With the city expanding at a fast pace, areas such as Medavakkam, Pallikaranai, and Thoraipakkam, are touted to be the upcoming and popular neighbourhoods. Located close to OMR, the city’s IT corridor, there is tremendous realty growth in these areas over the last few years. The OMR belt has been seeing tractions in the recent past, with residential launches along certain stretches of this 26-km road, witnessing good absorption levels. Haresh Kishor, Director, KG Builders, says home buyers are looking for reasonably priced premium houses in these areas. “These localities have recently been included within the limits of the Chennai Corporation. This has resulted in better roads and civic infrastructure in terms of water and sewerage facilities.” While infrastructure development has been limited, the primary driver has been the development of huge IT parks and offices that have resulted in employment generation further enhancing the retail, hospitality sectors.
Offering a mix of projects, the residential markets in these localities are on a high growth trajectory. With increasing land rates, developers are offering mid-segment and luxury residential projects in the Rs. 5,500 to Rs. 8,600 per sq.ft. range, that translate to ticket sizes of Rs. 53 lakh to Rs. 1.35 crore. A Shankar, National Director, JLL, says, “Medavakkam has more affordable housing projects as compared to the other two locations that have projects in the Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 5,500 per sq.ft. range, that translate to ticket sizes of Rs. 43 lakh to Rs. 90 lakh.” Pricing is an important factor that developers keep in mind, says Vineet Relia, MD, SARE Homes. “We need to ensure easy connectivity of projects to commercial complexes, the airport, railway stations, and key arterial roads.” Over 85 per cent of the clientele is from the IT/ITES sector and includes senior management employees, NRIs, and High Net Worth Individuals. Employees from the banking and financing, health and public sector are also investing here.
There has been a sharp increase in prices along OMR and, Sushmul Maheshwari, chief executive, RNCOS, says the increase between 2010 and 2014 has been more than 60 per cent. “Currently, the prevailing land rates are in the Rs. 2,500-Rs. 8,000 sq.ft range, depending upon the location and distance from OMR.” Commercial rental rates are in the range of Rs. 35 to Rs. 45 per sq.ft. and retail rates range from Rs. 70 to Rs. 100 per sq.ft. along main roads.
Infrastructure development is important to sustain the housing demand in these areas. Thoraipakkam has seen large scale housing development activities due to the number of industrial projects in the vicinity. Similarly, Medavakkam and Pallikarnai are witnessing industrial growth, which has led to home buyers exploring these areas. Kishor says, “Unfortunately, it is only the IT sector that is driving commercial and residential development in these three localities. There has been no major infrastructure project that has been initiated in the last five years. All plans have remained on paper and this has put immense pressure on existing infrastructure that has not kept up with the pace of development.” Also, despite such residential growth, civic amenities such as drainage and sewerage facilities, storm water drains, good roads, are still lacking in these areas. Connectivity is also poor and Maheshwari points outs that a majority of railway stations including Kotturpuram, Mandavelli, and Perungudi, do not have proper connectivity. There are few indications of improvement as three bridges will be constructed across the south Buckingham Canal to improve connectivity between the East Coast Road and OMR. Developers are hopeful that with these areas now under the ambit of the Corporation, it won’t be long before essential services are provided here. Having said that, there are a number of upcoming infrastructure projects in the area. The proposed metro corridor along OMR and at Medavakkam will provide better connectivity. Maheshwari says, “The proposed extension of Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Road up to ECR will provide seamless connectivity for those travelling from ECR to GST Road. Ongoing projects around OMR include the development of Sholinganallur as a financial city, Kalavakkam and Tiruporur as sport cities and the railway link from Taramani to Cuddalore via Tiruporur, Mamallapuram and Pondicherry.”
Analysing the future growth of these areas, Arun Kumar, MD, Casa Grande, says apart from prime areas like Thoraipakkam and Medavakkam, there are many more localities that are witnessing a high demand for residential projects. “Areas such as Karapakkam, Perumbakkam, Thalambur, and Navlur are gaining popularity.”
This is because they are also located on OMR and are in the midst of IT companies, industries, colleges and healthcare facilities.” Perungalathur, Vandalur and Guduvancherry are expected to witness growth in the next few years. Relia of Sare Homes, says, “Vandalur is slated to have a large bus terminus that will span 60 acres. Many inner ring roads, outer ring roads and bypass roads are also being developed.”
