Bangalore, March 27, 2006
Priyanjana Dutta
CNN-IBN
Five years back, Nirmal and his wife Reena decided
to settle down in Bangalore. Although he had a degree
in Hotel Management, Nirmal soon realised that the
BPO sector was the place to be in.
It has just been three years into his new job and
he has bought a flat in one of the prime locations
in Bangalore.
Director, National Marketing Services, Nirmal PV,
says, "I was paying a rent of around Rs 9000
for a two bedroom house. But I was looking at something
wherein I could pay a little more and own the house.
So, instead of the rent, I could pay the EMI."
"Maybe I'll look at another flat in a couple
of years or if I get a good deal next year itself,"
he adds.
In the last five years, land prices around the central
business district have increased from nearly Rs. 2,500
per square foot, to between Rs.6,500 and 10,000 per
square foot.
Rents have gone up from Rs.15 per sqft a month a few
years ago to Rs.100 per square foot per month.
Marketing Director of Purvankara, Girish Purvankara,
says, "IT has been our major customer base and
over 60 per cent of the customers come from IT sector.
This trend will continue. We have grown over 100 per
cent in the last couple of years."
Analysts say that this demand for housing will further
increase. Director, Software Technologies Park of
India B V Naidu, says, "People want the Bangalore
brand. In the last four months, nearly 64 new companies
have come in. And out of these 64, 43 are foreign
equity companies. What it indicates is that the people
don't want to forget about the Bangalore brand."
This vibrant booming real estate market has also
brought in a lot of NRI investors into Bangalore.
Sri Raam, a software professional moved with his family
to Bangalore two years back, after spending eight
years in the US.
In fact, NRIs account for 20-30 per cent of business
for real estate developers. And that number can increase
upto 75 per cent for super premium properties.
Director, Citagus, Sriraam, says, "The only
city that I wanted to come back to was Bangalore,
mainly because of the weather and also because this
is India's Silicon Valley."
Bangalore's population is expected to exceed 7 million
by the year 2011. The IT and ITES boom has made the
real estate business an extremely lucrative one.
NRIs, young professionals and software gurus are
all anxious for a place in the Bangalore sun. But
with house prices going the way they are, soon even
sunshine might come with a price tag.
