For many, Varanasi is about salvation — its ghats, temples and narrow, dingy bylanes give the spiritually oriented a mystical high. These days, however, India's oldest town is on a high itself as it turns into a real estate hotspot, buoyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of making it a 'smart city'.
A top executive of an international realty consultant says he has been receiving frantic calls from his hotel clients in the past few days, enquiring about land prices and possible deals in the city.
Builders creating land banks in city
Among them is EIH Ltd, owner of the Oberoi hotels, which plans to build a luxury property there. PRS Oberoi, the 80-year-old chairman of the group that boasts of properties such as Udaivilas in Udaipur and Vanyavilas in Ranthambore, says: "Varanasi doesn't have enough good hotels. It makes a lot of sense to go there... There is more and more interest in the city now because of the recent announcements," he says.
Oberoi isn't the only one eyeing business in the city. American hotel chain Starwood's India head Dilip Puri says he has asked his development team to visit the city and scout for opportunities. "We are looking for partners... There is potential for both, domestic and international business," adds Lokesh Sabharwal, vice-president for the Indian sub-continent for French hotel chain Accor.
Property brokers say prices of land in and around the city have already started to rise with builders and investors beginning to create land banks. One biswa (1,360 sq ft) of land in areas such as Mohan Sarai on the outskirts, which was priced at Rs 12 lakh three months ago is now going for Rs 15 lakh, a rise of 25%. A broker says a bungalow he sold for Rs 2.5 crore in Ravindrapuri, the neighbourhood where the PM has set up his local office, is getting quoted forRs 3.25 crore since a month it was sold.
Investors and moneyed people from Bihar, UP and Haryana are on the lookout for land on the city's outskirts hoping they will sell them for a profit to builders as well as hoteliers as development rolls in. Delhi-based builder Amrapali says it has hastened plans to construct a township on the outskirts of the city after Varanasi was declared one of 100 smart cities the Modi government proposed to build. Last week, Modi signed an agreement with Shinzo Abe to have Kyoto as a partner in the development of Varanasi, which is represented in the Parliament by the PM.
The Japanese town, which is also known as the 'city of ten thousand shrines', has been redeveloped into a modern city while keeping its temples intact. Modi wants Varanasi to learn from that experience. Local property brokers say announcements such as these have raised the curiosity of people and there has been a spurt in interest from investors in Uttar Pradesh and from neighbourings states of Bihar and Haryana, and even from distant Hyderabad and Mumbai, "I've shown land to several small investors from Haryana and UP in the last two months.
They want to buy land and sell them later as plots. They know land is still cheap on the outskirts," says property broker Harish Jaiswal, who runs Satyam Property Dealers in the city. Another broker VK Singh, who operates from the Nadesar area of Varanasi says people from Hyderabad and Mumbai have been visiting to look at opportunities to set up commercial and industrial projects around the city, closer to the airport.
Right after the elections, Singh got enquiries from people looking to build hotels and colleges around Varanasi. A CEO of a real estate firm in Gurgaon, who did not wish to be named, says Varanasi is the talk of the town today especially in the real estate circles. "People have confidence in what the Japanese can do. They are hopeful of a transformation."
While the city itself might be congested, brokers say it has ample opportunity to expand on two sides— on the 22-kilometre road between the city and the airport and on the highway to Allahabad. Jaiswal says even locals are stirring up the action. Last month, he sold a bungalow built on 3,200 sq ft of land (or around 355 sq yards) for Rs 2.5 crore to a local businessman. Now the new owner is getting offers the buy the house at a much steeper prices—Rs 3.25 crore.
That's a neat 30% jump in one month riding on the back of all the euphoria. The potential is huge. "Varanasi can be a big centre for silk trading. If just one or two infrastructure and other cleaning activities start, the city will be on fire," says Ajay Mangal, director and chief executive officer of Delhi real estate firm MG Housing, which is in the process of buying 500 acres around Varanasi towards the airport for a future mixed-use development.
Noida-based builder Amrapali, which already has several projects in adjoining Bihar, is close to finalising a deal for buying a large chunk of land to build a township in Varanasi, says Shiv Priya, executive director of the company. For hotels, the lure is manifold. While there is hope that business travel will rise, untapped potential of the Buddhist circuit, of which it is the Centre and the city's ghats and temples is a big draw.
