Affordable homes in Bengaluru and where can you find them?

Bengaluru is the IT capital of India. People here are well paid. There is enough job generation in the city which makes the real estate properties move faster. People from all parts of India and abroad as well migrate here for jobs, education and settlement. This in turn is translated to the demand for housing in the city. But again the picture is not that bright as has been projected or thought of. There are various income categories in Bengaluru’s workforce. Some may be earning a six figure salary while most of the people earn a meagre salary which is spent in making two ends meet.

Let’s sneak into the real picture. Statistics says that there are about 55, 000 jobs which are currently available in Bengaluru. But if one looks at the salary ranges of these jobs then one will find out that a maximum number of these jobs are offered in the range of Rs. 4 lakhs and within. This indicates that the monthly income of the job holder is within Rs. 33, 000 which means they can afford houses and flats within Rs. 35 lakhs.

With this picture of affordability of the city we can understand the purchasing power of the most of the population of the city. But where can we find homes for them is a pertinent question. The market watchers opine that real estate properties in places like Kanakapura Road, Mysore Road, Bannerghatta Road and few areas near NICE Road corridor offer prices within the income range of low and middle income group.

Various indexes indicate that affordable ranges mean the properties within the price range of Rs. 40 lakhs. The supply exceeds the demand of the properties and the indexes point out that the availability or supply of such properties is at 35 percent whereas the demand staggers at 22 percent. The market conditions denote that one can get a 2 or 3 BHK in that budget.

The trend watchers however remark that the North and South of Bengaluru is where the land bank lies. Thus the most of the real estate development and apartment complexes are built here.

There are areas where homes can be bought at even cheaper prices too. Those areas are Devanahalli, Mysore Road, Bagaluru, ITPL and Hoskote where maximum houses are priced in the price range of within Rs. 20 lakhs. On a contrast note, in the areas like Kanakapura Road, K R Puram, Hongasandra and Hosa Road one can find properties in the range of Rs. 20 lakhs to Rs. 40 lakhs. The realtors feel that the infrastructure of these areas has not yet been developed to the full due to which they are priced in the lower ranges.

In areas like Kanakapura Road, Mysore Road, ITPL and KR Puram there has been considerable amount of sprawling commercial activities with large absorption of IT and office spaces nearby which has accentuated the demand of residential spaces. There has been simultaneous development of social infrastructure like schools, colleges, malls, supermarkets and hospitals too.

Devanahalli is a place which is earmarked by the location of the International Airport and the recent launch of the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) has made the place a sought after one by the developers. The market watchers opine that although the developers are flocking to the area anticipating the prospects of the place the area is yet to develop in terms of the social infrastructure. That is one of the drawbacks of the place compared to the other high priced areas. But this is to note that with the offices and IT companies starting to operate the place will have a new look altogether which will gradually surge the prices up. So the shrewd speculator forecasts that this is probably the best time to invest in such places.

Dreamz Infra is one of the builders who can provide affordable flats in Bengaluru. They have apartments in JP Nagar, Silk Board, Electronic City, Sarjapura Road, HSR Layout, Marathahalli, Whitefield, Hosa Road, Hebbal, Horamavu, Kanakapura Road, Vidyaranyapura etc.

Share your views. Post your comments below about this article.

Whitefield, the investment hotspot of Bengaluru

Whitefield is a locality that had gained prominence long back with the presence of many multinationals and IT parks. ITPL is one of the large IT parks present in the area. Whitefield is perhaps one of the places with the highest concentration of IT, ITeS and multinationals perennially creating the demand for jobs. People from all parts of India come for treatment in Sai Baba hospital in Whitefield and the area has grown in respect of social infrastructure with simultaneous increase in the residential population in the last one and a half decade. There are a few educational institutions too that are being targeted by students all over India and even abroad. All these factors are responsible for the surge in demand of real estate properties and even rent in the area. A stroll in the area in one of the week days will make one feel that the area is in demand and one would gain on investing in Whitefield real estate.

