Kochi, earlier known as Cochin, is the commercial capital of the state of Kerala. It is considered to be the second most important city on the western coast of India. Kochi is widely popular as the ‘Queen of the Arabian Sea’ and is located in centrally in Kerala. This city is set on a cluster of islands amidst beautiful landscapes and exotic beaches. It offers a perfect blend of nature’s beauty with its beaches and backwaters; historical richness with its palaces, forts and old churches and a metropolitan feel with its towering buildings, luxury homes and business centers. The beach city, Kochi is one of the hottest tourist destinations of the country.
The tourism hub of Kerala, Kochi is one of the largest Indian cities and a metro with excellent connectivity by air, rail and road. Cochin provides all the world-class facilities of a big convenience city from attractive residential and commercial setups to speedy medical and banking amenities to high standard hotels, education and food facilities. In fact, it is most advanced city of India with 100% literate workforce that is highly skilled and productive. Beginning to rank among the important IT centers, Kochi property market is witnessing a boom in its real estate sector.
The urbanized culture of the city is another major factor instrumental in taking its property market to new heights. The strategic location of Cochin on transnational trade corridor also makes for a favorable element in boosting its real estate market. In addition to the culture and location, excellent communication network and easy availability of efficient employees are other important advantages for the city. Also, there are many infrastructural developments taking place across the region such as Metro Rail project, New Bus Terminal, The LNG Terminal, Port-based Special Economic Zones, upgradation of city traffic system and various others.
The residential sector of Kochi is developing exponentially due to high demands from NRIs and property investors. Almost 2 million NRIs living abroad are making huge investments in the residential spaces of Cochin encouraging the trend of luxury and deluxe apartments. Gone are the days when people would spend an entire life in an age old home without ever wanting to leave it. The generation of today wants to buy the most luxurious and most comfortable spaces that conspicuously reflect their class and style. Construction of luxury apartments that offer splendid choice of dwellings with a host of amenities is the new agenda of property developers in Cochin. The high living standards and the corresponding demand for luxurious property in Kochi are possible due to various reasons:
– Rising disposable incomes of the middle class.
– Affordable properties available quite easily.
– Housing of migrants working with various companies in the city.
– The ongoing expansion of Indian corporates, MNCs and IT Parks.
– Long term investments from NRIs into real estate projects.
– Reviving of market much sooner than anticipated.
The port city of Kerala, Cochin has been ranked as the second potential city for investments in IT sector by NASSCOM. The mammoth project ‘Smart City’ proposed by Dubai Internet City (DIC) will bring in the investment of whopping Rs. 1500 crores.
The administration is also coming forward to provide basic infrastructure facilities like power, international bandwidth and urban transportation to the investors. The real estate market experts and analysts expect a capital appreciation of around 12-15% in the coming years. DLF City, Sahara Builders, Great India Estates, Skyline Foundation, Puravankara Projects, Sobha Developers, Prestige Group, Emaar-MGF, Brigade Group Anzera Properties, etc are some of the builders who have established their projects in the city.
In spite of the downturn, real estate continues to be the safest forms of investment especially, in Kochi.
