Tag: Flats In Bangalore

Bangalore realty market more positive

BANGALORE: With a new stable government looking to address some problems of the previous one, and with interest rates falling, Bangalore’s real estate market is looking more positive for buyers and investors than it has been in a while. Given that property prices here have been relatively stable in the past few years also makes it quite attractive.

Irfan Razack, chairman and managing director, Prestige Group, says the mood among investors is positive. “What really matters for building Brand Bangalore is good governance and good infrastructure. The ongoing projects should be completed and delivered on time and quality is likely to be maintained,” he says.

Irshad Ahmed, president, Bangalore Realtors Association – India (BRAI), echoes the same sentiment. However, he says infrastructure needs to be improved significantly and the Metro rail work needs to be speeded up.

Builders say Bangalore is also attracting a lot of foreign buyers on account of the weakening of the Indian rupee. A weaker rupee makes Indian goods cheaper in terms of foreign currency. “It makes this the ideal time for foreign investment and Bangalore seems to be the most preferred city (for foreign buyers),” says Rajashekar, proprietor, Elegant Properties.

Home loan interest rates that had gone up to 11% and higher are now down to about 10%. Bankers expect the trend to continue given that the inflation rate is dropping. Interest rates play a big role in real estate because most buyers take large loans to finance their property purchases.

Zahed Mahmood, director in property brokerage firm Silverline Realty, notes that schemes such as where the builder bears the customer’s EMI till the project is complete, is helping to bring buyers into the market.

“Bangalore is more an end-user market rather than speculative. So it’s helping to keep prices stable,” says Mahmood.

There are concerns about the job market though. IT companies are no longer creating as many jobs as they once were. But Irshad Ahmed says this is not an immediate concern.

Realtors are looking forward to the latter half of 2013 when the Real Estate Regulatory Bill and the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill are expected to be passed. “The Real Estate Regulatory Bill, if passed, will help the growth of India’s realty sector. It will root out all the unethical and fly-by-night operators and enable a healthy business to emerge,” says Zahed Mahmood.

Source: The Times of India

Average size of Bangalore apartment highest in India

Bangalore tops in many things like weather, good, high-end schools and quality of life notwithstanding the traffic cribs. But there’s one not-so-well-known parameter of which the city can be justifiably proud: large apartments.

On an average, a typical apartment across major metros in the country is roughly 1,100 sqft to 1,200 sqft. In Bangalore, that size is 1,750 sqft making it 45% higher than the national average. The average size of apartments in Bangalore is the highest in India, 60% larger than those in Mumbai and 20% larger than those in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Data shared by global consultancy firm LJ Hooker states that the only other Indian city to match Bangalore in apartment sizes is its old IT rival Hyderabad, which also has apartments measuring approximately 1,750 sqft on an average.

Elaborating on the reasons why Bangalore has large dwellings, Alexander Moore, CEO, LJ Hooker India, says the primary reason is land cost. “The higher the cost of land, the greater efficiency you have to make of it, and that’s by building smaller apartments,” says Moore. Land prices in Mumbai and Delhi, says Moore, are 10 times higher than those in Bangalore.

The demographics of buyers in Silicon Plateau, who are primarily end-users located in tech hubs on the periphery, is another important factor. “This takes pressure off city areas and allows greater size. In Bangalore, you can travel 10kms to get access to land which is not the case in other cities, more so in Mumbai,” adds Moore. Mumbai and NCR have large investor populations who prefer smaller units close to city locations.

In Mumbai, the availability of developable land is so scarce that developers need to go vertical and keep the size of apartments units small to maximize land yield. As per data shared by LJ Hooker, the average apartment size in Mumbai is around 1,100 sqft. While average apartment size in NCR is 1,500 sqft, in Chennai it’s 1,300 sqft. “Affordability is the key to Bangalore’s real estate success,” says Jackbastian K Nazareth, group CEO, Puravankara Projects Ltd. PropEquity, a real estate data analytics and research firm in New Delhi, rated Bangalore as one of the most affordable real estate markets in the country.

Bangalore-based real estate major Sobha Developers sells 3-BHK units ranging from 1,850 sqft to 2,000 sqft, which account for 90% of its total apartment sales. At Puravankara Projects, sales of 3-BHK units contribute approximately 70% of its sales.

Prashanth Sambargi, partner, Mars Realty, points out that the city always had a culture of large bungalows with gardens, which is why people look for large apartments. That buyer mindset is visible in the real estate market as many Bangalore-based developers offer terrace/balcony spaces ranging between 600 sqft and 2,000 sqft per apartment.

Developer speak

Most of the demand for 3-BHK apartmens comes from the migratory population which wants to have one room for kids, one room for parents/in-laws and another for guests.

Source: GharaBari