Real estate major, Unitech Grand’s ambitious integrated township project on Noida Expressway ensures residential property prices in the Noida area are all set to witness a new all time high. With a start-up rate of Rs. 1.8-crore for a simple apartment, and going all the way up to Rs. 4.5-crore, Unitech is bound to stir up a hornets nest in the high-end residential property market in Noida.



While, top-end Noida residential projects have attracted Rs. 6,500 per sq. ft. to date, the Unitech property is having no difficulty in finding buyers ready to pay Rs. 7,700 per sq. ft. According to industry analysts, these high prices will set the tone for Noida’s real estate market, and average residential properties rates in the area are bound to get pushed up. Already, property prices in areas adjoining the expressway project have jumped a clear 70-75%, in the last one year.

Sources in the property brokerage business claim, minimum cost of an apartment in Unitech’s township will be nothing short of Rs. 1.8-crore for a 2,700-sq. ft. apartment, while penthouses could cost as much as Rs. 4.5-crore. “The project is being exclusively positioned for foreigners, NRIs and NHIs," says a Noida based property dealer.

With 400-premium apartments being developed in Phase I, they are likely to be ready for occupation sometime in 2010. Currently, the average residential unit prices in the Noida area stand at around Rs. 3,500-4,000-per sq. ft. “Once the Unitech project is launched, it is expected this figure will go up to Rs. 5,000-sq. ft.," predicts Rajan Ahuja, Director - Realty Verticals, an NCR real estate brokerage firm. “Just about a year back, prices in the area were around Rs. 1,800-per sq. ft.," he adds.

Property analysts are of the opinion, the project may set the tone for a sluggish residential market. “It will set a new benchmark for top-end property in Noida, the supply of which was limited, as compared to that in Gurgaon," says Anshuman Magazine, Managing Director at real estate consultant - CB Richard Ellis. Premium residential rates in Gurgaon, currently range between Rs. 7,500-per sq. ft. to Rs. 9,500-per sq. ft.

According to Harinder Singh of Realistic Realtors, a brokerage firm, premium projects, such as these, attract a large number of end-users than normally. “This will also help in getting a better price in the secondary market," he adds.

In one of the biggest land deals ever, Unitech had purchased 340-acre land from the Greater Noida Authority for a whopping Rs. 1,582-crore. The immediate impact of this land deal was on the land acquisition exercise of other builders in the area, the most prominent being Ansal API.

“Prior to the Unitech deal, other developers were conveniently buying land in the area directly from farmers at about Rs. 70 – 80-lakh per acre. However, ever since the deal, no farmer is willing to sell his land for anything less than Rs. 2-crore an acre," a source confirms.