Hyderabads IT Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are in for a realty check.Unable to find takers for their exorbitantly priced commercial spaces,these SEZs have now slashed the lease rates by a whopping 30 per cent (approx) to attract customers.Heres a comparison office premises within an
SEZ in Hi-Tec City that cost a lessee at least Rs 45 per sqft until recently,is now up for grabs for as little as Rs 28-30 per sqft. Ditto those in Pocharam and Uppal.In fact,Hyderabad that was in the same league like that of Bangalore and Chennai so far is now only on par with smaller metros such as Pune,with regard to its commercial rents.
The upside of this revision A steady movement of corporate houses to the city with some existing firms opting to expand base in Hyderabad .According to industry analysts,major private players such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),HSBC,United Health Group,Accenture,Napier Healthcare,IBM,Wells Fargo and Yash Technologies among others,have all taken up space in these IT SEZs over the last few months,post the correction in rents.
Such is the rush for these cheap commercial spaces that market observers say,most of these SEZs are now either completely leased out or have little vacant area remaining to be occupied.Until six months ago,most of these SEZs had huge empty spaces but no takers.Now,there are customers but no space, said a city builder pointing out how Raheja Mindspace (Hi-Tec City) and Wave Rock IT Park (Gachibowli ),that were scouting for lessees until recently,now have no space to rent.
While DLFs Cyber City in Gachibowli is close to 90 per cent occupied,Lanco Hills 600-seater incubation area of their yet-tocome-up building in the same locality is full,said sources.In fact of the total 12 IT SEZs in the city,more than 50 per cent have little or no vacant area now, said a real estate consultant operating in the city.
Elaborating this trend further,the consultant said that this sudden surge in demand for SEZs is also thanks to the high rentals being quoted by property owners operating in core city areas such as Banjara Hills,Jubilee Hills and Punjagutta.In huge demand until recently,commercial spaces in these localities that still cost anywhere between Rs 35-45 per sqft,are now losing out to the cheaper SEZs,the source added.
In fact,surveys show that this drastic drop in rents has made Hyderabad one of the most sought-after destination for commercial operations,after Delhi,Mumbai and Bangalore.According to a recent report complied by Jones Lang LaSalle,India (JLL) a leading real estate service provider,Hyderabad is likely to out-perform other metros commercially this year because of its good pre-leasing and affordable rentals.Besides,there is also more space in the city as compared to the bigger metros, claimed a local realtor.
Perhaps it is this sudden demand for SEZs that is pushing developers to put their money on more such projects in the city.According to sources,at least two-three new IT SEZs are already on its way with two coming up in the Shamshabad area.It might take a while for people to consider Shamshabad as an option.But even these spaces will get occupied eventually, said an industry source.
Source : exclventures.com