Noida gaining edge over Gurugram in realty

New Delhi: Recent property trends in the National Capital Region (NCR) indicate realty's road to recovery. However, customer preferences seem to be shifting more towards Noida/Greater Noida in comparison to Gurugram post-second wave of Covid-19. BizzBuzz spoke to real estate consultants and companies in the NCR to know the rental and own house preferences and the dip in earnings of the property dealers.

Anup Sachan, a property dealer in Noida/Greater Noida for 23 years, says that although more house owners are leaning towards owning a bigger house, purchasing a plot over flat has taken precedence post the month of April and May this year.

"Preference to buy plot, in both residential and commercial, have gone up in areas near Yamuna Express Highway and the plot rates too have shot up by 20 percent. In comparison to its counterpart Noida/Greater Noida where flat sales are still moderate, Yamuna Expressway has seen an exponential popularity in the recent months," Sachan explained. According to Sachan, most property owners are either purchasing 3 BHK flats or investing into purchasing plots.

Housing rental scenario remains grim since multinational corporate companies have not resumed operations yet, which means that the rental consumers have not shifted back to the NCR regions and continue to work remotely.

"Property rates have gone down since 2020, so have the commission rates. So, naturally people are rushing to buy houses in the NCR region, away from Delhi's congested lifestyle and traffic. I have barely sold a 1 BHK or 2 BHK in the last 18 months. In fact, many new homeowners are buying plots to construct villas in Uttrakhand, and I've seen this boom in sales only in the last three months," he added.

Similar sentiments were shared by Madhu Sharma, a property dealer of Noida/Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, who said that the rental segment of residential real estate is unlikely to pick up by this year end. Earlier this week, Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) had announced that it is planning to bring back 70 to 80 per cent of its employees to work from office in 2022. However, residential property preferences in Gurgaon are lower in comparison to Noida and Ghaziabad as where property dealers have taken a 50 per cent hit on the commission for rental properties.

"Most first-time homebuyers that we see are married couples who are purchasing 1BHK or 2 BHK flats here in Gurgaon. There has been a dip in sale of bigger houses. For rental, we usually take month rent in advance. Now we take only 15 days advance on home rentals. The market is steady here in Gurgaon since people will always prefer housing segment for personal purchase or as an investment," said Abhishek Sharma, owner of Shyam Estate Property, Gurgaon sector 24.

The preference of both homebuyers and industries tends to be shifting more towards land inYamuna Expressway due to its proximity to national highways and the upcoming international airport in Jewar. The Yamuna Expressway region has emerged as the consumer preference in the NCR region.Noida gaining edge over Gurugram in realty