Vijaywada's loss is turning out to be Hy derabad's gain. At least that's what the trend, currently prevailing in the real estate markets of the two states, suggests.
Given the abnormally high rates being quoted by land owners in the major cities of Andhra Pradesh -Vijayawada and Guntur -developers are now turning to their old haunt: Hyderabad. These locations in AP shot to prominence on the real estate map, subsequent to N Chandrababu Naidu's announcement about building the new capital somewhere in between the two cities.
According to market sources, owners in AP, hoping to cash in on the `capital call', have been quoting atypical rates ranging from anywhere between a whopping Rs 60,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh per square yard (sq yd), with most unwilling to negotiate on the price.
Interestingly, even the most expensive plots in the joint capital, are cheaper in comparison. While a sq yd of land in Benz Circle, in the heart of Vijayawada, is up for grabs at a staggering Rs 1.2 lakh, a similar land parcel in the plushest pockets of Banjara Hills/Jubilee Hills is roughly priced at Rs 80,000. Even in Hi-Tec City, the rates are currently hovering around Rs 60,000-80,000 per sq yd, on an average.
Predictably, Hyderabadbased developers who made a beeline outside land owners' offices in these AP cities earlier this month, have all rushed back to town now and are believed to be aggressively scouting for land in and around the city, especially in the Kollur and Shankarapalli areas. Both are within 10-20 km radius of the hi-tech belt stretching across Gachibowli-KondapurHi-Tec City.
“The rates being quoted (in Guntur, Vijayawada) are unrealistic and speculative. It is exactly the sentiment that prevailed in Hyderabad in 2007-08.
To make the end products feasible, these rates are bound to get corrected soon,“ said Sandip Patnaik, managing director of the real estate consultant firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in Hyderabad. He also confirmed to the massive hoarding of land in and around the city. Rough estimates suggest that over 600 acres of land in Hyderabad's outskirts have been picked up by major players in the industry, in the last few weeks alone.
But developers confirm that construction activity at most sites will go on to the floors only later. “We are looking at the Diwali-Dasara time to launch. But because the prices are fairly reasonable now, we are working towards creating a land bank, particularly around the Gachibowli area. And we are quite bullish about it,“ said Ashwin Rao of Manbhum Constructions.
Similarly, Aparna Constructions, which has already kickstarted some work, is set to launch residential projects worth an astounding Rs 2,500 crore in the next four months.
“We have already inaugurated our Cyber Life venture in Kondakallu (14 kms from Gachibowli) earlier this month. There are a bunch of others coming up soon,“ said D S Prasad, director of the construction major.
Source: TimesOfIndia
