Posted on 21st February, 2020 by admin

In Bengaluru's realty race, the north zone is in pole position at the moment. We check the roadmap to its popularity.

There is both, hope and excitement in the air for home-buyers and investors, particularly, with the RBI cutting the repo rate and India's largest public sector lender, SBI following closely by slashing home loan interest rates. And in Bengaluru, the action is mainly headed northwards.

Big on employment:

The migrant population is high in Bengaluru with most moving here to work, and then staying on to make the city their home. The airport singularly drove large MNCs to shift base here and continues to be the prime driver of real estate demand.

Raghav Kapur, assistant vice-president, SILA, points out, "In the recent times, north Bengaluru has definitely taken dominance in the residential space; this includes locations of Hebbal, Jakkur and Devanahalli. The first major reason behind this is the employment opportunities through the international airport, the proposed Hitech Defence and Aerospace Park. The second reason is the connectivity through Ballari Road and the Namma Metro network, which has made commuting easier."

Liases Foras, a research firm, states, the expected employment – direct and indirect - from the three proposed projects around international airport namely Devanahalli Business Park, Aerospace IT Park and Hardware Park would be about 2.5 lakh.

Best of workplaces:

North Bengaluru started gaining attention from occupiers in 2014 with major transactions taking place in the technology sector, states a Colliers report. It further goes on to mention the factors supporting Bengaluru's top spot, which include its constant economic growth, availability of office space, and strong pool of talent. However, due to challenges including overburdened infrastructure and limited vacancy in preferred locations such as the Outer Ring Road, Central Business District and Secondary Business District, office demand is expected to shift to Whitefield in the west, and the micro-markets of Hebbal and Yelahanka in the north, where quality supply is available at very competitive rents. Currently, there is 4.0 million sqft of operational Grade A office stock and an additional 5.7 million sqft of new supply scheduled through 2021.

Infra on fast track:

The elevated signal-free expressway to the airport has given connectivity to the north zone a shot in the arm. The proposed 65-km Peripheral Ring Road to be developed by the BDA as a 20-lane elevated corridor will provide unhindered transit to the north zone. This ambitious project will be integrated with a Metro corridor and dedicated bus lanes. With the Bangalore International Airport Ltd's (BIAL) announcement to construct two four-lane flyovers and at-grade roads connecting Ballari Road to the airport terminal, two new road over-bridges above the railway line, and to widen two vehicular underpasses on the flyover loop, access to the airport will be enhanced.

"The road between Hebbal and Devanahalli has some of the city's best schools turning the location into an established education belt. Medical, commercial, retail and residential development are add-on high points of north Bengaluru," shares Kapur.

Demand and supply:

According to Liases Foras data, in Outer north suburbs, apartments are the most preferred product type and 2-BHK homes in the cost range of Rs 40-50 lakh has seen the maximum sales activity in the last year, while 3-BHK option is also beginning to gain traction. Sales are mainly concentrated in pockets of Tumkur Rd-Bagalkunte, Thanisandra, Devanahalli and Horamavu in apartments, whereas open plot market is largely governed by locations of Devanahalli, Chikkaballapur and Doddaballapur. It would hence be safe to say that north Bengaluru is indeed ruling the realty charts.

Source: Leena Mudbidri, Times Property, The Times of India, Bengaluru