Faridabad: Riding on Infrastructure and Affordability

Faridabad, which is the largest city of the Northern Indian state of Haryana; as a destination had emerged as pure industrial town with enormous employment opportunities coming out from the industrial sector. Today also, it is a leading industrial centre and situated in the National Capital Region sharing its boundary with Delhi and other key realty destinations.

Speaking off the neighbouring regions, it is surrounded by Delhi towards its North, Noida to its North East, Greater Noida to its East and Gurgaon to its west; thus making it easily accessible from all the key locations in NCR. Moving downwards towards its south region along NH 2 it has Palwal, Mathura (along Vrindavan) and then Agra. Therefore, as a region it enjoys a prime location geographically which is the backbone for any real estate region to perform.

With its initial growth recorded due to a strong industrial setup, heavy footfall had started to take place in the region in early 1990s. By mid 90s, a strong demand of housing had turned up which has been ever-growing since and several private players had put a step in the region, and developing residential complexes to satisfy the demand. There is now a steady shift in trend and the service sector is gaining momentum in the region.

This prominent sight has persuaded the authorities to work on the infrastructure of this region by connecting it to major cities like Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida and Gurgaon thereby fuelling the realty region of Faridabad. Several residential developments have been mushrooming in the region amongst which; Omaxe, BPTP, Puri Constructions, Eros Group and Ansals have been highly noticeable.

“Faridabad has witnessed a tremendous transformation over the decades with respect to infrastructural growth, connectivity with key realty destinations like Noida, Gurgaon and others; and impressive sight of key private realty players in the country. The growth in the service industry at Faridabad had created a new trend in the region and demand for housing has seen a great rise in the last one decade.

With infrastructure developing immensely in and around Faridabad, this destination will see an even better demand and supply in the upcoming few years”, states Mr. Praveen Tyagi, CMD, VVIP while speaking about the makeover perceived over the years in Faridabad.

There is absolutely no doubt that an overall demand for real estate is undergoing a slump for the past few years now attributing due to rising inflationary concerns and property prices soaring in the NCR region. Looking at the average price for apartments in Faridabad, there is availability from Rs. 3,500 – Rs. 4,500 per sq. ft. In almost all of the group housing projects present in the region, appreciation has been lethargic off late.

The annual price appreciation over the last couple of years for housing projects in Faridabad stands close to 10 percent. This has been consistent with the overall trend witnessed in the NCR market which has been considerably affected by unstable economic sentiments, political uncertainty, high inflation rate and cost of borrowing and liquidity crisis. The region today mainly has affordable housing available at low ticket size projects, with a handful of luxury projects.

Due to high dominance of service and industrial sector, Faridabad is currently an end user market and is still amongst the most affordable markets in NCR region; and unit prices and apartment sizes in Faridabad suit the requirements of an average household. This region’s real estate market is going to witness an additional impetus on account of the improved connectivity brought by the FNG expressway, KMP Expressway and the Delhi-Badarpur flyover.

With such huge plans in place for the infrastructure, it has been observed that developers are somewhat overenthusiastic when it comes to launching projects in the region. In fact, the demand for housing in Faridabad has been on a slower side because of the absence of an essential pull factor. Faridabad has, for the longest time, been a small industrial town. Unlike Noida and Gurgaon, it could thus never create appeal for corporates, so there was always very minute demand for office spaces.

Modes of employment other than industries were limited. Also, it is only in recent times that Faridabad’s connectivity with other key areas such as Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida has improved drastically. Mr. Vikas Sahni, Director, Property Guru says, “With the development of Delhi-Badarpur flyover, FNG and KMP expressways, the region of Faridabad has already started to witness a major rise in property demand, but still commercial spaces are a part to worry.

This goes to show how important role connectivity plays for the growth of the region and Faridabad is rapidly gaining momentum. Now since connectivity has been very well dealt with, commercial spaces is what this region must focus upon in order to be an overall realty hotspot for end users as well asINVESTORS. The scope of real estate growth is immense in this region and with continuously flowing demand, results will start showing up in the upcoming years”.

Regardless of its proximity to Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon, and fairly decent connectivity with its bordering cities by road and rail network, the property market of Faridabad has not kept pace with the real estate market in other NCR cities. Even with all its potential to become a ‘model city’, Faridabad had suffered on account of inferior infrastructure and poor connectivity, and thus failed to register the kind of growth witnessed in adjoining regions such as Gurgaon and Noida.

The principal issue with Faridabad was poor connectivity initially due to which it could not record itself in the minds of the public. The IT industry chose Gurgaon over Faridabad because of its better connectivity with the capital and proximity to IGI airport. Since youth with high disposable income like to work in IT industry, it had a ripple effect on the real estate market and led to the emergence of shopping malls and encouraged the demand for housing as well.

