Magadh_Pride

Patna: even as the RJD spokesman criticized Nitish Kumar’s government for causing a significant boom in real estate prices, the CM himself admitted to reporters that it indeed a worrying matter that Patna real estate prices should be touching the levels of Gurgaon and Noida.

It is well known that real estate, mining and virtual ‘estate’ [read spectrum], and government contracts are the three major areas involving mega-corruption in the country, as was indeed confirmed by Swaminathan Anklesaria in his Times of India recently.

Dramatic rise in real estate prices and the general buoyancy is indeed good news for the sector, except that quite habitually, embezzlers and scamsters tend to invest their money in land and buildings. Indeed, Patna is full of whispered tales of buildings made with money from fodder and various other well-known scams.

In the end, the Patna real estate story is too multilayered a story to unravel all the reasons, but the following chain should throw some light on the matter.

Sushasan and Nitish brand pushes real estate, then come in factors like Deegha bridge, the new Airport, IIT, and AIIMS, followed by the X factor, call it black money if you like, perhaps not in the same sequence. Lastly, of course the decisive push by the upcoming industrial units such as the railway wheels factory in Daryapur, Saran.

This is why, while the real estate lobby would like to cheer Nitish for the rise in prices, opposition groups like the RJD would want to blame him for the insidious growth’! As for the rest of us – we are split into two– the sellers and the buyers.

Source: Bihar days

Magadh_Pride

PATNA: A 3-bedroom flat with a super built-up area of 1,500 sqft in an apartment under construction at Phulwarisharif is up for sale for Rs 52.5 lakh! Another 3-bedroom flat of 1,750 sqft in Doctors' Colony at Kankarbagh is on sale for an identical sum!
These eye-popping prices have been quoted in an online ad. Have realty prices in Patna reached the levels of tier-1 cities? "Well, almost," says Prabhat Kumar, a city-based corporate manager.




Prabhat should know. For, he himself scouted for a flat in an apartment in Noida recently. "I finally homed in on a township being developed by a multi-thousand crore corporate group. Flats in this 1100-acre township on the outskirts of Delhi were available at prices that compare favourably with Patna prices. While one type of 815-sqft apartment was available for a starting price of Rs 39 lakh, another type of 935-sqft flat cost Rs 34 lakh and yet another 850-sqft flat Rs 27 lakh."

However, Prabhat is not complaining about high prices in Patna. In fact, he has benefited immensely from the realty boom in Bihar capital. He owns a 1300-sqft flat in Boring Road area, just behind Krishna Apartment, which he bought in 2007 for approximately Rs 15 lakh at the rate of Rs 1,150 per sqft. "Now", he says smilingly, "flats in the area are available at nothing less than Rs 3,500 per sqft." At this rate, his flat commands a price of about Rs 40 lakh, a cool gain of 150% in three years!

Kalyan Ghosh is also patting his back for purchasing a 990-sqft flat in 2004 for Rs 8 lakh in Boring Road area. "From what I hear from others, the present value of my property would be anywhere between Rs 30 lakh and 35 lakh," he says.

A recent study, jointly done by The Economic Times and realty website , too shows that real estate prices have touched the sky in Patna. According to this study, affordable and premium- category flats in Rajendra Nagar are available for Rs 3,500 per sqft and Rs 4,500 per sqft respectively; in Boring Road area for Rs 3,500 per sqft and Rs 6,000 per sqft respectively; and in New Pataliputra Colony for Rs 3,000 per sqft and Rs 4,500 per sqft respectively. In less-coveted areas like Bailey Road, flats of the two categories are being bought and sold for Rs 3,000 per sqft and Rs 5,500 per sqft respectively; on Patna bypass for Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 per sqft respectively; and near Saguna Mor for Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 per sqft respectively.

However, realtor Rakesh Kumar says that the distinction between affordable and premium categories has virtually evaporated in the city. "Non-availability of enough land is driving up realty prices," he says.
"In fact", he says, "real estate market is down. The number of customers is down as rates have reached elevated levels. Most of the flats on sale are in the price range of Rs 25-Rs 30 lakh. The demand is mostly from contractors, government officials, doctors, those in the field of education and jewellers. The present rates may be unsustainable and I feel that the realty market may fall in the coming days."

Another builder, preferring anonymity, says in Rajendranagar and along Boring Canal Road and Boring Road, which are well developed, the going rate for flats is around Rs 3,500 per sqft. In adjacent areas like Maheshnagar and Nehrunagar, where roads are narrow, the going rate is between Rs 2,500-Rs 3,000 per sqft."
Indeed, early birds have got the worm.

Source: Times of India