Whitefield residential prices see stability

Residential apartment prices in Whitefield which had skyrocketed a couple of months ago owing to scarcity of land for development, now appear to have stabilised with a couple of big ticket investments and numerous small projects on the way.

According to Shivram Malakala, executive director, Habitat Ventures, "Employment generation in Whitefield and supply hitting the market are matching, thereby stablilising the prices."

Whitefield is still the favourite destination because it has a better infrastructure than the other areas in the city and is closer to the work place for a majority of techies. The area now commands prices in the range of Rs 1,800 to Rs 3,000 per square feet.

"Whitefield is witnessing a lot of foreign and Indian fund interests, especially for high-end projects," said Mayank Saksena of TrammellCrowMeghraj, international property consultants.

Prices at Whitefield had recently threatened to shoot up when the government wanted to sell its NGEF land. But the subsequent indecision led to land prices stabilising.

The demand and supply ratio in Whitefield for residential housing is presently well-balanced but the hectic pace of construction may tilt the balance in favour of buyers in a couple of months.

The area, which has the largest concentration of IT and ITeS companies presently has 25,000 apartments under construction which are likely to hit the market in a year's time. Big ticket residential projects presently on are Prestige Shantiniketan, Adarsh Serenity and Brigade Metropolis.

Construction is moving forward apace and Whitefield is likely to expand towards Hoody village and K R Puram. These new areas are likely to have mid and budget residential apartments, thereby bringing stability to prices.

The area is increasingly being looked at by northern developers to take up huge IT-park constructions. With this, a good demand for housing has also been forecast.