Newspapers lose real estate ads to Online Sites

It's bad enough that a cratering housing market is leading to a slump in real estate advertising at newspapers, as a dreary series of earnings reports showed this week.

What's worse is that a lot of that advertising may never come back to newspapers even if the real estate sector recovers. That's because a significant chunk of those advertising dollars are moving - you guessed, online.

Exactly how much of a shift is occurring is difficult to measure in terms of dollars, but several real estate executives say they are making a conscious decision to move money out of newspapers and onto the Internet as that medium grows in importance as a tool for researching home-buying decisions.

Real estate boom on Hyderabad outskirts

When it comes to investing in real estate, the craze is no longer confined to the posh Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, but has now shifted to the city outskirts like Manikonda, Nanakramguda, Gopanpally, areas near the Hitech City including Kukatpally, Gachibowli, and Madhapur. Thanks to the IT boom, these areas are all set to oust the ‘Old City' (read Panjagutta or Banjara Hills) according to builders.

Take for example the 108-acre Lanco Hills project in Manikonda. The project includes office complexes for IT professionals, 1,800 residential apartments, shopping mall of 2.5 million square feet and multiplex. Ninety five per cent booking has already been made for the residential complex, which will be completed within 27 months. Priced between Rs 80 lakhs-2.5 crores, and going upto 26-34 floors, per square feet costs Rs 4,500, informs the vice president of Lanco Infratech Limited, A. Narasimhan and adds, "We will shortly begin another phase, for designer duplex flats, because all our four-bedroom duplex were sold out within a day."

Jaiveer Reddy, MD of Asoka Developers and Builders and the Vice President of the Builders' Forum, Hyderabad, says, "Many foreign firms, IT industries, businessmen and investors are willing to buy apartments in the developing areas near the Hi-tech cities and Manikonda, the current market rate of which varies from Rs 3,500-4,500 per square feet."



According to director of Jayabheri Properties Limited, Ram Mohan Rao, the demand for apartments in the outskirts of the city is due to the concentration of the software companies in these areas. Therefore, it becomes convenient for IT people to get an apartment near their offices.

"The availability of unlimited square feet of built up area encourages investment by builders here. Also, unlike in Banjara Hills, where HUDA's permissible height of buildings is only around 10/12 metres, permission for skyscrapers is easy to get in these developing areas if they don't come under air-funnel route," says MD of Indu Projects Limited, Syam Prasad Reddy.

Seventy per cent bookings have already been completed for Jayabheri's Orange County project at Nanakramguda. Priced between Rs 1-2 crores, the 14 storey structure will be completed within two-and-a half years. Jayabheri's independent houses at Gopanpally are already sold out, informs Mr Rao.

Indu Fortune Fields' 65-acre Integrated Township at Kukatpally near the hi-tech city includes 640 luxury apartments costing around Rs 80 lakhs, out of which 440 have been booked so far and all 376 villas have been sold at Rs 1 crore each. Their re-sale value is estimated at Rs 1.8 crores now. Buyers comprise 20 per cent businessmen or industrialists while 70 per cent are from the IT sector, says Mr S.P. Reddy.

Buyers are also attracted by a host of facilities offered by these apartment builders, for which they won't mind paying that extra bit per square feet. Besides the usual clubhouses, parks, swimming pool, tennis courts, these attractions include sky garden and designer lobby as offered by Indu Fortune Fields, while Lanco Hill's special features include ACs, washing machine and driers, 100 per cent power generator backing, two car parking for each flat, small banquet hall and home theatre.

All the prominent builders seem confident that their projects are going to create worldclass townships and mini cities in Hyderabad soon.