Apart from the above reasons there are a considerable number of people who are being transferred in the offices of the adjoining areas from different parts of India and the world too. The corporates have also started investing in apartments, row houses and villas for their officials. The immigrants from other parts of India also value the place as a good investment option as many are having a good income and find it pointless in paying rent and instead pay the EMIs for their own apartments. Thus developers of all segments be it for Low Income Group (LIG), Middle Income Group (MIG), or the High Income Group (HIG) are seen to develop different buildings and apartments for different group of customers segments.

The data from various sources suggest that Whitefield in East Bengaluru offers maximum number of residential units for sale and has been ranked in the top ten localities of Bengaluru in the preference list.

Let’s explore the options available in the area.

If you browse the aggregator sites you will find many renowned developers offering apartments in Whitefield with options from one to four BHK apartments with scheduled possession by the year 2015 or at the latest by 2017.

Another striking feature that one would note is that the area offers ready-to-move-in apartments too and in considerable quantity which are priced in the range of Rs. 35 to Rs. 55 lakhs. The area is well distributed will all kinds of amenities and facilities and many IT multinationals like HCL, IBM, Tesco, TCS, GE , Societe Generale, Accenture and Sap labs are present in the area. The residents opine that there are plenty of choices in terms of recreation hangouts or even the social infrastructure is quite adequate with many malls, supermarkets, banks, schools, colleges and theatres.

Communication Facility

As far as connectivity with Bengaluru is concerned, Whitefield is accessible through two of the major four lane roads namely HAL, Old Airport Road via Marathahalli and secondly through Mahadevpura. Both these routes intersect with State Highways of Karnataka (SH 35) and further is connected to Anekal in the South and Siddlaghatta in the North. The International Airport is about 45 to 50 km away from Whitefield and is connected through the State Highways, SH 104 and SH 207.  Apart from this the Whitefield railway station is another advantage of the area which gives easy access to the city.

So with all these facilities and the higher echelons of the customer segment of Bengaluru real estate market increasingly demanding the area, lot of luxury apartments are being constructed. The logic of the customers of the uber-luxury apartments are that after a tiring day of 10 to 12 hours of work one would ask for a place where there is social life which is not far away. Another strong point is that this class always wants to remain aloof from the crowd but at the same time connectivity is one of the demanding criteria. In all these respects the area is highly suitable which makes the place both resident and investment friendly. Apart from the uber-luxury apartment seekers the office space absorption and the immigration of retail and commercial spaces are also on the rise. With this given situation the intelligent investors certainly consider Whitefield as a hot spot.

Subscribe Bangalore Property Reviews Blog for more Real Estate updates and interesting articles of Bengaluru.

Budget 2015 invokes mixed reactions from realtors

After the presentation of the budget 2015 by the finance minister there are mixed reactions from the real estate circle. The real estate sector had high expectations of measures that would pump in some liquidity into the industry. But many critics opined that the budget is fairly positive with many development measures but as far as the real estate industry was concerned the residential sector was not given much of an importance that constitutes the major chunk of the revenue for the industry. The budget according to realtors completely ignored the residential sector of real estate and there is a full lack of any kind of push for the housing sector as the realtors expected a heavy cut on the rates of the interest rates among other factors which would have boosted the home loan procurement rate among the end users pumping in some liquidity to the industry.

The budget however announced the government’s intention of building six crore houses or residential units towards the scheme of “Housing for all by 2022” but failed to detail on it. Neither did the budget detail on the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Urban Housing Mission in terms of allocating the funds. The timelines, project locations, the instruments for funding and other factors were also missing.

Few critics however appreciated the measures to reduce black money for which the step was taken by introducing the “Benami Transaction Bill”. The budget proposed to incentivize the use of wired money rather than hard cash transactions which few feel would significantly impact real estate. The budget also states that punitive measures would be taken against concealment of assets including Benami properties.

