Vanagaram, Chennai: Driven by IT, ITeS workforce

Vanagaram is an emerging residential neighbourhood located in north-east of Chennai. One of the fastest-developing parts of the city, Vanagaram is now turning into a busy commercial and educational centre as well.

Vanagarams' proximity to two important thriving commercial hubs - Poonamallee High Road and Ambattur, which are about 10 minutes away by road - works well for this location. Being situated close to a major commercial district, the occupier profile here leans heavily towards the information technology (IT)/IT-enabled services workforce, and the locality receives healthy spill-over demand for homes from the workforce engaged in the neighbouring business districts.

The social infrastructure in Vanagaram has been witnessing some improvement with the opening of new health care facilities and establishment of some quality educational institutions. Further government initiatives in the space of sewage lines and metro water connectivity will take a while, but will help this locality emerge into an upmarket residential neighbourhood once they are deployed.

There have been no major recent announcements related to the upgrading of physical infrastructure in this area, apart from the proposed road development network or elevated corridor project as a part of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority's (CMDA's) Master Plan. This road network will have elevated corridors in areas near Vanagaram, such as Arcot road, Vadapalani and Porur. The planned elevated freight corridor in Maduravoyal will solve the prevailing traffic issues and also ease the commuting time to the neighbouring districts.

Easy access to arterial roads such as Poonamallee High Road as well as other important commercial and residential hubs such as Ambattur, Porur, Madura-voyal, Arcot Road, Chennai Bypass Road and Vadapalani in the vicinity help attract end-users to this location. The demand for homes in this area is primarily driven by end-users, which is the case with other submarkets in Chennai as well. Currently, some developers are undertaking high-rise apartment projects in the locality to cater to the growing demand from the middle and upper-middle segments. A typical two-three-bedroom-hall-kitchen (BHK) apartment with a super built-up area of around 900-1,500 sq ft will cost anywhere between Rs 38 lakh and Rs 75 lakh, with property prices ranging around Rs 5,200-5,700 a sq ft.

The rental market in Vanagaram is still in its evolving stages; however, Vanagaram has been receiving a lot of demand for rental accommodation due to its proximity to the business districts. Rentals here command Rs 10,000-20,000 a month for two and 3BHK residential units. Rentals for single BHK units are much cheaper and more favoured, and are available for less than Rs 10,000 a month.
The writer is managing director - Chennai & Coimbatore, JLL India