Track2Realty Exclusive
Bottom Line: The affordability of affordable market, Noida Extension was in question due to lack of infrastructure. Metro rail promises to answer the concerns.
Over-supply has been oft-repeated blame game for slow property absorption across the country. However, in most of the cases this over-supply is a misunderstood term. In a country where the housing shortage is huge, any mention of over-supply is misleading in the first place. In most of the property markets, it is the demand & supply mismatch which is termed as over-supply.
But what would you call an affordable market sitting over piles of inventory? Right from Rajarhat New Town in Kolkata to Greater Noida West (also known as Noida Extension) the piles of inventory in the affordable segment of housing raises more questions about over-supply than probably what most of the analysts could answer.
The answer to this dichotomy is infrastructure, or rather lack of it. In most of the affordable markets like Greater Noida West it is the lack of physical, social or economic infrastructure that should be blamed for property overhang.
It is hence no surprise that the news of GNIDA (Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority) approving extension of Greater Noida phase-II metro to Noida Extension has come as a shot in the arm of the market.
For the records, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority has approved the extension of phase 2 metro connectivity from Noida Sector 71 to Knowledge Park 5 in Greater Noida. The alignment will consist of total 9 stations with a project cost of INR 2602 crores.
The first phase of the project will have 5 stations – starting from Noida Sector 71 and go on to Sector 122, Sector 123, Sector 4 to Greater Noida West at Ecotech 12 and culminate in Greater Noida Sector 2. The much-awaited project is expected to kick-off sometime in 2019.
The project promises to make this affordable property market (calculated by price point) worth habitation, and hence affordable for those who want to settle in this part of the world. Take for instance the case of Shubhek Kumar, an IT professional, who has bought an apartment in this market. Shubhek is paying the EMI but lives on rent in East Delhi since the place is not well connected, added to traffic bottlenecks during office hours.
Metro push for Greater Noida West
The much awaited metro rail has been cleared for Greater Noida West
Greater Noida West could be an ideal answer to India’s quest for affordable housing market, if only infra & connectivity issues are addressed
Analysts forecast 10-20% appreciation in short term and 25-35% appreciation in medium to long term
“I used to think ways & means to exit the market but there were no buyers in the secondary market. How to live in a place which is not well connected with public transport? This lack of public transport is catalyst to more private cars that creates a traffic bottleneck in the office hours. Now, I think metro has addressed the concerns of both the traffic as well as price appreciation,” says an euphoric Kumar.
This IT professional is not alone who is carried away by the news of metro. Most of the developers and property analysts in this part of the world maintain this is ‘The Affordable’ market of the region and connectivity would lead to faster property absorption and hence price appreciation.
What kind of price appreciation is expected with the metro rail becoming a reality for Noida Extension? Nikhil Hawelia, Managing Director of Hawelia Group who has couple of projects in the market maintains that the market would be witness to at least 10-20% appreciation in the short term and 25-35% in the medium to long term, if only other pending infra projects are also cleared.
“Where is the fault of the developers who have sold projects with the marketing push of metro rail in the vicinity? We have relied on the infra plans of the government but the buyers feel that the builders have misled them. As a matter of fact, we have been misled thus far in launching affordable housing and weathering all the infra challenges. Thankfully, metro rail would goad the market to its due potential,” says Hawelia.
In a nutshell, Greater Noida West market has everything that a buyer of affordable home looks for. It has best of the quality construction in the given segment, amenities, and attractive price point. This is probably the only market where the affordable housing is on offer in all packages and one can find low cost apartment at a price point of below INR 3000 per sq feet, while affordable luxury is on offer at around INR 4000 per sq feet.
It is only the infrastructure that is killing the potential of one of the best affordable housing markets of the country. Metro rail promises to be the beginning of infrastructure push for Greater Noida West. A price appreciation is hence very much on the cards.
Ravi Sinha @ravitrack2media
Track2Realty is an independent media group managed by a consortium of journalists. Starting as the first e-newspaper in the Indian real estate sector in 2011, the group has today evolved as a think-tank on the sector with specialized research reports and rating & ranking. We are editorially independent and free from commercial bias and/or influenced by investors or shareholders. Our editorial team has no clash of interest in practicing high quality journalism that is free, frank & fearless.
Now you can subscribe our YouTube Channel @ https://bit.ly/2tDugGl
