‘No fear for Hyd’s development’

Says Poulomi Estates director Prashant Rao

When the BRS government was in power, the real estate sector in Hyderabad saw an immense growth. The Kokapet and Budvel auctions are proof to this. However, the recent elections has turned plates for BRS and the Congress has come into power for the first time in this newly formed state.

While this is good news to some, people in a few sectors are worried about their future, one of which is the real estate sector.

Poulomi Estates’ director, Prashant Rao, spoke about the future of Hyderabad realty and its growth in the coming years.

“We have seen a change of government in the state of Telangana with the Congress party coming into power. It is probably on the expected line. I will not see much change in the way Hyderabad business is done. Primarily because Hyderabad has already achieved status as one of the fastest-developing cities in India in comparison to Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi. The parameters already set by the previous government have given a platform for where people would like to come to invest, stay, and work.

On that basis, any new government that comes in will also find it much easier to take it forward. And the other reason, I think, is that our CM, Revanth Reddy, was also a real estate developer himself before getting into politics. So I think that’s an advantage for our business as well. So he would probably understand our business much better and be more proactive in developing real estate, and in multiple interviews last month, he emphasised that he is going to take real estate to the next level. So, keeping all these parameters in mind, I am sure Hyderabad will go a notch higher in the coming few years.”

“West of Hyderabad has been developed by multiple governments as such, probably starting with the TDP government many years ago when they started off with the hi-tech city in Madhapur, and then surrounding all that came. And then, the Congress government came in with YS Rajasekhar Reddy Garu, and then we had the Outer Ring Road coming in, which helped in developing this area further. Coming to the following government of BRS, we have seen a lot of new companies coming and establishing themselves in this area given the social infrastructure, residences, malls, and offices, and this area has developed as one of the most sought-after locations.”

Hyd will see the same growth…

But the previous government has tried to develop Medchal and other areas also for IT, but given the established location of the West and the importance given to this area, everybody prefers to stay and work in this area. So I think, coming back to this new government, I am sure this area will see the same growth or probably even better growth in the coming few years.

2023 was the best year for Hyd Realty…

The year 2023 was by far the best year in real estate in Hyderabad, primarily because of the great investments the city attracted, especially the roads. During the COVID lockdown period, they’ve come up with many internal roads to ease the traffic. So that actually helped the real estate growth in Hyderabad. Coming out of lockdown, people realised the importance of having a very good house. So I think that is where people started investing heavily again in real estate.

2023 was again a year when a new segment in housing was opened. We saw the premium, ultra-rich, or large-format apartment category opening up in Hyderabad. Prior to 2023, we would see apartments up to 4000 square feet, but after that, 6000 to even 15000 square feet of apartments were launched by builders and happily accepted by the customers. So this is, in all, a total new segment that has opened up in the last year. So seeing all this, I’m sure this is going to continue for the next couple of years as well.

Coming to the IT segment, 2023 was a little slow compared to the previous years; that’s primarily because of COVID and coming out of COVID. In the last seven months, close to 6.5 million sq ft of IT space has been leased out in Hyderabad. So I think with all these new trends coming in, 2024 should be much better and take Hyderabad to greater levels.

Future projects…

We currently have three projects going on. Poulomi Avante is a mid-rise project that is G+22 floors and is ready for handover from next month onwards. We have Poulomi Palazzo, a premium project in the range of 6,000 to 8,100 square feet (G + 55 flows) that is under construction. Currently, we are done with the basements. That project will be ready for handover by December 2026. Then we have another grade IT space by the name of Poulomi Infinity, which is coming up right on the main road of Kokapet. That’s about a million square feet. That will also be handed over in two years. So, all in all, we’re doing quite well. We have three other large projects in the pipeline, one of which is coming up in the Madinagida (G+45 floors).

We have another project coming to Madhapur. We also moved to Bangalore. We’ve taken about 9 acres in Bangalore.

I am sure 2024 will be better than 2023, primarily because the general elections are coming up in 2024, after which a new government will be formed. The economy factor is also going well, and Hyderabad is one of the most focused areas for real estate in India, where everybody wants to come and work here and stay here. So I think all these parameters would help real estate in Hyderabad go to a higher level.