Realty business gets a push

Realty business gets a push
The Times of India

Bangalore: The city’s booming real estate market has got a further push: thanks to the government ban on registration of properties on agricultural lands and the legal problems with BDA’s Arkavathy Layout. Buyers who were eyeing properties in revenue areas on city outskirts are now opting for properties with clear titles.

Property rates all along the IT corridor stretch — Sarjapur Road, Jayanagar, J.P. Nagar, BTM Layout, Electronic City, HSR Layout, Indiranagar, Marathahalli and Whitefield — have shot up. Overall there has been a 30 per cent rise in the real estate market over the last two months ever since the legal problems surrounding the Arkavathy Layout.

Realtors in South Bangalore say demand in Padmanabhanagar — along the Inner Ring Road stretch connecting Mysore Road, Banashankari, BTM Layout, Jayanagar, J.P. Nagar and Chamarajpet—has gone up as these are old areas where properties are considered to be genuine and clear.

“In Jayanagar property rates vary between Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 per sqft and in Padmanabhanagar it has gone beyond Rs 2,500 per sqft. Buyers who were looking at revenue areas off Uttarahalli, Puttenahalli, Bilekalhalli are now shifting to older areas which are well developed,” realtors in Jayanagar said.

The April 23 regulation on registration is aimed at cracking down on land encroachments and illegal layouts. The GO says: “It has come to the government’s notice that lands are being registered as non-agricultural lands without conversion and as a result such registrations are depriving people of clear titles. The obvious purpose of this order is to prevent indiscriminate conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use.”

The order, if implemented in true spirit, will ensure that every new layout has adequate lung space as per provisions of Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act — with 50 per cent of the land used for residential, 10 per cent for civic amenities, 15 per cent for parks and 25 per cent for roads.

In East and North Bangalore, attention is shifting away from green belt areas like Yelahanka, Devanahalli Road off Marathahalli to areas around Sahakaranagar, Indiranagar, Cholanagar and K.R. Puram. On the 100-ft Road Indiranagar, property rates are close to Rs 5,000 per sqft. Same is the case with Sarjapur Road where a 21 square property on a 30x40 sqft plot now costs Rs 50 lakh.