Nagpur – An Emerging Market in Maharashtra

Nagpur is the largest city in Central India and one of the fastest growing real estate markets in Maharashtra. The city, one of India’s most industrialized cities, is gaining more popularity in the real estate in recent times due to rapid development in its infrastructure as well as affordability factor.

Connectivity and access

Nagpur has very good connectivity to major cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. Nagpur is centrally located, hence connected to the four major Indian metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata by road. Two major national highways, Kanyakumari-Varanasi (NH-7) and Hajira-Kolkata (NH-6) pass through the city. The city also lies at the junction of two Asian highways – AH-43 and AH-46. The Nagpur-Aurangabad-Mumbai expressway is a new state highway and significantly reduces the distance through NH-3 and NH-6.

There are a total of 160 trains connecting Nagpur to other cities. The Maharashtra government has already approved the Nagpur metro rail project. Nagpur also has good connectivity to prominent international cities like Sharjah, Doha and Bangkok through the Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport. The international airport is situated just about 7 km from the city center.

Nagpur Mahanagar Parivahan Ltd. (NMPL) is the government body that provides public transport in the city. It has a fleet of 470 low-floor Star Buses. Of these, 88 are low-floor Mini Buses and 382 are low-floor 50-seater Star Buses.

Infrastructure

Nagpur is a tier-II city, yet its urban infrastructure is comparable to that of several tier-I cities. The city has an excellent IT infrastructure. The city has a lot of potential in terms of IT, ITES and healthcare services. Nagpur has a robust water supply system and is already moving towards 100% availability of water on every day of the week. The municipality has already taken measures to manage solid wastes.

Nagpur has very good social amenities such as schools, colleges and multiplexes. Nagpur has not yet seen a mall culture. However, the city has plenty of gardens, where people spend more time. The city has an international stadium cricket stadium. There are few existing SEZs as well as several SEZs planned across Nagpur.

Real estate

Real estate in Nagpur is dominated by end-users. There is no visible migration to Nagpur from other cities and as such, the city’s real estate is fuelled more by the city’s residents. Certain areas such as Zafar Nagar, however, witness NRI inflows mainly from Dubai. Nagpur has presence of large industrial units in the MIDC industrial area. This impacts the residential housing in the area. For people looking to enter the manufacturing sector, industrial plots are made easily accessible. Nagpur has some famous developers such as Aren Builders and Promoters, Pioneer Infrastructure Company Pvt Ltd and Bharadwaj Builders and Developers Private Limited.

The city sees a huge demand and supply for 2 and 3-BHK apartments while there is also a small demand for builder floor apartments and independent houses. The typical size of a 2-BHK unit can be approximately 850-1,100 sq. ft. while that of a 3-BHK unit can go beyond 1,200 sq. ft.

Nagpur is more affordable than Mumbai and Pune as property prices are low here. A typical 2-BHK apartment would cost about Rs.20-40 lakhs whereas a 3-BHK apartment can cost between Rs.30-85 lakhs. High-end 2 and 3-BHK apartments cost more depending on the amenities. The weighted average property prices too are low in Nagpur (Rs. compared to those of Mumbai (Rs. 5,900 per sq.ft)and Pune (Rs. 4,100 per sq.ft). Some of the key localities in Nagpur include Civil Lines, Wardha Road, Laxmi Nagar, Narendra Nagar and Manish Nagar.