Is Zirakpur realty witnessing a downtrend?

With the completion of Aerocity Road, Zirakpur will become equidistant from Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. Zirakpur is well connected with these and other neighbouring areas through air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned local buses. In the second phase of the Chandigarh Metro, Zirakpur will be connected with other parts of the region.

Chandigarh airport is just eight km from Zirakpur, while Chandigarh city lies within five km. Sector 51 and Sector 52 are the upcoming residential areas in Chandigarh. The Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park, spread over 400 acres, has put Chandigarh on India’s IT/ITeS map. Major Indian and multinational corporations such as Quark, Infosys, Dell, IBM and Tech Mahindra have set up offices in the city and its suburbs. However, due to recent government intervention the prices in Zirakpur is falling steadily.  

Reasons for price downfall:

There has been a sharp fall of about of about 10-15% over the past year in Zirakpur.  One of the main reasons is the Punjab government's decision to collect almost Rs 2,760 crore in the last financial year from stamp duty and registration fee, which became a thorn strewn path in the event of the already slowing down real estate sector.  

Another factor that has kept end users and investors away from this micro market are the unrealistic high prices, low appreciation percentage and lack of funds.  This is a huge weight on the already falling prices and the investors see little return on investment in the current scene.  An acre of land in Zirakpur cost approximately 3 crores just a few year back, however, it will not fetch more than 2 crore in the present situation.  

According to experts, the downfall in real estate in the area not only affects the builders but also affects the whole economy of the area.  The local government cannot achieve its income target which in turn will affect associated developments. It is also not possible for someone not to notice some other factors that affect the demand.

Due to subdued buyer sentiment in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, sales have been impacted in Zirakpur as well.

• A lot of infra projects are delayed. Investors are waiting for these projects to get completed before parking their money in this satellite town.
• Zirakpur faces lack of proper sewage facilities and shortage of corporation water.
• Zirakpur is an investor-driven market and hence a lot of times price hikes are due to over optimistic evaluations by sellers than actual improvements in the market.

Corrective Actions:

The high-activity areas in Zirakpur include VIP Road, Chandigarh-Ambala expressway and Patiala Highway. Apart from serving as major connectivity links, these corridors have seen an upsurge in real estate activity in the last few years. Though the real estate market was quite grim In Zirakpur for the last year owing to overall sad state of economy and the stagnant prices at around Rs 3000 per sq ft, the area has a lot of potential owing to its location and the infrastructural developments happening around.