In talking about the liquidity few others argued that although this would impact on the real estate market on the whole but it might have a negative impact on the investor segment of the country. They go ahead to say that notwithstanding the positive intent of the government the Benami Bill can drive away the investors and exit the market.

Another criticism that came from the realtors was that the budget does not mention about the plans and programmes of constructing 100 smart cities. The budget document according to many lacks to boost the key factors and the sector of the real estate industry. On the first place it does not talk about the promulgation of the REITs and the InvITs. But Mr. Jaitly proposed to rationalize the regime of  capital gains for the sponsors exiting at the time of listing of units of REIT and InvITs and also announced the creation of six crore homes to meet the centre’s mission of “Housing for all by 2022”.

Others opine that although many macro factors were being looked into in the budget for a prosperous economic regime but the real estate sector was highly expecting for some compensatory measures for the lull in the last there years and as the sector was virtually gasping for more liquidity. The realtors were unhappy as the budget has nothing in it to cheer up.

Moreover given the burden of prevailing indirect taxes, stamp duty clearances, the high cost of borrowing for both the developer and the buyer, the real estate sector was hoping for some serious incentives among other measures to give a boost to the sector which the budget was devoid of. But many veterans feel that the government will make some announcements in this regard in the due course of the year.

The measure for the REIT regime is welcomed by many as the indications that tax pass through on REITs will be implemented and the experts feel that this has the potential to stimulate the REIT market in India which can release lower cost capital, increase the flow of liquidity and stimulate the next phase of enhancement of the urban infrastructure of India.

Considering all these factors many opine that the budget is positive and balanced as the proposal to rationalize the capital gains tax regime is a positive step and the simultaneous reduction in the corporate taxes will ensure higher investment in the realty sector.

Dreamz Infra India one of the best builders providing affordable apartments for sale in Bangalore. Construction work is in full swing of Dreamz 7 projects which are located at Electronic City, Marathahalli, Sarjapura Road, Silk Board, JP Nagar.

The Secrets of Real Estate Investments

Real Estate is a place to make money if one can invest a bit and one is well informed about the market. Nevertheless, like all businesses you also need to have a business plan or a strategy to win over and become a successful investor. Irrespective of whatever strategy one may deploy there are several ways to make money in real estate which we elaborate as under.

Renovate and Sell or Rent it:

This is one of the successful tips of the real estate industry to buy properties in lesser prices which requires substantial repairs. Properties which are in need of major repairs are sold at much lesser price than the market rate. Such properties can be bought and sold when the market takes an upward turn. There is profit if one rents such properties also as the return on investment will be high owing to less investment.

Real Estate Agency: Opening a real estate agency is a much better option instead of putting one’s money at risk. The real estate agents do not rent, sell or buy property but instead earn huge commissions on sale just by helping people to buy and sell property.

Wholesale Buying: This is one of the secret ways of making money in real estate sector. By identifying an attractive deal one has to enter into an agreement and then advertise and sell it at a higher price than what the agreement is for. This can be a treated as a sort of unethical practice, especially if the buyer comes to know the truth.

Leasing Property: Leasing a property is a wise way of keeping the option to buy it open below the market price at the right moment. That is the reason leasing option is practiced by many especially by people who doesn't qualify for a mortgage.

Flipping Houses: This is a good way of making money if one has a sound knowledge of the prevailing rates of homes, repair cost and up-gradation cost. The strategy is to find houses and sell it to different investors.  One has to keep the market cycles in mind and have to be good in negotiation skills.

Buying Land: Some real estate investors just buys land and sell it after few years when the market conditions are a bit bullish. One can expect a windfall profit if one buys few acres of land and sells it in sizeable plots.

Buying under Construction Properties: One can buy an under construction property especially at the early stages by paying a deposit which can range from 5 percent to 30 percent. If one waits for the period of construction, he or she can sell the ready to move in apartment at a higher price.

Consultation: Last but not the least is consultation in real estate after few years of experience in the sector. There have been instances of many people who have become rich by consulting in the real estate sector.

Follow Bangalore Property Reviews blog for more interesting articles on Real estate investments.

