Chandigarh's planned development has always been hailed as a model for other north-Indian cities. Like any other city, Chandigarh too is faced with the constant expansion of the city limits. However, this expansion doesn't come at the cost of present infrastructure. Hence the real estate prospects of the city have never been affected by these developments. Now, the Union Territory is bracing up its infrastructure to keep pace with the changing times.

The city has witnessed some promising projects from leading real estate developers like DLF, Parsvnath, Omaxe, Ansals API and Emaar MGF. The consumer base for most of the private builders is the urban-rich population or the NRIs. However, this situation is changing now. The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), the chief civic authority responsible for all the housing related activities in the region, is concentrating on mass housing projects. This is in consortium with the new housing policy which lays emphasis on providing affordable housing, considering the middle-income group as the potential user base. The Board recently announced the construction of around 13,000 new housing units under different categories in the city. The CHB has started construction of 160 houses in Sector-26 East (Bapu Dham) for low-income households. About 8,000 houses will be built in Dhanas and Maloya-I for the middle income group. Another 2,260 houses have been planned on 42 acres in Sector 63 under a general housing scheme. Besides this, 4,700 houses have been announced on 90 acres of land in Sectors 53, 54 and 55.

Along with this, the government agencies are also promoting small time local property developers to institute projects in the region. The Amarisis, Venus group, Kwality buildtech are prominent among these players. Most of the projects by such group are in affordable category. All in all, it seems that Chandigarh will soon become a dream destination for the middle-income group. The city promises affordable accommodation and a good quality of life to its citizens. Withstanding to its reputation of India's first planned urban development, the city of Chandigarh is popular as a sophisticated property market of the northern India. This capital city of Punjab, a state which enjoys one of the highest per capita incomes in the country, also holds the distinction of achieving a year-on-year growth rate of 7.91 per cent since year 2000. The city has been positioned at number four among the fastest growing cities in India, in the recent report released by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

Definitely, the flourishing local economy of Chandigarh augurs well for nearly all the segments of real estate i.e. residential, retail, and commercial, are witnessing positive trends. Industry veterans also claim that Chandigarh real estate is largely an investor driven market, and the segment is far more active than the end-user segment. Decent connectivity, low operational costs, and sufficient availability of land are some of the factors that make Chandigarh properties an attractive investment instrument.

Growth Engines:
Lately, Chandigarh real estate caught the attention of IT and ITeS companies with the development of 375 acre Chandigarh Technology Park (CTP) at Manimajra, north-east part of Chandigarh, and IT Park in Mohali. The projects brought state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities equivalent to those available in the cyber cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad. Furthermore, DLF has set up its Infocity within the CTP zone, in view of extending world-class facilities to these techno-giants. Meanwhile, the capital values and rentals in the commercial property segment have been consistently rising in the past 3-years, though a bit of slowdown is noticed in the residential real estate, due to oversupply.

Property Values and Rentals:
With the foray of IT and ITeS majors in Chandigarh, commercial properties offering Grade A office space to the clients are in demand. At present, rentals at Sector 19 are floating at Rs 90 per sq. ft a month, while the same hovers from Rs 20 to Rs 35 at Sector no. 17 and 22. The capital values at Sector 17 and 19 are recorded at Rs 10-11,000 per sq. ft. the same, however, are quite moderate at Rs 6-7 per sq. ft, at Sector 22.