Airport cancellation may crash realty prices in Noida

Going by industry estimates, property prices around Noida and Greater Noida have slumped by 25-30 per cent after the Uttar Pradesh Government cancelled the greenfield airport project at Jewar in Greater Noida.

The Yamuna Expressway is a fast-lane highway connecting Delhi and Agra via Noida and Greater Noida. Realtors had reportedly invested over Rs 7,000 crore in the zone, hoping to gain from the development there.

Shobhit Agarwal ,Managing Director, Protiviti Consulting Pvt Ltd, says, “The Yamuna Expressway's returns would be linked to a large part on the development of the airport at Jewar and the consequent traffic generated on this highway. Investment in the Yamuna Expressway is expected to be in excess of Rs 10,000 crore. Investments done by real estate developers along the Yamuna expressway will be hit.

“There are already reports of some of them not paying their commitments to the Yamuna Expressway development authority leading to cancellation of allotments. Also, projects being developed or proposed have a lot of consumer investments at an early stage — all these would likely be adversely affected.”

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav, had scrapped the Taj International Airport in Jewar that was hanging fire since the idea was first floated in 2001.

Manoj Gaur, Managing Director, Gaursons India Ltd, says, “Cancellation of the proposed airport at Jewar will definitely have a huge impact on the market. Many five-star hotels were planned but now it is unlikely that they will come up. Airport at Jewar was much needed as it could have boosted not only the real estate but would have also brought the movement of MNCs to Noida and Greater Noida.”

Prop Equity's Samir Jasuja says, “The announcement may negatively impact prices by 5-10 per cent for projects around and in Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway. Several projects in this region are around 20 km away from Pari Chowk and availability of basic infrastructure is still a major challenge. Our research shows that prices in Greater Noida have already trickled down by around 3 per cent in the first quarter sequentially from Rs 2,564 (in the fourth quarter of 2011) a sq. feet to Rs 2,492.”