Real Estate Growth in Meerut

Meerut has rapidly come up as a strategic real estate destination owing to its close proximity to the Delhi NCR. It is connected to Delhi by NH-58.

Today, as the mid- and the lower-middle class end users find property in the NCR out of their reach with real estate prices hitting the roof here, Meerut has shaped up as an ideal destination catering to the increasing housing demands on one hand, while maintaining the prices within affordable limits on the other.

Forthcoming real estate projects

Real estate in Meerut is riding on the crest of increasing demand, boosted by large availability of land at low prices. The market is demonstrating buoyancy with the presence of prominent builders like Ansal API, Supertech Ltd, MSX Developers, Era Group, Majestic Properties, DLF, and Omaxe.

Meerut is also seeing an upswing in prices owing to the presence of leading construction companies, which are eager to buy land for their projects. Market watcher say property prices in Meerut have trebled in the past two years.

Residential property

Excellent infrastructure facilities, sound planning and top-grade security of some of the housing projects on the outskirts of Meerut has increased demand in this area. The most sought-after location is along the Meerut Bypass.

Also, the Hapur Road and the Cantonment Road are gaining prominence as ideal destinations for property investments and are attracting large-scale developments. Of late, commercial and residential complexes are coming up on Mawana Road and Modipuram on the Muzaffarnagar Highway.

Prominent builders are coming up with new projects like Ansal Housing, a residential township by Ansal API; Sports City, Shopprix and Palm Greens by the Supertech Group, and a two residential projects and a mall by the Era Group. Other builders like Saamag Group have residential projects like Saga Habitat, Ark City and Coral Springs, while the Gayatri Group is building many residential projects here.

Commercial property

High-end commercial development is also taking place in Meerut, in a limited way though. Rates of agricultural land here are growing mainly in the areas adjacent the main roads; they hover between Rs 26 lakh and Rs 34 lakh per hectare, whereas for other purposes, the prices have increased from Rs 43 lakh to Rs 54 lakh per hectare. Prices of agricultural lands along the city roads are also appreciating by the day, with the rates ranging from Rs 21 lakh per hectare to Rs 24 lakh per hectare. For the other purposes, the rates are over Rs 26 lakh per hectare.

Why Meerut?

Pranav Ansal, the vice-chairman of Ansal API, says: “With an increase in the number of domestic and foreign players across industries shifting base to Tier II cities, demand for such townships is on a high. With this mission, we have planned to develop a Signature Township, Sushant City, over 300 acres. It would offer an array of options like built-up houses, independent floors, bungalows and villas. The township will cater to housing requirements of more than 5,000 families.”

R K Arora, the chairman and managing director of Supertech Group, says: “Here

 price of residential property varies from Rs 2,350 per sq metre to Rs 16,500 per sq metre, depending on the location. Earlier, property prices in Gurgaon and Noida were considered to be going through the roof, which drove property buyers to the other parts of the NCR. Price of land in Meerut is not so high but the property market is certainly showing phenomenal potential for growth. For the people who cannot afford an apartment in Delhi and yet want to remain near the city, Meerut offers a cost effective option.”

Manoj Gaur, the managing director of Gaursons Ltd, says: “Meerut is a fast developing city and is giving a tough competition to other NCR cities like Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, which have become very costly for the middle class. As land is still freely available here, builders are making a beeline for Meerut. The city is only around 70km from Delhi.”

Connectivity

Thousands of people commute daily to the Delhi NCR for work from Meerut. Keeping this in mind, various development authorities in the NCR, in concert with the Meerut Development Authority, have planned for an expressway between Delhi and Meerut, as well as for the extension of the Metro line from Delhi border to Meerut.

This is expected to bring down the commuting time between Delhi and Meerut to just 45 minutes. This will boost the overall real estate development in the city and, in the long run, return impressive returns on investment on property here.

Now, it will be easy to move from Delhi (Anand Vihar) to Meerut as the authority is all set to start the work on Rapid Rail Transit System and Delhi-Meerut Expressway.

An elevated railway track will be aligned to the expressway route. The length of this proposed track is 67km, with an estimated cost of Rs 1,040 crore. The 64km long expressway itself is estimated to cost Rs 4,500 crore and is likely to be completed by 2015. The first 8km of the expressway from Nizamuddin Bridge to Ghaziabad border will have 16 lanes.

The expressway will cover 28km of NH-24 between Ghaziabad border and Dasna and this stretch will be widened to 14 lanes, from six lanes, according to the final plan. Also, a 36km stretch between Dasna and Meerut will be constructed as a fourlane highway. The tender of this project has been given to the Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transport System (DIMTS) by the NCR planning board. Under this project, stations are likely to be constructed at a gap of 4-5km.

Anand Vihar, Vaishali, Mohan Nagar, Meerut Road (Airtel Cut) Morta, Duhai, Murad Nagar, Gang Nahar, Modi Nagar, Mohiuddinpur, Meerut Bypass Cut and Pallavpuram are the proposed halts of this Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS). An underground track will be set up from Anand Vihar to Dabur, due to the Metro project.

However, there is a consensus among the officers concerned that the Metro Rail will not come in the way of the high speed train. The consultant company has designed the entire project in a manner that there is no need to acquire or demolish any existing property. The track will be underground from Anand Vihar to Dabur and then run on elevated track up to Meerut.

The average speed of the Metro rail in Delhi is approximately 30-40km per hour but the speed of this rapid train will be 150km per hour. It is hoped that one can reach Meerut from Delhi within 50 minutes, which was not possible earlier. The services of two passenger and express trains could be available on the two proposed track.