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.

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.