BENGALURU: Despite the Covid-induced economic slump, the sites auctioned by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) have never had it so good. The coveted corner sites have been fetching much more than anticipated with 670 sold so far in three rounds of auction. A site in HSR Layout’s II Sector, the costliest site sold so far, has fetched the BDA Rs 8,08,97,900, which is 160 per cent more than the price fixed by the Authority. One site in Jakkur fetched 248 per cent more than the fixed price.
The auction process for the fourth batch of sites is presently on and another two rounds of auction are likely next year. A senior official in the Finance Department told The New Indian Express that generally 50 per cent of the sites up for sale have remained unsold in the past due to various reasons.
“The demand has been really good this time around. Only around 20 per cent of the sites had no takers. Of the sites that were auctioned, there was an overall average of 8 bidders for each site sold. The Covid-19 situation has not impacted the sale at all,” the official said.
BDA Public Relations Officer L P Gireesh said that 672 out of 912 sites were sold during the auctions but two of them were later handed back to the Authroity. “While BDA generally accepts bids if they are priced more than 5 per cent of the base price fixed during the auction, the rates quoted were extremely good for a few sites,” he said. The first phase in the auction sold both corner as well as intermediate sites but a legal hurdle cropped up and since then, the Authority was only selling corner sites, he added.
Gireesh said the HSR Layout site measuring 207 square metres had a base price of Rs 1,50,000 fixed per square metre. “It was finally sold for Rs 3,91,000 per square metre, totalling to Rs 8,08,97,900.”One site in Jakkur running to 72 square metres had a base price of Rs 44,400 per square metre and went for a bid of Rs 1,54,900 per square metre. “It was finally sold for Rs 1,11,52,800, which is 248 per cent more than what we anticipated,” he said.
A small site measuring 540 square metres in Sir M Vishweshwaraiah Layout too went for a bid price of Rs 60,75,000 that was 167.86 per cent higher, Gireesh added.Asked about the areas in demand, he said that older areas like HSR Layout, Koramangala and Arkavathy were much sought after. “We have rejected bids for a few sites as the bid price was low. Preference for specific areas as well as Vasthu reasons play a role in rejecting some sites,” he said.