality dwelling units. This has further strengthened residential demand in the city.”

Infrastructure advantage

Wherever there is improvement in infrastructure, there is an increased real estate activity and subsequent demand. “In south Bangalore, close proximity to the NICE corridor, improved connectivity to Electronic City, prestigious schools, high-end hospitals and retail chains, property investments in south Bangalore have led to a surge in demand. In north Bangalore, the International airport and the six-lane expressway have resulted in a lot of prestigious projects in its vicinity,” opines Sushil Mantri, Chairman and Managing Director, Mantri Developers. In the next one or two years, north Bangalore, in particular Devanahalli will see a lot of commercial development with the recent Global Investors’ Meet having brought a lot of focus to the area. There are three industrial parks on 3,000 acres of land which are proposed.

“Worldwide, the trend has been that cities are built around airports. Another reason why north Bangalore is the best location to buy today is the connectivity. There are plenty of infrastructure projects which are being planned in north Bangalore which will make it the most well-connected locality in Bangalore,” says T S Sateesh, Managing Director, Hoysala Projects.

Agrees Alok Kumar Singh, Executive Director - Strategy and Fund Operations -Azure Capital Advisors Private Limited, “We expect significant action to happen in north Bangalore after three-four years when some of the investments committed during the Global Investors’ Meet start showing initial results.

“West Bangalore is seeing a very moderate uptake in residential real estate. Residential projects in West Bangalore have been observed to be taking longer than anticipated time to sell out. Prices also have remained stagnant after the last correction. The launch prices in new projects have already started going up in most of these areas. Just around start of this year most of the apartments on Outer Ring Road close to Intel were quoting around Rs 3,500/sq. ft. whereas now second sales are happening at Rs 4,000/sq ft.”

“The widening of National Highway 7, improvement of roadwork on National Highway 207 and State Highway 104 (connecting Whitefield and Hoskote to north Bangalore), is also paving the way for various residential, industrial and commercial developments. The improvement in road connectivity from Hoskote to Whitefield and Tumkur Road to North Bangalore are other factors,” says Girija Prasad, CEO-India, REBI.

CBD rules

With the upcoming metro, most of the peripheral areas are likely to get a faster connection to the Central Business District (CBD) in the coming four-five years. Connection to the Airport is also likely to get easier for these areas with the upcoming Peripheral Ring Road and the Satellite Ring Road.

Because the route of Metro’s Reach One passes through the city’s CBD it will give a greater thrust to the commercial growth here. Bangalore’s CBD is the most attractive and suitable real estate destination for new firms entering the city. In recent times, the combination of residential complexes located nearby and development of shopping malls as entertainment centres have given the CBD a new life.

Because rentals here are high, the tenants opting for office and retail spaces here will want the best in terms of infrastructure and services. Hence, the metro running through the CBD will spur demand for space along the route.

Heading north

Says Sam Chopra, Director - RE/MAX India, “Presently, real estate in North Bangalore is undergoing rapid transformation due to commercialization. Also, it is noticeable that the region has significant residential real estate activity, along with commercial developments.  The demand is growing with corresponding low supply in the pipeline. Other significant factors are the proximity to the airport, road projects and upcoming Business Park in Devanahalli.”

North Bangalore is ruling the realty charts in a sense. “In the recent past we have seen a huge influx of residential supply and demand in the north of Bangalore.
Areas such as Sanjay Nagar, Sahakar Nagar, Hebbal, Jakkur and as far as Yelahanka New town have been areas in high demand.

Yelahanka - Doddaballapur road is witnessing a huge demand for landed properties such as villas and private gated colonies. While the North develops in a more efficient and organised fashion, Sarjapur Road and Bannerghatta Road still has its loyal customers. But with the market opening up in the North, developers and investors alike are skeptical of new developments in the east and south east of Bangalore,” says Ravindra Pai, MD, Century Real Estate.

North Bangalore is most likely to see the highest level of appreciation which may given go up to 20-30% in some properties. The real estate boom from Devanahalli near Bangalore is also creating a lot of spillover in places like Anantapur,  Madakasira, Hindupuram, Chilamathur, Lepakshi, Parigi, Gorantla, Obuladevara Cheruvu of Anantapur dist which are as far as 65 km to 120 km away from Bangalore.

Public-private partnership

Adds Snehdeep Aggarwal, Founder and Chairman, Bhartiya Group, India, “there are plans to look at the proposed high speed rail link to the International Airport, Mono Rail, and development of ring roads on public - private partnership model. A four km-elevated highway will come up between the Hebbal flyover and Yelahanka bypass. There will also be flyovers at Yelahanka bypass and Vidyanagar, two pedestrian underpasses, one vehicular underpass, and a cattle crossing. Totally, there will be 26 bus bays till the airport.

Along with connectivity, Bhartiya City, KIADB’s Hardware Park, Aerospace Park, and the ITIR planned here will give a push to residential development around.”
The re-emergence of IT/ITES sector as the key driver of the economy has propelled a high-disposable income and a demand for quality housing. “Additionally, availability of good housing options providing international lifestyle, as in case of The Empyrean Township, encourages the migrant professional working class to purchase property at Bangalore.

“The cosmopolitan crowd, the availability of good education system and expectation of it being an important commercial hub makes it an attractive investment destination. These factors have made Bangalore one of the fastest growing cosmopolitan cities witnessing an unprecedented growth in real estate during the last few years,” says Sanjiv Aundhe, COO, FIRE Luxur Developers Pvt. Ltd.