Should You Bank On Tambaram Real Estate?

Looking to invest in South Chennai? Tambaram could be a locality you may consider. With talks about Tambaram shaping up its own municipal corporation, young homebuyers are expecting better days ahead for the locality. As of now, over 200 projects available for sale have been listed on PropTiger.com. Here's what you need to know:

Strategic location

The Grand Southern Trunk Road or the GST Road divides Tamabaram into East and West and besides the connectivity, the city is home to some of the leading colleges such as Madras Christain College, industrial units such as the Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), Indian Air Force Training Centre etc. One of the busiest areas in Chennai, Tambaram's transport infrastructure is extensive as is the social infrastructure with respect to schools and hangout zones. The city, according to Census 2011, is home to over 1,65,000 people plus an additional one lakh populace who constitute the floating population.

Prices

If you are considering an investment in Tambaram, the price dynamics suggests that a 2BHK unit in West Tambaram would cost you Rs 40 lakh. A similar investment would cost you up to Rs 45 lakh in East Tambaram. Check out the market in the chart below:

Given the statistics, East Tambaram looks promising in terms of the pricing especially if you are looking at investing in property for future returns. In April 2013, average capital values in East Tambaram stood at Rs 3,522 per sq ft and given that the real estate market has been slow, the climb in values is sizeable. In the case of West Tambaram, the prices have been stable. In April 2013 for example, capital values were at Rs 4,154 per sq ft and the values stand at almost the same plane today. However, it makes for a good end-use option. If you had been deferring a purchase here, you haven't lost time, neither have prices risen making it a good time to buy.

Do note that prices are not the sole indicator of how the locality would be. Much also depends upon the demand concentration, developer's interest in the locality, appreciation potential and infrastructure growth too.

Infrastructure

To make commute easier, a skywalk cum foot over bridge would soon allow almost 62,000 pedestrians to commute better. It would also connect to the MTC terminus, the railway station and the SETC bus stop decongesting the area.

Latest developments

• The administration is inching closer to coming up with a satellite municipal corporation. The proposal has been sent to the government and is under-consideration. If the proposal materialises, the corporation will encompass two municipalities, four town panchayats in Perungalathur, Peerkankaranai, Madambakkam and Chitlapakkam, and seven village panchayats including Agaramthen, Medavakkam, Vengaivasal, Mudichur and Varadharajapuram.

• The Xander Group Inc and Dutch pension fund asset manager APGAsset Management NV have bought an information technology (IT) special economic zone (SEZ) for around $350 million from a joint venture of Shriram Properties' and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd and private equity fund SUN-AREA Property Partners.

• In order to decongest the arterial NH 45, the National Highway Authority (NHAI) is planning a 30-km elevated stretch from Tambaram to Chengalpattu and work is expected to start by 2020.

• Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is working on the proposed 42 km elevated corridor between the airport and Chengalpattu.