The real estate sector in Thiruvananthapuram is still concentrating on the heart of the city as people prefer the busy places rather than the periphery.
Now, the trend of investment has changed to real buyers who want to stay in an apartment. The builders are also redesigning apartments by reducing the floor ratio to provide them at an affordable price to the middle-income group.
According to Artech CEO T S Asok, the real estate sector in Thiruvananthapuram is steady when compared to other cities in the State. The investments are happening in premium locations as most people prefer to stay within the city.
“As the land value is very high in Thiruvananthapuram, there is more attraction for apartments. The builders are yet to move outside the city owing to lack of infrastructure,” he said.
There is a need to improve the basic facilities at the outer ring of the city to attract more customers. Good roads, pure drinking water and transportation facilities will help in developing the rural areas, he said.
The demand and supply in Thiruvananthapuram is steady, which provides a steady growth in real estate sector, says Ravichandran, State secretary general, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (Credai). Over the years, the price was not skyrocketing, but there has been a slight increase, helping the growth of business.
“The prices now range from ` 4,000 to ` 5,000 per square feet in the city and ` 3,000 to ` 4,000 in the peripheral areas. During the earlier days, 80 per cent of the buyers were NRIs who had invested and now real buyers constitute around 50 per cent,” he said.
Builders have started identifying growth centres in the district to start new projects. The places identified are Balaramapuram, Neyyatinkara, Kovalam, Kazhakkoottam, Nedumangad, Attingal, Peroorkada and Vattiyoorkavu.
The ‘heart-of-the-city mania’ of people will change once the outskirts get developed. Oversupply of projects is seen in the Kazhakkoottam area targeting the IT professionals, which is not getting a good response, Ravichandran added.
A R Babu, managing director of Heera Builders, said that several retired persons are now preferring to stay in apartments. As Thiruvananthapuram is one of the most cleanest cities and all basic facilities are available, this is the most preferred place for retirement life.
The trend of bigger area for apartments has changed and now builders are planning budget apartments which can be sold for a price below ` 40 lakh. Around 50 per cent of the buyers prefer budget apartments, 30 to 40 per cent can afford ` 40 to ` 70 lakh and 10 per cent go for luxurious apartments which cost more than ` one crore.
Villa projects are the least preferred owing to the high cost inside the city. Some projects are coming up outside the city, but they too are costly as the land prices are high there too.