Real Estate and Property in Noida: The Right Choice

Real Estate market in Noida has always got a step-motherly treatment when compared to other cities which constitute the NCR region. Noida initially got famous because of the opening of film city and was the only alternative to an exploding Delhi. However, due to its water quality problems and distance from the IG airport, over a period of time it lost the steam and somehow became second fiddle to Gurgaon, which was able to scale up much faster. Noida over the years has expanded to Greater Noida and Greater Noida West.

Noida has an excellent connectivity with Delhi, through three independent roads, thus providing faster and flexible ingress and egress routes. Its connectivity has also enhanced towards Ghaziabad and NH 48 with the opening of the Expressway.  This one factor works to the advantage of Noida as well as Greater Noida, giving the property market a flip.

Real estate in Noida struggled in the early 2000 to 2010, when otherwise the real estate market in India was going through a boom. The main reasons were the procedural red tape-ism. Acquiring of land was difficult; various clearances required for construction were not forthcoming, without greasing the palms; policies were not clear; land litigations were in abundance and so on. Noida learnt the hard way, but fortunately the right way. When the above got sorted out and it was time to put things on the fast track, the real estate market in India went into a slump. Real estate in Noida and Greater Noida has suffered more because of the timing than anything else.

Today, Noida and Greater Noida have the best infrastructure in the entire NCR region. The internal roads are well planned and laid out; metro within Noida and towards Greater Noida is progressing on a fast track. Infrastructure in terms of schools, colleges and hospitals is at par if not better compared to any other metropolis. The only place Noida is on a back foot is the law and order structure. The UP stamp is clearly visible on the law and order situation in the city, incase this issue can be addressed by the administration; it would enhance the livability of Noida to one of the best cities in India. As and when the real estate market starts picking up Noida would be the biggest gainer. At present the property prices in Noida are most reasonable as compared to any other city in the NCR region and it is the right time to invest, with real estate developers in noida doling out freebees.  

One also needs to keep an eye on the changing political scenario; UP is scheduled for elections in 2017 and it is going to be the toughest battle ground. Hoping a stable, progressive and single party government comes back, it will be a turning point for the real estate sector in Noida and Greater Noida.

Real Estate Sector in India -2016, The Final Frontier

The down trend in the Indian real estate market started somewhere in 2013, it was then linked to the economic slowdown and as other sectors were going through a slow down, so was real estate. A number of predictions have been there by various agencies predicting the recovery cycle in 2015 then 2016 and now being shifted to 2017. Though the Indian economy started its recovery cycle in 2014 with a steady growth rate of 7.5%, the real estate website in India is still struggling to catch up or show signs of any recovery. One obvious factor is that as the real estate industry has a long inventory cycle as compared to other sectors and therefore, it would take more time for its revival.

Let’s look at the American picture as an example. The American real estate went through a crash from 2006 to 2009 i.e. 3 years and the recovery started in 2010, six years down the line it is still trying to reach normal levels and at present are the lowest compared to the historical trends. The primary reason for this has been that the first time buyer activity has been low and is still only 30% of the total share, which earlier used to be more than 40%. One can argue that we cannot compare the real estate in India with that of America; however, one needs to draw intelligent conclusions in the Indian context. A few of these are listed below.

(a)       If real estate sector in the most developed nation of the World has taken 6 years to come on the recovery path, India which is a developing Nation would at least take equal years if not more. The real estate sector in India needs to understand this aspect; there are no quick recoveries, it is a marathon and not a sprint. This implies that the sector needs to plan at investments accordingly.

(b)       China as the second largest economy in the world is crashing, Greece and Brazil have already had their setbacks. The ISIS presence in Middle-East and now Europe is creating the refuge issues leading to economic crisis. BRICS as an organisation, which was launched with a lot of hope, has failed to generate the required enthusiasm as two constituent members are struggling with their internal economies. Finally, the change of guard of the American president end of this year has led to a policy paralysis in World politics. All these are finally going to impact the global economy in the long run. Indian economy is not insulted form all this; it will face the brunt and in turn the industry. Indian real estate sector needs to carry out an introspection and needs to mature as an industrial sector to plan and tied over this coming phase. It needs to grow over ‘the quick buck’ syndrome, which it was riding on through the last decade.