City PRICEY!

Chandigarh’s real estate market is on a dizzying ascent, with headline sales and e-auction bids redefining what buyers are willing to pay for scarce plots in the UT.

In November 2024, a two-kanal bungalow in Sector 18-A was registered at a jaw-dropping Rs 32 crore — the city’s highest recorded residential sale deed to date. Just four months later, in March 2025, a shop-cum-office (SCO) on Madhya Marg in Sector 7 changed hands for Rs 30 crore, underlining that commercial frontage continues to command a premium.

Both transactions, reported exclusively in The Tribune, sent ripples through Chandigarh’s property circles, setting new benchmarks for valuation and stoking expectations ahead of the Estate Office’s auction.

E-AUCTION FEVER

Those expectations reached a new peak in early September 2025, when the Estate Office’s online auction of residential and commercial sites saw frenzied bidding. A total of 20 plots were put on the block, including 13 residential and several commercial sites. By the close of the auction, 15 sites had been sold, fetching a total of Rs 168.85 crore — more than double the reserve price of Rs 75.29 crore.

The star lot was a 1,014-sq-yard plot in Sector 33, hammered down for Rs 33.4 crore, the highest bid of the round.

Even smaller residential plots saw aggressive bidding — one 126-sq-yard plot sold for nearly Rs 4 crore, reflecting how buyers are chasing every bit of freehold space available in the cityl. Officials noted that the auction’s success lay in a mix of end-user demand, NRI interest and developer speculation.

SECTOR-WISE HEAT

• Sector 33 emerged as the hottest residential pocket, with its 2-kanal plot touching Rs 33.4 crore.
• Sector 19-B saw several plots cross the Rs 22-crore mark, making it another high-growth zone.
• Sector 18-A reaffirmed its elite status with the Rs 32-crore bungalow deal.
• Sector 7 (Madhya Marg) remains the epicentre of premium commercial real estate, the SCO sale at Rs 30 crore proving the point.
• Peripheral but well-connected sectors (37, 40, 44, 46) too drew strong interest, with bids doubling reserves.

WHY PRICES ARE SOARING

Three key factors are driving the boom, say the market analysts.

1. Scarcity of land: With Chandigarh’s planned grid virtually built out, opportunities to buy fresh freehold plots are rare.

2. Freehold premium: Buyers are paying sharply higher rates for freehold properties, avoiding the rising costs of converting leasehold to freehold.

3. Speculative capital: Non-resident Indians and high-net-worth buyers see Chandigarh’s civic infrastructure and lifestyle as a safe bet, pushing trophy prices even higher.

“Add to this the UT’s recent revision of conversion charges, which has made converting leasehold plots more expensive,” a leading realtor Abhijit Singh feels.