Hyderabad's residential market has inched towards to an improved phase today in comparison to a couple of years back. The exuberance of it's commercial market is finally rubbing off on the residential demand. Sales and prices, in the residential segment, have both improved. Residential prices though are not galloping like in the commercial or land segments but increasing steadily. This improvement over the past year or so, is fickle at best. The last 2-3 months in particular have not been great for sales or prices in general across projects. The overhang of constant elections and the effects of the NBFC crisis seem to be taking a toll. We will have to wait and see how the residential market fares in the coming quarters.

Hyderabad's residential market has always been affordable in comparison to all other metros. An interesting trend of the Indian residential market is that prices have grown substantially since 2008. This is true for all metros except Hyderabad. A long cherished dream of Hyderabad's residential market has always been to become as expensive as any other Indian metro. Chances are that Hyderabad may continue to remain with its affordable tag for sometime.

In most metros the prime residential areas always hog most of the infrastructure improvements. In Delhi, Luyten's Delhi is still the most coveted place to stay. The development of this side has been done so methodically that even the Delhi metro is developed here all underground. All other parts of Delhi continue to see the metro pillars as signs of development, but not Luyten's Delhi. Similar infrastructure hogging examples could be seen for other prime residential areas of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai etc.

In Hyderabad the Outer Ring Road (ORR) has been the get leveller. Probably the only metro which has an ORR and might be the only one for a long time to come. The ORR has ensured that all property abutting its approx. 160 km radius became prime property. Before the ORR was operational, prime property was restricted only to the main roads of the core city area. The ORR has made innumerable number of landlord's owners of prime property across the suburbs of the city. Every project today in any side of the city highlights their distance or access to the ORR. Prices along this road range from a few lacs to a few single digit crores to double digit crores, per acre, as we move from east to west. Even if you decide to stay in North or East or South and work in West it is a hassle free commute thanks to the ORR.

Is it possible that such democratization of development along the ORR has held back the growth of prices within the core city? It is a fact that the recession and subsequent political situation were major reasons for holding back prices since 2008. The ORR has been in the making since 2005-06 onwards and probably the first section opened somewhere in 2008. The market has been talking about the ORR for more than a decade now. Land acquisitions & projects have been planned across the length and breath of our city considering the ORR. Some of these projects / plans have been successful while some others have been a failure. Over supply of prime land could be the main reason for prices being held back in the core city. Prices in the suburbs have remained in check over the past few years. Excess available land in the suburbs keeps adding more projects to the overall supply. Resultantly the overall real estate prices in the city remain under check / held back.

Does infrastructure need to be planned in stages / phases / mild doses so that the real estate market is able to absorb the opportunity and plan for the next round. May be from a real estate market prices standpoint a more measured or controlled or monopolized approach to providing infrastructure might be desirable. From an overall city planning perspective this measured or controlled plan may not work. Even though the above reasoning about ORR seems logical but it still does not convince me that markets remain subdued just because the ORR increased availability of prime land manifold. After all just having land does not ensure projects will get automatically developed.

It brings me back to the question of what constitutes city's infrastructure. At a macro level this would include power, water, roads, connectivity in terms of airport / roads, drainage, cleanliness etc. On the first two points i.e. power and water, Hyderabad's condition is moderate to bad. This city has been transformed from a power surplus city in the pre-2006 era, to 2014 situation of multiple hours of power cuts. The electricity situation had improved in the past few years but again seems to be going haywire this year. The water situation has also turned from bad to worse over the past few years. This is the end result of lack of planning and vision for this city over the past few years. Hopefully projects like Kaleshwaram could be a game changer in terms of water availability for the city. A lacklustre monsoon this year is not a good omen for water availability in 2019-20.

Hyderabad has a great airport, which is probably being used by a small number of its population. I hope the same could have been said about its railway stations. The city's planning on this front also is not great. Railway stations connectivity is bad for residents of West Hyderabad. The city's drains & cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired for. Some portions of the city are still relying on infra created in the pre-independence era. Even the newer developed parts like Hitec have no proper drainage system.

Overall the city infra has flashes of brilliance in terms of the ORR & airport otherwise it is bad. For majority of the city's population, bad infrastructure is the reality of today's situation. This bad infra seems to the main cause for pulling the city's property prices down and continues to be a drag.

What the city needs is a better & quicker actionable plan for improving its basic city infrastructure. Roads, power, water, drains, cleanliness are basic pillars of this plan. Without these challenges being effectively and permanently resolved we cannot say our city has good infra. Even the future infra projects like the metro should be planned for a larger coverage. The current corridor coverage of just 3 lines is highly insufficient for a city our size. The metro project is worthwhile only if every city resident has access to a metro station in a radius of a few kms from their residence.

Infra project planning, in our city, should stop being more marketing focused in terms of creating infra for visitors and concentrate on developing far reaching and need based infra for its residents. Some immediate things to be done could be as follows:

• Providing regular reliable power and water to city residents
• Develop 100+ flyovers & underpasses across the city to ease traffic flow.
• Make the Inner Ring Road (IRR) and some other key roads completely free of traffic lights. Unnecessary road divisions / openings to be closed. Focus should be that long distance traffic uses the main roads and inter / intra colony traffic should avoid using the main roads and stick to proper internal roads / lanes.
• All city roads should be planned as 6 lanes only i.e. 3 lanes on each side with a proper road divider in place.
• Proper pedestrian pathways should be created specially in the prominent retail areas. Along all roads importance to pedestrian pathways is most important. A lot of foot-over-bridges for pedestrians is also required. In cities in USA, one aspect that impresses is that road planning is done keeping in mind first the pedestrians, then two-wheelers (if any) and finally four-wheelers. In our country / city road planning is the exact opposite which should be reversed.
• Develop railway station hubs in such a manner that each side of the city has a hub and caters specifically to certain side of the country.
• Modern buses to be introduced to the city with better frequency.
• Plan ample parking slots across all roads, complexes and projects.
• Ensure development across all sides of the city and not just make the western side of the city the sole focus.

The current government seems keen to plan Hyderabad to handle a population of 30 million residents. Hope this plan would include stemming the current rot in the city's infra and developing on a better platform to make this city into a world-class city. Once we rectify previous gaps in infra development then only better infra can be planned or made. A great city with constantly improving city infrastructure is the only requirement for real estate market to improve and keeping growing.