Apartments in 40 – 60 lakhs in demand; Cheaper options available at sought after locations

South Bangalore happens to cater homes and apartments within the budget of the customers and within Rs. 40 to Rs. 60 lakhs one is supposed to get a decent apartment of one’s choice in a preferred locality with all infrastructures around. In a recent discussion with the real estate veterans, brokers and market watchers few points and guidelines and their observations came out in which the experts replied and answered to the questions of the customers. We detail them below.

Is a decent home available in Bangalore within Rs. 60 lakhs? If so, where is it?

According to the data supplied by PropIndex dated the quarter July – Sept. 2014 the areas where at reasonable rates, the apartments are constructed and are available are Sarjapur Road, Marathahalli, Electronic City, Horamavu and Rajarajeshwari Nagar. These areas are the ones in the list of most sought after areas of Bangalore with most of the IT and ITeS population with the IT Parks nearby. Not only Rs. 60 lakhs, residential apartments even at a cheaper rate starting from Rs. 9 lakhs are also available for a 1 BHK apartment. Notwithstanding the reality covered in this article being true, our market survey team has found out there are few developers in the affordable market segment who are making apartments available even in these sought after areas also at a lower price. Dreamz Infra, Concorde and Shobha developers are few of the names constructing flats in some of these areas. Dreamz Infra is a company who has constructed apartments and complexes in all these areas at a much lower price than the prevailing market rates of these areas.

Dreamz also has two luxury projects in Marathahalli and Sarjapur Road which is priced at par with the market above Rs. 60 or Rs. 70 lakhs but with much more amenities ordinarily available in this area.

Home within your Budget
Flats Within 15 lakhs	Doddaballapur, Mysore Road, Devanahalli, Begur Road.
Rs. 20 lakhs to Rs. 40 lakhs.	Rajerajeshwari Nagar, Marathahalli, Electronic City.
Rs. 40 lakhs to Rs. 60 lakhs.	Whitefield, Hormavu, Marathahalli, Sarjapur Road.
Rs. 60 to Rs. 1 crore.	Bannerghatta Road, Hebbal, Sarjapur and Sarjapur Road.
Above Rs. 1 crore.	Sarjapur Road, Koramangala, Hebbal and Whitefield.

What are the options in and around Rs 40 lakhs to Rs. 45 lakhs?

There are options available with many developers offering flats and apartments in this range but if one wants to optimize the market conditions and make a proper purchase decision, one should look to the segment of emerging developers those are working in the affordable housing segment as named earlier. Dreamz Infra, Concorde and Shobha are established developers in this segment. To find flats at affordable rates in one’s preferred location one can log onto dreamzinfra.com and specify the area and location. Plethora of options and apartments will come up with respective prices and if one wants one can directly communicate with their customer care reps over the internet through chatting to clear one’s doubts and get more information. So can it be done for other developers too.

You may be wondering that we are a bit biased about Dreamz Infra but in reality Dreamz Infra is a company totally dedicated for affordable housing which made them construct projects in all the sought after areas of Bangalore at lower prices. So the probability of getting the desired home at the most wanted location is higher with Dreamz. One can also look at the websites of Concorde and Shobha and few others in this segment too. 

What are the options of the NRIs in the Bangalore market? With a limited budget how should an NRI go about real estate shopping? 

Bangalore has become quite popular among NRIs and it has been noticed that NRI investments are mostly in the already established posh areas of Bangalore or in the outskirts where luxurious projects are being built with the promise of the area having improved infrastructure soon enough. Such areas are many with the government planning to build huge IT parks in Devanahalli and Doddaballapur and Chikkaballapur is also an area of massive industrial and infrastructure development. 

Nevertheless online help can be certainly taken and the online search engines can be used. On a more intimate note one can also say that many developers like Dreamz Infra, Concorde and Shobha has constructed their websites like a search engine where you can avail apartments in virtually all areas of demand in Bangalore. 

