Hyderabad: Old City gets ritzy with a realty blitz

HYDERABAD: The rapid construction activity in Hyderabad has now seeped into pockets of the Old City too. Though limited, several old homes in the bylanes of Ghanzi Bazar, Noorkhan Bazar, Pathergatti, Aghapura and colonies around Charminar, are making way for modern buildings – both residential and commercial – to suit the taste of its new-age owners.
If some of these spaces are being leased out to tenants, mostly the migrant class, many others are being revamped to house its existing occupants. Either way, local industry players say, these upgrades have pushed realty prices in the Old City to an all-time high.

“The cap on construction (buildings have to be restricted to G+2 floors) notwithstanding, these projects are demanding anywhere upwards of 3,500 per square feet (sft),” said realty consultant, Syed Rafat Saleem adding, “The rentals too have shot up significantly. In some prime locations such as Chaderghat, where entire buildings have been leased out – for healthcare and retail largely – the monthly lease is between 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh.”
A quick scan of online housing portals confirms this trend. There are multiple ‘apartments-on-sale’ listings with majority of them priced between 3,400 and 5,500 per sft. The average size around 800 to 1,000 sft. In fact, there are many independent homes in Bahadurpura, Dhoolpet, where the cost is as high as 9,000 to 11,000 per sft.
“We are planning to sell our house because we are building a new one in the same location,” said one such owner from Ghanzi Bazar, when TOI contacted him through a portal. But there are also those who are moving out of Old City. “Several among the younger generation aspire to live in modern homes in more upscale localities. So, they are selling their ancestral properties here and buying in areas like Toli Chowki, Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, among others,” said Jameel Ahmed Khan, reiterating the trend of many renting out a portion of their house. The rent at least 20,000 a month.
“A lot of redeveloped structures – houses converted into apartments – have owners occupying one part and tenants living in the other parts. Given that there is a huge influx of migrants, coming to the city for work, these homes are seeing high demand,” he added.