Is Pune India's Best Residential Real Estate Market?

For a city that lies close to a metropolitan, the process of growth may not be very easy. Pune used to a classic example of this. For many years, Pune lived under the shadow of an ever-growing Mumbai, India's financial capital. However, owing to space limits among other reasons, information technology and automobile parts manufacturing majors came to Pune, developing it into an industrial hub. The proximity to Mumbai, after all, helped the cultural capital of Maharashtra grow. Pune, which was an education hub, saw more young people coming here in search of jobs.

This brings us to the residential real estate market. PropGuide looks at why the future of Pune real estate market is bright while the present is perfect.

Growing suburbs

A key indication of a growing real estate market in any city is the emergence of new suburbs around it. If this proof enough, Pune's realty estate growth is unmatched. As many as four new hotspots--- Baner, Wakad, Wagholi and -- have emerged around the city in past five years.
This has also led to an appreciation in Pune real estate rates.

Money matters

Last year, when prices across large realty markets, including the - Capital gion (NCR) and Mumbai, remained stable or reduced marginally, real estate in Pune saw good appreciation. According to PropTiger Data Labs, average property prices in Pune went up to Rs 5,701 per sq ft from Rs 3,589 in 2010. A key drivers of this growth has been a rising demand for affordable homes in the city. An active information technology and automobile industry have boosted the commercial space market in Pune. Sector experts believe this growth to continue for the next few years.

Fresh in the market

Pune is already an IT and education hub. However, global and local developers have been flocking the city with fresh construction betting on future growth as more IT campuses and corporates set up shop here. Big realty players such as Trump International have super luxury projects in the city.

Last year, as many as 230 projects were launched, most of these were in the suburbs. The central part of the city saw as less as five per cent of the project launches across the city.

Acting local

Another key behind Pune's real estate growth is the city's local policies. The city planning commission is contributing to the growth by making more land available for development. Creation of new townships could see the light of the day because the local administration extended full support.

Easy land availability is also making it possible for builders to provide affordable properties for buyers in the mid-income category and young working professionals.

Future sentiment

Sector experts predict that an increase in the number of projects in the affordable category will boost buying sentiment of the city. Also, end-user residential demand is also up. These factors indicates future growth in the residential market in the city.

(Katya Naidu has been working as a business journalist for the last nine years, and has covered beats across banking, pharma, healthcare, telecom, technology, power, infrastructure, shipping and commodities.)