On the other hand, Faridabad mostly had manufacturing units employing labour with less disposable income, thus diluting the effect of stable demand. Nevertheless, the realty pocket of Faridabad is now booming with improved infrastructure like Gurgaon-Faridabad expressway, six-lane Mathura Road, expansion of metro rail and FNG expressway.

“However, not many new projects have been launched over the past few years due to slowdown in the economy, but almost 75 percent inventory in over 30 residential projects in Greater Faridabad has been already sold. Also, around 5 - 6 IT park projects are in the final stages of completion in Faridabad and the market is expected to witness a big boost with their completion.

In the upcoming few years, we are pretty hopeful of the fact that Faridabad market will grow at a rate much faster than that of Noida or even Gurgaon”, believes Mr. Deepak Kapoor, President CREDAI Western U.P. & Director, Gulshan Homz. Moving ahead, a much well planned and newly developed residential and industrial part of Faridabad present from sectors 66 to 89, between Agra canal and Yamuna River was earlier known as Neharpar or now popularly referred to as Greater Faridabad.

The plan for the area is well laid down with an aim to develop this area as a self-sustained sub-city with wide roads, high rises, shopping malls, educational hubs along with commercial and health centres. The region itself has been well divided with sectors 66 to 74 being industrial sectors, while sectors 75 to 89 being residential.

Quite a few infrastructural projects in the region are nearing completion and once these are operational, it will give a major makeover to the Greater Faridabad thus forecasting worthy residential growth in the upcoming few years. Various key factors which will ensure growth in Greater Faridabad is; well-connected network from sectors 75 – 89 to Delhi and to other outskirts in the NCR, such as Noida, Gurgaon and even Ghaziabad.

Nonetheless, theINVESTORS should not expect immediate returns as the area is still under development and may take some more time to start generating returns. “Greater Faridabad or Neharpar will be a major real estate hub in the future; so if somebody has to wait for a few years, then good appreciation is definitely on the cards. Its proximity to Delhi and other key cities of NCR like Noida, Ghaziabad or even Gurgaon will prove to be a critical reason of growth in the coming times.

Sector 75 is set to be connected to Sector 79, which is chosen as the commercial district by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad, soINVESTMENTS will be safe and are sure to earn handsome returns”, says Mr. Kushagr Ansal, Director, Ansal Housing. Other infrastructure boosts for Greater Faridabad are the KMP Expressway which will connect the area with Delhi and Gurgaon and also, the extension of lanes on the existing bypass road starting from Badarpur, which will help easing the traffic flow at the Badarpur border.

From the investor’s point of view, Greater Faridabad seems to be the right place toINVEST or buy homes as not only the area is affordable but also has good connectivity with Delhi/NCR which will greatly benefit in appreciating prices.

Metro Gets A Nod
Earlier in May this year, the Haryana government had approved the extension of metro project from YMCA Chowk in Faridabad to Ballabgarh, and had also decided to increase its contribution from Rs. 468.20 crores to Rs. 569.80 crores. The project cost has been revised from Rs. 564 crore to Rs. 678 crore due to escalation of price and increase in the cost of land.

It will be implemented on the funding pattern adopted in the case of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Bahadurgarh; DMRC Metro extensions will beFINANCED by way of Government of Haryana and Government of India in the ratio of 80:20. The route length of this extended project is 3.205 Kms and it will have two stations, with one at NCB Colony and other at Ballabgarh. The daily ridership is been estimated at 0.37 lakh by 2017-18.

Mr. Dujender Bhardwaj, Director, Marina Suits says, “It was greatly visible in the real estate pockets of Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurgaon; that how an entire revolution took place post metro became operational in these regions. As much as 30 - 50 percent price appreciation has taken place since the metro has been running on these routes. Metro extension in Faridabad regions was long awaited and a need of hour as the development in this region is now catching up pace which will be largely supported by such infrastructural boost”.

With growth prospects clearly stated and prominently noticeable, realty market of Faridabad is under revamp; and few years down the line this region will become a name to reckon with in entire NCR.

Summarising the past, present and future of Faridabad as a realty region, Mr. Prithvi Raj Kasana, MD, Morpheus Group states, “The process of conversion of Faridabad into a realty hotspot has been quite gradual with several plans failing to be implemented on time.

Although, what started off as an industrial town is now looked upon as one of the fast developing and still affordable destinations of NCR. With plans now falling well in place and infrastructure now looking towards growth; demand and supply will follow quickly, and result in good appreciation and returns on property”.

SOURCE: CHENNAI PATRIKA