HYDERABAD: Water shortage is leading to fall in prices of properties and poor sales in many places in Hyderabad, though city realty sector has been on a recovery path of late.
Though availability of water is seen as one of the prime factors influencing the decision of a home buyer while making a property purchase, the importance of this factor has grown recently, in the wake of severe water problem in Hyderabad.
Realty in some areas has been so badly hit by water shortage that prices of properties have gone down steeply especially in areas like Boduppal, Uppal, Quthbullapur, Nizampet, Pragtinagar, Miyapur, among others.
“We bought a double bedroom house for about `40 lakh in Boduppal two years ago. But now I am ready to sell it for `25 or 30 lakh as I want to shift from this area. But due to lack of water I am not getting any buyer for even this price. Water problem during summer is common everywhere, but in Boduppal and surrounding areas, water problem is prevalent all through the year. If I had known about water problem before making the purchase, I would have not bought a house here,” rued A Amaranth Rao, a software engineer.
Similar opinions are being expressed by many home buyers in various parts of Hyderabad, which are plagued by water problem.
For instance property market in Nizampet and Pragatinagar is a classic example to ascertain the adverse effect of water on home prices. The once realty hot spot, finds no takers for new houses due to water shortage and many who had already own a house, feel that the cost of living here is expensive as every home has to spend at least `4,000 per month on water bills.
“We bought a flat for `50 lakh in Pragatinagar. But only after moving here we got know that there is no ground water and no public water connection. As a result just we have to spend `5,000 on water alone per month. For a middle class family spending so much on water is a huge expenditure. Even the builder who sold us did not tell us about the water problem. Though we want to sell his flat, we are not getting proper price,” said Praveen Kumar, a techie.
“Though availability of water plays a crucial role in deciding the prices of realty in an area the importance of water has increased of late due to severe water crisis. We hope the situation will change in the future as the government is planning initiatives like Mission Bhageeratha, to supply water to every household. Already Godavari water is being supplied to some areas and there is also proposal to construct two more reservoirs,” Gummi Ram Reddy, president of Confederation Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI), Telangana, said.