A city of contrasts

Hyderabad has become the world's most affordable office locations due to rupee depreciation and fall in rentals amid political instability over Telangana, according to global realty consultant DTZ.

Four other Indian cities -- Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru and Kolkata -- figure in the DTZ's list of top 10 least expensive office space markets in the world.

"Depreciation of the Indian rupee in combination with declining rents led to Hyderabad overtaking Surabaya (Indonesia) as the least expensive market in 2013," DTZ said in a report.

The consultant has released the 17th edition of the global occupancy costs -- offices, which presents outlook and analysis of the costs of occupying prime office space across 138 markets worldwide.

Chennai retains its position as the world's third least expensive office space market. Pune and Bengaluru occupy the fourth and fifth position respectively.

"At occupancy costs below $ 3,000 per workstation, per year in 2013, our list of the 10 least expensive markets consists solely of markets in India and China," DTZ said.

The total cost of occupancy in Hyderabad stood at $1,250 per workstation per annum. When contacted, DTZ India Research head Rohit Kumar said, "Hyderabad has been stricken by political instability and hence it has suffered lack of office demand leading to drop in rentals.”

Office rentals have declined in Hyderabad to Rs 45 per sq ft per month in 2013 from Rs 58 per sq ft a month in 2012, he added. Total occupancy cost is defined as the average cost of leasing prime net usable space. Occupancy costs include rents and outgoings, which refer to costs charged by the landlord in a multi-tenant building like service charge and property tax.

"Mumbai and Delhi are placed at 63rd and 49th position globally. This makes Delhi the costliest office space in India followed by Mumbai," DTZ said.

Hyderabad falls much behind as a choice for urbanites A large section of the urban working class people and professionals would prefer Bengaluru to Hyderabad for buying a house, says a nation-wide survey conducted by ASSOCHAM.

Better connectivity, infrastructure, basic facilities and climate, are the key factors for the special preference for India’s IT/BT capital.

Releasing the findings of the survey, ASSOCHAM secretary general DS Rawat said about 49% of urban working class remain keen to park their surpluses in buying residential properties than commercial properties.

Over 52% respondents, especially from among the professionals, have chosen the real estate properties in Tier-I cities like Bengaluru (1st), Mumbai (2nd), Delhi (3rd), Kolkata (4th), entire NCR. Hyderabad remains a least choice for gaining in maximum returns, said the survey.

Among the other major cities, Ahemdabad (9%), Pune (8%) and Hyderabad (6%) are the key real estate investment destinations of 2014.

A major chunk of 40% are expecting property prices to correct by up to 20% while another 15% are more optimistic and are expecting a correction of more than 20%.

On the other hand, 18% believe that property prices would rise in 2014. The remaining 27% are predicting for stability in property prices over the next 12 months. In the current scenario with RBI advocating hardening of interest rates, home loans are likely to increase in 2014.

About 49% of national home buyers feel that home loan rates are expected to increase in 2014 while 26% are more optimistic and feel that interest on home loans would fall in 2014. The rest feel that home loans would remain stable over the coming year, adds the survey.