Old houses, a'new"favourite among the IT professionals
Chennai is experiencing a major real estate makeover. Indeed, the new growth areas are not in the heart of the city; it is the sleepy suburbs that are witnessing frenetic construction activity. Nothing illustrates this boom better than the shooting up of land prices to levels unimaginable even a year ago.
The obvious catalyst for this growth is the phenomenal development of the Information Technology sector in the past decade. But with the prices of the real estate soaring a record high everyday, buying a newly constructed house may just become a dream for few. Buying an older house is gradually becoming a more favourable option. The happenings in the real estate market only testify to this.
Chennai is an important base for all the IT majors, including Wipro, Ascendas, Tata Consultancy Services,Infosys and Polaris. There are several reasons why this is so. The most important one is the city's reputation as a reliable centre for technical education, which results in companies being assured of a steady supply of qualified personnel. Apart from the Tier I companies, there are several smaller ones that operate in the IT-Enabled Services (ITES) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) segments.
Until about a decade ago a typical property hunter would have been about 50 years old, planning for a house on the verge of retirement. Invariably such persons would have been residents of Chennai or would have hailed from Tamil Nadu. This situation has changed. Real estate developers say the average age of prospective clients now has dropped to 28-35. Young and adventurous, with disposable incomes thatareamanifestation not only of the IT boom but also of newer occupations in the service sector, they come from all over the country.
Buying an old house is what is getting more popular with the buyers in the city. Being a service-oriented lot, having a strict budget, buying an older house without the advanced amenities like a swimmingpoolis the best buy today. With this they can not only reduce the cost but also the locality options are closer to the city. Says Chella Sumedh Reddy, CEO, Kult Infotech, "With an older house they now have an option of staying closer to the city with an affordable price. They prefer to buy one of those and renovate it spending a few more from their pocket. They prefer buying an old house somewhere near Adyar, which is closer to the city rather than buying a newly-constrcuted house in OMR."
Another growing pre-requisite with the techies is the proximity of their house with their workplace. They no longer have the patience of traveling longer distance for their daily ups and downs. Vaityanathan, consultant, I-flex solutions, recently bought a 9-year-old house in Velachery because it is closer to his workplace. He preferred an old house with a negotiable price also closer to home rather than a new one. Vasanthi, who works for Wipro located in Sholinganallur also, recently bought a house in East Tambaram as it's closer to her office. "I got the house only because it was closer to my house," she says.
Says Reddy, "Buying a house somewhere far in the city won't pose so muchproblems for the people as the city is now well-connected to other places as well."
- Bhageerathy Find the paper articles at :
http://www.immservices.net/view/view_clip.php?vid=819106&cnm=VmExNDkyMDkzODQx