But a proper and thorough research on the available options should be carried out before taking any decision. But if one wants a regular rental return one should prefer the IT corridors of Bangalore like HSR Layout, Whitefield, Marathahalli and Electronic City. There are other areas also. These areas have a perennial demand of rental accommodation guaranteeing you the rental income each month. One can try the areas like Lingarajpuram, Electronic City, Whitefield, Hennur Main road, Hebbal, Bannerghatta Road and Sarjapur Road also and match the available accommodations with one’s budget. 

What about trends in the residential markets of Hyderabad? 

Unlike Bangalore, Hyderabad population is still in a predicament as to whether to invest and if so where. The market watchers feel that in spite of the division of the state the value among the corporates have not reduced and they still have confidence in the market of Hyderabad which is good news for the real estate sector and this means more creation of jobs necessitating the demand for more housing.

Where in Hyderabad is most lucrative from investment return point of view? 

Although increase in capital value has not been noticed in the Hyderabad market for a longer time but the IT hubs and the places nearby has been noticed to be places of new investment with expectation of new jobs being created to boost the demand for housing. 

Hyderabad is a cheaper market and the market conditions not being so good in the last two years the mega players of the market are seen to shift their concentration from the high end segment to the mid and upper mid segment by tailor making the high end luxury flats at a lower price by changing the super-built areas a bit. This gives the buyers a better choice of availing high priced apartments at a lower cost.

What about the Chennai market conditions? 

Well, the Chennai market conditions had been observed to be stagnant for some time and it’s difficult to speculate whether the prices would go higher or remain stable. However the PropIndex scores are 123 of Chennai which means that the prices are expected to rise according to buyer’s sentiments as a base of 100 means the prices would remain the same. This has not been the real trend noticed in the market but the situation might soon change for the better with the political situation becoming a bit stable

Bengaluru seems to attract Foreign Investment

Bengaluru: The real estate sector of India always does not show great promises. Even today many cities like Mumbai, Noida, NCR and New Delhi is struggling with unsold stocks of the last two years and yet waiting for the market to churn up. Although we see a lull in the last two years in many cities of India, few markets of India has shown promises in the real estate sector. In the recent years Bengaluru market has been quite promising with the constant increment of the habitation of IT and ITeS sector and has become investor friendly as well. The mega-players of the real estate industry opine that Bengaluru real estate industry always have been giving the investor a minimum return of 20 percent, whatever be the market conditions. There are few reasons for the Bengaluru market to show this healthy trend.

Bengaluru – The fastest growing real estate market
This market has witnessed many foreign investments owing to its cosmopolitan physical and social infrastructure and high absorption rates of residential apartments and commercial complexes as well. The increasing number of IT, ITeS and also manufacturing and garment companies along with others have created a perennial demand for both commercial and residential complexes and apartments.

The city is reputed for attracting work force from not only India but abroad as well and thus it had been in the spotlight for the domestic and foreign investment alike. The builders of Bengaluru look forward for foreign investors which they easily get. The data shows that in Bengaluru, there are about 300 ongoing residential projects which are being constructed. In addition to this Bengaluru has affordable office spaces which are also accentuating the real estate market demand. This causes many offices to be built here, creating employment opportunities. Last month E-Commerce giant Flipcart is said to have signed on a 3.25 million sq. ft. of office space in the Embassy Tech Village on the Outer Ring Road.

We enlist below few of the real estate trends noted in Bengaluru which attracts many foreign investors making this city an investors’ choice.

Growth of the IT and ITeS sector:
The increasing rate of growth in the IT and the ITeS sector has certainly increased the number of jobs in Bengaluru. This has also increased the rate of migration in the city which is from the working class. This has certainly impacted the development of the city of Bengaluru. The rise in income levels, purchasing power, global exposure and the rise in education has raised the living standards of the city. Data shows that Bengaluru has more office spaces for rent available compared to other cities. This again leads to development of IT, ITeS and other offices and generation of more jobs.

