Hotspot: NH-24, National Capital Region

Developing fast as an affordable housing corridor

National Highway 24 (NH-24) is one of the important national highways of north India and connects Delhi to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. It is also one of the fastest-growing affordable housing corridors developing in the National Capital Region (NCR).

This highway is being seen as a future realty hub that has immense potential to cater to the demand for affordable housing in NCR. Compared to Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and some elite clusters of Ghaziabad, property prices on NH-24 are relatively affordable and vary in accordance to their distance to the established nodes of Delhi.

The NH-24 region had earlier seen the mushrooming of Indirapuram as a major mid-segment housing hub. Now, with abundant land available further down the road on both sides, the corridor is witnessing another journey on the growth curve.

The spate of new project launches over the past two years indicates that this corridor is clearly emerging as a viable option for home buyers looking at affordable and low-mid segment housing options. Keeping in mind that the recent times have not been good for the residential sector due to continued price increases and lack of investor activity, affordable and mid-segment housing is likely to witness the most traction, as it is being driven largely by end-user demand.

Most of the developments along NH-24 enjoy close proximity to Ghaziabad and Noida through arterial linkages. There are large township projects where developers are looking to involve others through a co-developer/joint development route. This allows smaller ones to explore the market. The current land prices are low, as are apartment prices at Rs 2,600-3,100 a sq ft. This allows developers to clearly target affordable and low-cost housing buyers.

In addition, NH-24 has many factors working in its favour. With the central government's approval for its expansion, the existing 6-lane road now will be widened into 8-lane one, and this development will result in significant de-congestion of the highway. Moreover, this highway is being developed as part of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway project.

The 21-km stretch of NH-24 which starts from UP Gate and finishes at Dasna will not only address the growing traffic problems but will also ensure reduced travel time for daily commuters. The widening of NH-24 - a Rs 5,000-crore project - will definitely ease the congestion woes of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida, and add impetus to the real estate story here.

The writer is associate director - research & real estate intelligence service, JLL India