Bengaluru: Where to look for houses within Rs 40 L Publication: The Times of India, Bengaluru, 23/12/14 Affordable housing has become the need of the hour in Bengaluru with a majority of midsegment working class individuals looking to live in their own house rather than on rent. If you have a budget of up to Rs 40 lakh and looking to fulfill your dream of owning a home in Bengaluru, then the city offers you areas with affordable residential properties. Demand for affordable housing can be attributed to the large migrant population from mid and lower income levels consisting of nuclear families. “Sometime back developers faced challenges such as lack of availability of land, construction costs and constraints associated with housing supply for low income groups. But now with the development of the outskirts in terms of connectivity, social infrastructure and proximity to IT spaces, affordable housing has become a reality,” informs Vasu Devareddy, consultant, ABS Properties. At present, Sarjapur Road, Hosur Road, Mysore Road and Hoskote are areas with fresh stock of affordable residential housing. As per Magicbricks data, Sarjapur Road alone has over a number of new projects followed by Hosur Road, Mysore Road and Hoskote also coming up with new projects in different phases of construction. Prices for projects in Sarjapur Road range between Rs 3,000-4,000 per sq ft. Hosur Road offers housing options priced at Rs 1,500-2,000 per sq ft, Mysore Road at over Rs 2,000 per sq ft and in Hoskote the prices are within Rs 2,000-3,000 per sq ft. Buyers in these areas are the working population employed by the nearby IT companies. The middle level employees on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) prefer buying and renting in Sarjapur Road, owing to availability of homes at relatively lower cost as compared to Whitefield and Electronics City. In addition, proximity to industrial, manufacturing, engineering and IT companies on Hosur Road, Hoskote and Mysore Road draws attention of various junior to mid level IT professionals, employed in small medium scale industries and government officials. Witnessing the current development of affordable housing options in different parts of Bengaluru, the city holds potential for further development of affordable housing projects. So, if you too, want to become a home owner in Bengaluru within Rs 40 lakh, you can consider these options. Page | 1