Buying a property is on everyone’s wish list. Thanks to fall in prices in residential property sector across most cities, real estate as an investment is back on the radar. Of the many factors that should be on one’s checklist before arriving at a decision, location plays an important role in all of them.
Safe neighbourhood
It is very important to gauge the safety of the neighbourhood – is it safe to return home late at nights? What is the security offered at the site? Where is the nearest police station? A safe neighbourhood is one where one can move about freely and not remain confined indoors, regardless of the time of day. The most attractive property prices and amenities are of no value if one has to live in fear.
Distance from amenities
Amenities like hospitals, schools or colleges, supermarkets, malls and recreation centres should ideally be in proximity to the locality. Ideally, amenities within a couple of kilometres of the locality ranks higher on the desirability scale.
Commutability
Distance from home to work and home to school is key. Commuting really long distances everyday can take its toll. Considering the lack of public transport infrastructure, good connectivity and nearness to highways is important, and will play a role in the pricing of a property. In every city, there are localities defined by the type of offices or industries they host. Most cities will have areas where a number of Government offices or bank head offices are located, and others which have a high saturation of InfoTech firms. From a residential demand perspective, these localities are obviously always the most preferred ones if they have attached residential catchments.
Future developments
Localities that are reserved for future development are cheaper and will also, see a higher valuation over a period of time. Areas such as Devanahalli and Bannerghatta Road began with a lower price base and have seen an exponential increase in prices over time.
High-value locations – pros and cons
It is definitely not true that the cheapest properties are always the best to invest in. Going by the location yardstick which holds true in all real estate investment, the cheapest locations are usually the most remote or least likely to see future development. However, it is true that the costliest properties will usually see the least capital value growth in the future as such properties have seen saturation of price growth.
However, extremely costly properties are very likely to give very good rental returns, because people who want to live in these areas but cannot afford to buy properties there will choose the rental option. The tenants who prefer such properties would be highly-paid corporate executives and even firms who are looking to lease such a property as their company guesthouse.
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