Whitefield flats reap high rents in B'lore

Tony areas of Gurgaon,Mumbai and Pune have seen high rental value appreciation for apartments for the January-March quarter this year.Bangalore came a distant ninth with Whitefield recording a 16.66% jump in apartment rentals in the same period.

MagicBricks.com,in its PropIndex anniversary edition,said Gurgaons Golf Course Extension Road grew a whopping 40% with average (apartment) rentals at Rs 15.50 per sqft in the quarter compared to the same period last year.The hotspots in Mumbai and Pune are Kanjur Marg West and Viman Nagar,respectively.
Bangalores Whitefield continued to be a priority destination for corporate clients.The micro-market absorbed 180,000 sqft in the quarter with a dip in vacancy rates.Suburb Yelahanka recorded a 15.78% rental appreciation with North Bangalore absorbing 100,000 sqft of office space in the period.

Big real estate action is seen in Gurgaon,which is growing rapidly thanks to the Southern Peripheral Road.The city is emerging as a growth corridor providing good connectivity to New Delhi and Faridabad.
According to MagicBricks.coms the minimum rentals for a 2-BHK apartment in Wembley Estate Rosewood City on Gurgaons Golf Course Extension Road is Rs 22,000 with maximum being Rs 31,000.Rentals for a 3-BHK apartment in Unitech Escape in the same location is priced between Rs 25,000 going up to Rs 45,000.

Gurgaon has seen a healthy rental yield of 5-6 % compared to the countrys rental average of 2.5%-3 %.Healthy absorption by corporate clients has lifted the sentiment in the office market.The investor appetite in the residential space has pushed up the rentals in certain micro-markets, said Ashutosh Limaye,head research & real estate intelligence service at Jones Lang LaSalle India.Close to 0.1 mn sft of commercial space and 1.56 mn sqft of IT SEZ space was added to the Gurgaon micro-market in the Jan-March quarter,said a report by real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis.

Kanjur Marg West in Mumbai,located off the Eastern Express Highway,is emerging as one of the preferred business address for IT/ITeS sector and textiles.Rentals in the area shot up by 29.54% to Rs 28.50 in the Jan-March period over same period last year with more action on the residential front.Many industrial plots being redeveloped into residential complexes is aiding rental appreciation.This are is located in proximity to the Harbour and central lines which further enhances its profile as the desirable business address, said Sudhir Pai,business head at MagicBricks.com.

Interestingly,the mostsought after addresses like Mahalakshmi,Colaba and Cuffe Parade slipped in ranks recording a negative growth in rental values.Average apartment rentals in Colaba dropped 7.94% to Rs 98.50 in the Jan-March period compared to Rs 107 during the same time last year.Colaba and Cuffe Parade were thriving when Nariman Point was the hub for corporate action.Corporate clients migrating to the Bandra Kurla Complex has led to the exodus impacting apartment rentals, added Limaye.
Vimana Nagar in Pune has registered a 29.16% increase in rentals primarily because of its proximity to the new IT hub of Kharadi and Kalyan Nagar.

Flat rentals in Vasundhara in Ghaziabad and DLF City Phase II in Gurgaon rose 25% and 21% in rentals respectively.

In Bangalore,Whitefield is seeing big action.Whitefield was battling the oversupply bulge as commercial rentals had plummeted drastically during 2008-10.However,better space offtake by IT/ ITeS players since last year has revived the sentiment in the residential space positively, said Anshuman Magazine,CMD of CB Richard Ellis,South Asia.

Some of the key leasing transactions in the region includes Times Inc taking 35,000 sft in RMZ Nxt in Whitefield.Other firms like SunGard and Ixia leased 90,000 sft and 30,000 sft in Sarjapur-ORR.