Real estate consultancy JLL has underscored the need for civic authorities and the State government to identify early warning signals and plan public infrastructure in a sustainable way in the city.
Unless this happens, Hyderabad, ranked high in a list of most liveable cities in the country, is likely to witness a serious infrastructure challenge. Such collaborative effort will “ensure Hyderabad continues to be a preferred city to live and a promising destination to invest in the coming years too,” said a JLL update. The trigger for the update was the development remaining skewed towards western Hyderabad.
Unlike Delhi NCR and Mumbai, Hyderabad has seen a unidimensional real estate growth in the western part. About 86% of the office stock is concentrated in Hitec City and Gachibowli. For the last 3-4 years, more than 75% of the new residential project launches have taken place in western part of Hyderabad, the update said. The high volume of office space development in west Hyderabad was leading to infrastructure concerns, JLL Chief Economist and Executive Director, Research and REIS, Samantak Das and director, Research and REIS, Trivita Roy said in the update.
Noting that JLL Research has identified Hyderabad as a promising real estate destination and a strong demand from large corporates coupled with an attractive residential market is behind the growing popularity, their report suggested decentralisation of business hubs.
The upcoming ‘Look East Policy’ can be effective in delineating office and residential developments away from the western part of the city. The report highlighted the need to encourage use of public transport such as the Metro Rail and MMTS by providing shuttle services at quick intervals from offices to the stations.
The net absorption of office space in the city is expected to breach the 12 mn sq ft mark by the end of 2019, touching the levels of Bengaluru. The city also witnessed around 11 mn sq ft of new completions during the first nine months of 2019. The momentum is expected to continue with Hyderabad likely to attain a new high of 14 mn sq ft of new supply by the end of this year.
The positive sentiment in the city’s office market may be short lived, the report said, citing a case study of Mindspace Junction and Wipro Junction. “Our estimate shows that in another four years Mindspace Junction is going to have the same congestion as Wipro Junction is facing today. Wipro Junction is going the Bengaluru way in terms of road congestion.
