Chennai
The residential real estate market in Chennai witnessed a decline in total sales in 2012 compared to last year. However, capital values have seen marginal increase across all micro markets in the city. Majority of the residential activity was concentrated in the south and west of Chennai with the western corridor emerging as the new realty hub. Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Grand South Trunk (GST) Road and Bangalore Highway (NH-4) remained important growth sectors of the city.
Deterrents to growth.
The housing sector took a major hit during the second quarter of the year as Tamil Nadu government increased guideline values for land registration. The volume of transaction came down drastically during April-May, as buyers were reluctant to absorb the hike in stamp duty. Even though the scenario improved towards the end of the year with slight rise in sales it did impact the overall sales volume for the year.
Growth corridors
OMR and GST along with its link road and neighbourhood were the areas in demand and saw healthy absorption levels. “OMR is witnessing an oversupply of residential units with several projects lined up for launch. Thus prices are lower here, which is driving demand,” said Nawaz Hussain, director, South India Shelters. He added, “GST has witnessed an increase of almost 20 per cent in capital values in the last one year owing to huge demand and short supply.”
Areas that saw large scale manufacturing and IT development were also in demand. Both sales and rental demand was observed in localities such as Urapakkam, Medavakkam and Madipakkam which offered proximity to GST Road, OMR and several IT companies. “Micro markets such as Perungudi, Sholinganallur and Siruseri have been active in south Chennai whereas Porur, Moggapair and Poonamalle have remained active micro markets in west Chennai,” says Anshuman Magazine, CMD CBRE.
With a lot of foreign investments coming in, Chennai is slated to become a hub for many sectors such as automobile, industrial and IT. Increased employment opportunities thus generated would increase the demand for residential units giving an impetus to real estate prices. This coupled with increased land prices means that we can expect property prices to rise substantially in 2013.
MagicBricks.com Bureau
