Bangalore has recorded the highest number of residential unit launches in the first quarter of this calendar year. In fact, close to a third of the overall housing project launches among the top eight cities has happened in Bangalore.
According to real estate consultants Cushman and Wakefield, close to 40 per cent of the total new unit launches in the city were in Southeast Bangalore, targeting individuals working primarily in the IT/ITeS sector. Infrastructure initiatives have resulted in increased preference for the northern locations of Bangalore, which contributed to 25 per cent of the total units launched, the firm has found in a recent study.
And this, when most of the other cities are seeing a decline. Hyderabad saw highest decline of 90 per cent in units launched over the previous quarter. The National Capital Region (NCR) too saw a 40 per cent drop, as did Chennai. Pune was the only other exception, with a 109 per cent growth over the previous quarter.
An estimated 38,000 residential units were launched by organised developers in the first quarter of 2013 in major cities, registering a marginal decline of 2 per cent over the previous quarter. Of these, 11622 units were in Bangalore alone. This is more than double the number of units launched during the last quarter of 2012, catering to the affordable (49 per cent) and mid-range segment (43 per cent).
Shveta Jain, Executive Director (Residential Services), Cushman & Wakefield, said, “The country’s residential market witnessed some vibrant launch activity during the quarter despite the sluggish economic environment. Funding will remain a major challenge for developers while executing these projects."
Continued Jain, "Given the rise in construction cost, cost of land and funding no major price cuts have been possible in the current subdued business environment. Developers are now following different strategies like the 20:80 scheme and selling smaller configurations at lower overall ticket prices to boost their sales.”
Capital values in the high-end segment in Central and Off-Central locations witnessed an uptrend in the range of 17 – 30 per cent over last year due to low availability. Eastern and Northern locations also saw an uptrend in high-end category capital values of 10-14 per cent, mainly due to their proximity to IT hubs and upcoming infrastructure respectively. In the mid-end segment, South-west and Off-Central locations witnessed 13%-14% increase in capital values over last year.
The Cushman & Wakefiled report says North Bengaluru is expected to see an uptrend in capital values for the high-end category; Northwest Bengaluru an uptrend in capital values for both high-end and mid-end segments because of the rise in demand due to the ongoing metro work; East Bengaluru a price rise in the mid-end category due to continuous demand from the IT population.
High-end Segment
- Central: Lavelle Road, Off Palace Road, Off Cunningham Road, Ulsoor Road, Richmond Road, Race Course Road
- South: Koramangala, Outer Ring Road, Bannerghatta Road, JP Nagar, Kanakpura Road, Banashankari
- Off Central: Frazer town, Benson Town, Richards Town, Dollars Colony
- East: Whitefield (villas)
- North: Hebbal, Yelahanka, Jakkur, Devanahalli
- North-West:: Magadi Road, Malleshwaram, Rajajinagar
Mid-range Segment
- Central: Brunton Road, Artillery Road, Ali Askar Road, Cunningham Road
- East: Marathahalli, Whitefield, Old Airport Road
- South-East: Sarjapur Road, Outer Ring Road, HSR Layout
- South-West: Jayanagar, J P Nagar, Kanakapura Road, Bannerghatta Road, BTM Layout, Banashankari
- North: Hebbal, Bellary Road, Yelahanka, Doddaballapur Road, Jalahalli
- Off Central (i) : Vasanth Nagar, Richmond Town, Indiranagar
- Off Central (ii): Cox Town, Frazer Town, HRBR, Benson Town, etc
- North-West: Malleshwaram, Rajajinagar
- Far South: Electronic City
- West: Mysore Road, Uttarahalli Main Road
