TRS Effect: Realty prices crash in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam, June 2: Real estate agents suffered a rude shock after the Telangana byelection results were announced on Sunday evening in which the TRS suffered a serious setback.
Several agencies including from those outside the city made huge investments on the outskirts of the city hoping the prices would rocket once the process of separate Telangana takes a shape.
They took the gamble after the TRS quit the Assembly en masse.

The prices of land went up in Rushikonda, Kapulauppada, Madhuravada, Tim-mapuram, Bheemili from a mere Rs 50 lakh an acre to Rs 5 crore during the last two years.

This apart, the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (Vuda) auctioned its prime land in these areas fetching more than Rs 1,000 crore during the last six months. All the bidders for
these lands were from Hyderabad and Mumbai. Some of those who invested in the Madhuravada, Timmapuram and Kapulauppada planned for mega housing schemes hoping to fetch a prime price in next two years.

A senior real estate agent said the present prices of apartments being quoted at Rs 2,000 for
square feet in Madhuravada, Rs 3,500 per sft in Seethammadhara, East Point Colony,
Pandurangapuram, Dasapalla layout and Rs 4,000, the highest so far in Facor layout. There was general speculation that the apartment prices would go up in Madhuravada as the city
was choked up with narrow roads.

"There was a hype among the realtors that Kapulauppada, Rushikonda and upto Bheemili along the Beach Road would become Navi Vizag and hoped to get a good price for the development," said another city-based realtor. Now that the dream of separate Telangana crashed, many investors would move to Hyderabad where the prices jumped by Rs 600 per sft on Monday alone.

Another realtor said there could be upward movement after the coastal corridor comes into being along with other mega projects proposed for the city worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore.

Once the project start commissioning, there would be huge demand for the housing and other
infrastructural facilities. "But that would take some time and till then the realtors might not
hold back their investments," a builder said.

Source: Deccan chronicle June 03, 2008