By: Manpreet Singh Chadha, Joint Managing Director – Wave Group
Track2Realty Exclusive: We all dream of living in a house of our own and often enough put in our lifelong savings investing in a home that has the best of both comfort and location. However, it can be a nightmare if your house is in a locality that requires a lot of effort in getting access to even the things of daily use or makes commuting to your workplace an ordeal. Even the posh areas of a metropolitan city are not free from this problem where you might have to walk quite a distance to get to the supermarket, travel from one corner of the city to other to reach malls and multiplexes, start early for workplace or drive for long to access a hospital in emergency.
If you are looking for a house that is well-planned and at the same time has all the amenities in close vicinity then here is something that could help you out – Welcome to the world of integrated township, a concept that has witnessed a tremendous growth in the past few years.
A new name for quality living and lifestyle – integrated township, in fact, is a community habitat where walking to the shopping centre and your workplace is possible, your kids can cycle to their school, and ancillary facilities such as hospitals, hotels and entertainment centers are just a stone throw away — not to mention other amenities such as non-stop water and power supply, wide roads, plenty of green spaces, security systems, swimming pools in the backyard, club houses, joggers parks, and children’s play areas.
Thus, while basic infrastructure like roads, power and water takes time to come up in municipal areas, one can live in peace in an integrated township as civic amenities are already in place. Adding to this, most of the integrated townships are designed as gated communities, which make them an ideal choice from the security perspective. No wonder, integrated townships are supposed to be the next big thing in the Indian real estate sector as they encompass all walks of life and have the ‘city within the city’ concept providing daily amenities and infrastructure to residents.
Today, when owning a home in the city has become extremely cumbersome and costly, the concept of integrated township is fast-catching up with the improving lifestyles and expanded knowledge of today’s discerning consumers on global trends that have made these new-generation property buyers even more conscious about the properties they want to invest in.
Moreover, with pressure on existing urban infrastructure and rapid urbanisation in key metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune), the trend of integrated townships has become quite popular in tier I and tier II cities. Integrated townships are now being seen as the most suitable residential solution to reduce pressure on the major urban centers across the country.
One of the biggest advantages of investing in integrated townships is that the cost of entry is low compared to investing in city projects. As most integrated townships are coming up at a distance from the city core, that gives the developer an advantage of lower land cost which is passed on to the buyers.
Suitable location is another big advantage of integrated townships as more and more developers are trying to develop townships close to software parks, industrial estates, and the like – making it possible for the professionals working in those places to have their dream home close to their workplaces. Moreover, most of these townships also have spaces for commercial use that includes offices and retail spaces.
The changing mindset of people has resulted in developers being more innovative with design and architecture of the residential buildings. Also, increased competition in the market through entry of national developers apart from the local developers has resulted in increased options for the buyers.
Integrated townships are also supposed to reduce the pressure on city infrastructure. The Government, therefore, is now encouraging the development of such townships to reduce pressure on urban areas and to improve infrastructure. Also, the amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Townships in India is increasing and this has given a major boost to the sector. FDI makes overall economic sense as it helps to bring in the latest technology in the construction of townships and generates employment opportunities for the people of the country.
These projects also offer real estate developers an opportunity to cash in on the revival in demand for residential and commercial space. These projects are part of an effort by these developers to reduce risk in their business model, as one vertical provides a cushion to another in case of tepid demand.
It is, in fact, only because of their numerous advantages that integrated townships are now witnessing a quiet growth in the number of planned projects that blend in a lot of things to make ambitious projects really successful and sustainable. And lured by their growth and future prospects, developers across the country are exploring the township model and are going all out to develop little cities on the outskirts of big cities, particularly metros.
According to industry experts, the concept of integrated townships is here to stay with convenience, affordability and lifestyle being the priorities of a customer. Dozens of large townships are currently being set up across India and are due for completion over the next couple of years. Their demand is only set to head north in future. Whatever be the case, with residential conditions in our larger cities on a decline, integrated townships definitely seem to be the answer to India’s growing housing woes.