A top executive of an international realty consultant says he has been receiving frantic calls from his hotel clients in the past few days, enquiring about land prices and possible deals in the city.
Builders creating land banks in city
Among them is EIH Ltd, owner of the Oberoi hotels, which plans to build a luxury property there. PRS Oberoi, the 80-year-old chairman of the group that boasts of properties such as Udaivilas in Udaipur and Vanyavilas in Ranthambore, says: "Varanasi doesn't have enough good hotels. It makes a lot of sense to go there... There is more and more interest in the city now because of the recent announcements," he says.
Oberoi isn't the only one eyeing business in the city. American hotel chain Starwood's India head Dilip Puri says he has asked his development team to visit the city and scout for opportunities. "We are looking for partners... There is potential for both, domestic and international business," adds Lokesh Sabharwal, vice-president for the Indian sub-continent for French hotel chain Accor.
Property brokers say prices of land in and around the city have already started to rise with builders and investors beginning to create land banks. One biswa (1,360 sq ft) of land in areas such as Mohan Sarai on the outskirts, which was priced at Rs 12 lakh three months ago is now going for Rs 15 lakh, a rise of 25%. A broker says a bungalow he sold for Rs 2.5 crore in Ravindrapuri, the neighbourhood where the PM has set up his local office, is getting quoted forRs 3.25 crore since a month it was sold.
Investors and moneyed people from Bihar, UP and Haryana are on the lookout for land on the city's outskirts hoping they will sell them for a profit to builders as well as hoteliers as development rolls in. Delhi-based builder Amrapali says it has hastened plans to construct a township on the outskirts of the city after Varanasi was declared one of 100 smart cities the Modi government proposed to build. Last week, Modi signed an agreement with Shinzo Abe to have Kyoto as a partner in the development of Varanasi, which is represented in the Parliament by the PM.
The Japanese town, which is also known as the 'city of ten thousand shrines', has been redeveloped into a modern city while keeping its temples intact. Modi wants Varanasi to learn from that experience. Local property brokers say announcements such as these have raised the curiosity of people and there has been a spurt in interest from investors in Uttar Pradesh and from neighbourings states of Bihar and Haryana, and even from distant Hyderabad and Mumbai, "I've shown land to several small investors from Haryana and UP in the last two months.
They want to buy land and sell them later as plots. They know land is still cheap on the outskirts," says property broker Harish Jaiswal, who runs Satyam Property Dealers in the city. Another broker VK Singh, who operates from the Nadesar area of Varanasi says people from Hyderabad and Mumbai have been visiting to look at opportunities to set up commercial and industrial projects around the city, closer to the airport.
Right after the elections, Singh got enquiries from people looking to build hotels and colleges around Varanasi. A CEO of a real estate firm in Gurgaon, who did not wish to be named, says Varanasi is the talk of the town today especially in the real estate circles. "People have confidence in what the Japanese can do. They are hopeful of a transformation."
While the city itself might be congested, brokers say it has ample opportunity to expand on two sides— on the 22-kilometre road between the city and the airport and on the highway to Allahabad. Jaiswal says even locals are stirring up the action. Last month, he sold a bungalow built on 3,200 sq ft of land (or around 355 sq yards) for Rs 2.5 crore to a local businessman. Now the new owner is getting offers the buy the house at a much steeper prices—Rs 3.25 crore.
That's a neat 30% jump in one month riding on the back of all the euphoria. The potential is huge. "Varanasi can be a big centre for silk trading. If just one or two infrastructure and other cleaning activities start, the city will be on fire," says Ajay Mangal, director and chief executive officer of Delhi real estate firm MG Housing, which is in the process of buying 500 acres around Varanasi towards the airport for a future mixed-use development.
Noida-based builder Amrapali, which already has several projects in adjoining Bihar, is close to finalising a deal for buying a large chunk of land to build a township in Varanasi, says Shiv Priya, executive director of the company. For hotels, the lure is manifold. While there is hope that business travel will rise, untapped potential of the Buddhist circuit, of which it is the Centre and the city's ghats and temples is a big draw.
Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/news/pm-narendra-modis-promise-to-develop-varanasi-into-smart-city-turns-it-into-realty-hotspot-overnight/articleshow/41463908.cms
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