New growth centres for residential realty

As per the 2011 census, there are 53 urban areas with a population of more than a million each. The manufacturing, trading and services activities in these cities are the major contributors to the Indian economy.

The top seven cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune play an extremely important role in the country's economic growth.

However, these cities have reached saturation levels and hence many industries are moving to other cities which offer immense potential. These cities offer a number of attractions such as cheaper talent pool, sizeable and cheaper land and real estate options, relatively lower operating costs and conducive business environments created by state and local governments.

Rapid industrialisation and increase in growth of services sector activities has resulted into increasing disposable income, favourable demographics, changing lifestyles and growth of population, which is becoming upwardly mobile.

Prominent tier-II and tier-III cities such as Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Chandigarh, Vadodara, Indore, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Bhopal, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Kochi to name a few are witnessing increased interest by investors, particularly in the residential real estate market. A number of factors such as increased cosmopolitan population, increasing employment opportunities and improvement in infrastructure have primarily aided this growth.

The growth in tier-II and III cities is well supported by government policies and initiatives that have over time encouraged developers to tap potential real estate demand. These cities have better infrastructure, more open spaces and greener areas unlike other congested metropolitan cities.

With the growth of sectors such as manufacturing, IT/ITeS, banking and financial services industry, consumer goods, the demand for commercial real estate space in these cities has been increasing consistently over the last few years. This rise in demand for commercial properties has resulted in increased employment opportunities within the cities, which has further fuelled the demand for residential real estate.

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