No smart solution to slump

Parveen Arora

With the inclusion of Karnal in the Smart City list and in the National Capital Region (NCR) towns,  developers and market watchers were hopeful of a property boom here. But three years after its inclusion in the NCR and a year after getting the Smart City tag, Karnal is still in the same NCR’s “poor cousin” category. 

Development and realty growth have remained distant dreams as the city has been plagued by one of its worst-ever slowdowns. Industry mavens say the market here has been stagnating for the past five to six years, but the past three to four years have seen a price correction of 20-30 per cent in residential as well as commercial segments. Lack of buyer interest has led to several integrated city projects being stalled as developers have failed to get the desired sale volumes. This has worsened the situation here as the investment of those who had bought units in these projects has been blocked. 

Price correction— a bitter reality

Slow sales and the virtual absence of buyers in the market has hit prices in the primary as well as secondary residential segments. Vir Vikram Kumar, former president of Karnal Property Dealers Association, said all sectors in the city had witnessed price correction drop. Model Town, which is considered a prime location in the city, also witnessed a price drop of Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per sq yd. The property which was earlier fetching Rs 45,000- Rs 50,000 per sq yd, now has few takers for even Rs 35,000- Rs 40,000 per sq yd. 

Even the big-ticket new projects have seen substantial correction. In the secondary market the properties which were earlier available for  Rs 18,000 per sq yd are now fetching only Rs 11,000- Rs 12,000 per sq yd. In one or two townships, plots are now available for even Rs 9000 per sq yd.

Residential rates in Shakti Colony, Subhash Colony, Indira Nagar, Jiwan Nagar and Vikram Marg have been reduced to Rs 20,000 per sq yd. Similarly, Mall Road, Nyaypuri, Minar road, Session road prices have dropped to Rs 47,000 per sq yard, while the residential rates have been reduced to Rs 33000 per sq yd. 

The commercial segment is no exception in this regard. In Model Town commercial property prices have dropped to Rs 51,000 per sq yd from Rs 57,000 per sq yd last year. Similarly, commercial property  rates in Saini Colony, Nirmal Colony and Asha Ram Market have decreased to Rs 44,500 per sq yd, while in the residentia segment prices have fallen to Rs 14,500 per sq yd, added Singh. Commercial property prices in Sector-32, 33 are now at Rs 81,000 per sq yd as against Rs 90,000 per sq yd last year.

Ram Nagar, New Ram Nagar, Prem Nagar, Krishan Nagar, Kachwa Road,  too, have witnessed a drop in commercial property rates. The collector rate here has also been cut from Rs 39,000 per sq yd to Rs 36,000 per sq yd. The collector rate for residential segment is now Rs 14,0000 per sq yd in areas from Char Khamba Chowk to Sanatan Dharam Mandir Ram Nagar.

Policy thrust not enough 

Several steps taken by the state government as well as the district administration have also failed to give a forward thrust to the market in Karnal.  District authorities have trimmed the collector rates by around 10 per cent this year. Besides this, in May, the state government regularised as many as 23 unauthorised colonies to give respite to  thousands of residents and investors having stakes in these. The buyers there, however, will have to pay development charges for the regularisation. While confirming the notification Mayor of Karnal, Renu Bala Gupta,  added that this move would be good for the property market here. 

The regularised colonies include Basant Vihar, Lodha Gamdi, Old Pritampura, Krishna Complex, LIC Colony (part-II), Palm Colony, SP Colony, DC Colony, Bank Colony, Old Durga Colony, Durga Colony, Narendra Colony, Uttam Nagar, Saraswati Colony, MC Colony, Ashok Vihar, Indira Colony, Lovekush Colony, Pal Nagar, Hakikatnagar, Sanjay Colony, Pal Nagar (part-I) and Saidpura Colony.

However, the ominous clouds of slowdown do not seem to be dissipating in the near future here. Karnal has the locational advantage and government too is proactive when it comes to developing the area, but it has failed to emerge as end users’ favourite destination so far. Several big ticket developers launched ambitious projects here in order to cash in on the realty potential, but as there are no end users and investors lined up here, the realty story has taken a grim turn. Now as the benefits of smart city and NCR tag seem far away, Karnal’s real estate graph is going to remain dismal in 2018 at least. 

Project watch

CHD Developers: CHD City located on NH-44 has recently launched the most affordable project in the city named “CHD Green Park Residences” a Ground+2 independent floors under Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojna. The project is a part of 200-acre integrated self-sustained township. It offers 2 BHK independent floors at an affordable price. Benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna can also be availed in this project, says Gaurav Mittal, MD, CHD Developers Ltd. 

The Royal Residency: It is situated adjoining Hotel Noor Mahal, Sector-32. It offers 3, 3+utility, 4+utility, 4 BHK and 6BHK penthouses. “We have limited units as almost all the units have been sold. We are going to launch five new towers of 2, 3, and 4BHK units,” said Himani Kathuria, Executive Director, Royal Residency. 

Alpha International City: It is a 300-acre plotted development project situated in HUDA Sector-28, 29 on NH-44. It has commercial and residential plots on offer. Almost 1,000 plots have been sold by the company and around 200 families have got their houses constructed here.