Real estate developers in Kochi anticipate a near future demand for 40,000 fresh dwelling units in the city and suburbs given the current trends in expansion of IT-related work spaces.
Ravi Shankar T.N., president of CREDAI Kochi, said on Thursday that the Kerala real estate business looked like being in a boom phase even as four million sq.ft. of IT-related work space was being newly added by major builders in InfoPark and Smart City.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the two-day CREDAI Statecon 2023 here, he said infrastructure was needed to handle the rising demand smoothly, including decongesting roads that faced bottlenecks during rush hours.
He added that taking development away from the present centres to areas further to the wings of the district could help ease pressure on the present hubs. For instance, he said, the government had acquired around 300 acres near Amballoor for an electronics park. Building smart spaces in these areas could ease congestion and spread business hubs.
CREDAI also welcomed the Kochi Corporation’s decision to take all stakeholders into confidence before finalising the masterplan for the city. The zoning of Kochi would give an idea to the builders for locating sites for new projects.
The present plan on which builders and individual home-builders in the city are forced to rely on is around three decades old. The new masterplan will serve the planned expansion of the city, it said.
Builders expect substantial growth in business in Kerala. Mr. Shankar pointed to the growth and diversification in the tourism sector post-COVID. Kerala has built a reputation as a wedding destination, an offshoot of its tourism industry, he said.
There is a shortage of around seven million affordable houses in the country as a whole. The demand for houses, spread over 1,000 sq. ft. offered a great business opportunity to the sector, he added.
