Strong demand for residential property from IT professionals

Hot Spot: MG Road, Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram is the capital of Kerala, popularly known as 'God's own country', and is rated one of the greenest cities of India. Apart from being a famous tourist destination in southern India, the city is known for housing some globally-recognised software companies, making Thiruvananthapuram the IT (information technology) hub of the state. Kerala is known for its 100 per cent literacy rate and Thiruvananthapuram contributes significantly in maintaining this ranking, with leading quality educational institutes. With a host of positives, Thiruvananthapuram has emerged as one of the most upbeat realty hotspots. The property market here has been showing an upward trend of late, with many successful residential and commercial projects being launched. The arrival of numerous IT giants has resulted in fast growth of commercial and office spaces. Due to the rising job opportunities, there has been an influx of working population, giving rise to an expansion in demand for residential projects.

The influx of IT-ITeS professionals to the city has given a major boost to real estate development, and MG Road is one of the most prime residential destinations, seeing significant traction from this category of buyers.

MG Road is a preferred retail and commercial location, with many banking, financial services and institutions, training institutes and travel agencies operating here. There are no large land parcels available for real estate development, as a major portion of available land is owned by government bodies and institutions. Any new developments along this road can only happen as part of redevelopment propositions.

Residential offerings in this city comprise mainly plots, villas, apartments and row houses. Most residential projects are targeted at mid-income groups, resulting in largely economical property rates. Realtors in Thiruvananthapuram are being cautious on specification and quality of construction. Most developments have full-fledged amenities and facilities, as there are a lot of NRIs and NRKs (non-resident Keralites) in the buyer community. Some developers are now exploring and planning for gated communities and large-scale integrated developments in the city.

(The author is local director- strategic consulting, JLL India)