Infrastructure – Root of development:
The proposed development of Infrastructure like the Metro railway construction across all corridors of Bengaluru, extension of 4 lane roads to embanked highways, improvement of networks through construction of additional roads like NICE road and the Outer Ring Road, development of infrastructure in Devanahalli, Doddabalapur, Nelamangala, Tumkur Road , K.R. Puram, Mysore Road has also led to the increased rate of absorption in the real estate market and the change of scene in the real estate market of Bengaluru.

Increase of the Capital Values:
Albeit that Bengaluru market has a reputation of good and steady returns on investment, it has witnessed quite steady demand even when the real estate market of whole of India was unstable. From the last few decades the real estate sector of Bengaluru focused on the mid-segment which started offering housing at affordable costs. There are quite a few developers in this segment. Dreamz Infra, Corncorde and Shobha developers are few names along with many who has discovered this market segment and which is being explored. The market watchers have stated that even in tough conditions this middle-segment has witnessed a price appreciation of 41 percent. Few areas like North Bengaluru, Electric City and Whitefield are the micro-markets that have witnessed a steady demand in the middle segment.

Bengaluru: A market driven by end users:
The reason for the better performance of Bengaluru market is that it is driven by the end users compared to cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. Not only in the IT and ITeS, Bengaluru is developing on a faster track on the fronts of textile, manufacturing, bio-technology and many more. So unlike other metropolitan cities Bengaluru has a huge sale of ready-to-move-in apartments as well. This can be attributed to the large mass of the end users with a good purchasing power and the need for housing.

Bangalore ORR, The Most Sought After Residential And Commercial Destination

Bangalore:

The ORR (Outer Ring Road) of Bangalore has been the main link between the different economic activities in south, east and presently the north as well. The areas around Marathahalli have been the most preferred destination of activity since it connects points between the south and the east. The portion of the ORR between HSR Layout and Marathahalli has witnessed developments in all spheres of residential, retail, commercial activity due to proper connectivity and access to economic zones, benefits of mutation corridor and the nearness to residential areas.

According to the experts, the concentration of hi-tech zones with a large number of SEZ and STPI units, towards the east Sarjapur Road, Electronic City, K.R.Puram, ORR Bellandur to Whitefield resulted in such growth of the whole region. HSR layout point’s experts have typically been a preferred residential location in South Bangalore. The area has well organized layouts formed by BDA (Bangalore Development Authority) with ample physical infrastructure such as roads, shopping malls, parks etc. As the ORR emerged as a prominent IT economic zone, employment opportunities increased with leaps and bounds encircling around the region of HSR Layout and Marathahalli. The emergence of ORR and adjacent areas as a favourite destination for economic activity enabled speedier connectivity to the HSR layout neighbourhood.

If you are looking for flats for sale in HSR Layout or Flats in Marathahalli, visit Dreamz Infra. You will get flats at very affordable prices.

Commercial activity and market overview

Commercial and office space development has also spurred in this region owing to proximity to the hi-tech zones and access through the ORR has converted this stretch into a preferred commercial hub too. The research on the data available shows a total office space stock along this HSR Layout - Marathahalli stretch is roughly 23.50 million sq. ft. Along with built to suit developments and multi tenanted buildings there are several IT projects, well established in this belt. With several prominent office projects, one can also notice many major international IT companies being housed here.

This micro-market is also preferred by banking, financial services and investment sector along with IT sector and majority of migrants tend to show preference for office space here. Corporates seem to prefer this area due to factors like nearness to the Central Business District and residential markets too. Apart from this, the area enjoys the access to large talent pool, airport connectivity and presence of all infrastructural facilities like hotels, entertainment hubs, eateries etc.

The Future:

The experts are of the opinion that with the present demand and supply situation in mind the future seems well for commercial IT development in this market. The opinion goes that with additional influx of business infrastructure as hotels, malls, supermarkets, healthcare facilities, this micro-market is projected to grow further in the next few years to come.

For more details follow our blog Bangalore Property Reviews regularly.