By: Arvind Jain, Managing Director, Pride Group
For a very long time, Pune was considered little more than a pensioner’s destination which benefited to some extent from its proximity to Mumbai. It was not considered a serious real estate market at a national or international level. This has now changed for good – the city has attained its own unique identity and is firmly in the limelight as a thriving economic microcosm, with a real estate market that has overtaken Mumbai in terms of attractiveness and investment viability.
As a result, the Pune real estate market has also become something of a national phenomenon, and is now being seen as one of the safest and most promising property investment destinations in the country. All the five pillars of the real estate sector, namely residential, commercial, hospitality and retail, are performing well in Pune. Also, each of these segments is cross-seeding demand into the others. It is a remarkable market configuration in all respects.
Rapid growth, zero stagnation
Geographically, Pune is constantly expanding and adding to its own borders. Unlike Mumbai, the city is growing in all directions, which means that there is a constant addition of new precincts with affordable housing options to the market. Thanks to this fact, it is one of the hottest real estate locations in the country. Apart from the fact that investors from Mumbai are very active here, there is a steady flow of investments from other larger Maharashtrian cities such as Nagpur, Nasik, Sangli, Kolhapur, Nanded, Jalgaon and Amravati. Nothing about Pune spells stagnation.
The local economy is booming, infrastructure is on the rise and more and more multinationals are focusing on Pune to set up their operations here. The massive levels of job generation in its IT, manufacturing, automobile and services industries are steady fuel for commercial real estate growth, as well as inward migration from all corners of the country to drive residential demand. Also, thanks to its many educational institutions, Pune has a very rich and constantly replenishing talent pool which companies from across India and beyond see as a mother-lode of potential for their own expansion on Indian soil.
Owing to its multi-dimensional growth drivers, Pune’s residential property market has proved to be very resilient to the market fluctuations being seen in many other cities of India. With its unbeatable combination of economic attributes, there is very little chance of a real estate slowdown in this city – now or in the future.
PMRDA – The definitive game-changer
One of the challenges that Pune has faced in the past is the fact that infrastructure development had not been keeping pace with real estate development. This is set to change. Because of its high growth potential,Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has taken a keen interest in ensuring that Pune’s development takes on a more structured and holistic pattern. The formation of the PMRDA (Pune Metropolitan Development Authority) is the first step towards making Pune one of India’s world-class cities on every front.
Pune’s residential market is constantly being pushed into its newly emerging areas; and with the launch of PMRDA, these areas now have the assurance of proper, infrastructure-driven development. The rash of unauthorized building projects which was being seen in these areas will be stopped in the first instance, and these kinds of developments will be prevented from taking a foothold in the future.
Consistent demand for luxury housing
One of the defining characteristics of the Pune real estate market is that apart from budget and mid-income housing, there is consistent demand for luxury properties as well. Pune’s luxury housing sector is driven by both the city’s own HNIs as well as wealthy investors from Mumbai who are fed up with the financial capital’s unnaturally high prices. Since Pune offers superior luxury projects with larger per-unit living areas, cutting-edge amenities and also therefore a much better lifestyle ethos than anything available in Mumbai, demand for luxury homes in the city is quite high.
Source: Track2Realty
