Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Why Are Sales of Agricultural Lands Rising?

For a good part of the century, purchases of farmlands were stagnated because of land ceiling rules meant for prevention of land ownership concentration. Aside from this, the reason why more people stayed away was the limited reasons to buy them. Land is usually measured by the future income it offers and if the use in future does not differ dramatically from the current pattern of usage, then only if a buyer feels that the income stream available in the future at a discounted rate is more than the present, is there a transaction on farmland.

However, this belief is changing on both counts as newer buyers have a different value of assessment are getting into this market. For example, buyers are interested in properties in villages around Hyderabad, Warangal and Vijaywada. Even NRIs are entering this market assessing the future benefits of the land. A lot of them are building farm houses on the plots that they are buying and even apartment complexes. In a lot of places, investors are turning the lands that they buy into commercial use. Some of them simply let the property be, waiting for prices to increase. The appreciation of agricultural land for sale is more than 100 percent. The elevating price of farmland in India is giving farmers and cultivators interested in leaving agriculture an impetus to sell their lands. As the price of farmlands is increasing, farmers too are unable to buy lands in their own villages and this is reshaping the rural land market. This is mainly happening because farmers are looking to leave agriculture, investors want to buy land and political leaders too want to create a market of this kind for transactions.

Investors’ Belief

Mostly investors interested in agricultural land for sale can be for two factors- increase in demand for housing because of increase in personal disposable income and more numbers of people moving to the countryside for larger accommodations. Because of the increased prices of land in cities, government agencies have had to define a floor space index or FSI which determines how much a property can be developed. Many buyers are dissatisfied with the higher price and underdeveloped spaces which is why they want to move to the outskirts.

For example, in cities like Mumbai, it can take almost 2 to 3 decades to pay off the amount needed to buy an apartment. For better lifestyle, more numbers of people are moving to the outskirts. Availability of larger land parcels for proper construction and cheaper costs of property are pushing more numbers of people to buy agriculture lands on sale. As a matter of fact, investments in farmland have overtaken some investment in city properties too. The amount that needs to be invested is lesser and also there are no pre-existing structures to deal with. Buyers can simply get the land and keep it fallow. The price of the rural lands increases exponentially and with little investment, the returns is extremely high.

Most people who buy agricultural lands already own property in the city and are looking to invest the surplus money left with them. More numbers of people are buying land in the hinterland, thinking prices would increase once the city expands. Also, businessmen based in small town who feel that they cannot own property in larger cities are buying up lands in their hometowns.

A Way out of Agriculture

More numbers of farmers are willing to sell their properties, which is making purchase of agriculture lands for sale easier. Agriculture has ceased to be the most important way of earning. Only 33 percent of the rural economy depends on agriculture, according to an NSSO report. A lot of farmers have turned into wage labourers because farming offers uncertain returns while the returns from working as a wage labourer is better. The returns from an acre of land that produces paddy is only about Rs 20,000 net costs and that also depends a lot on the vagaries of weather. Almost 40 percent of the farmers surveyed by NSSO in 2002 claimed that they wanted to quit agriculture and that number has grown over the years.

Political Rent Derivable from Agricultural lands


In the past 10 years, politicians have created a third flan in the market of matching land buyers and sellers. They are using the land boom for funding their campaigns, as cost of contesting in the elections has increased. Apart from investing their private wealth in properties, a lot of them are acting as contacts between realty companies and the state. A lot of moves have been brought by state governments for doing this. For example, the land ceiling laws have been relaxed in Haryana for non-agricultural people. Many others have also relaxed laws about acquiring Dalit and tribal lands. Urban centres are also being expanded with the inclusion of lands close by. For example, Gurgaon has grown in size with the addition of almost 30,000 acres.

Possible Implications of Such Land Acquisition Spree


Aside from the reduction in availability of land under agriculture, the boom in agriculture land for sale is definitely leading to paradigm shifts. For instance, the way farmers value their lands is changing. This trend of buying agricultural land for extremely high prices shall be here to stay. The money supply in India is certainly looking towards and expansion. However, a lot of economists believe that this trend of buying land is becoming a bubble. In many cities, price correction has begun in a number of areas. A lot of buyers are investors who could pull out their money whenever they feel that they are not getting their money’s worth from the investments that they have made.

If you are looking to buy agriculture land for sale, you can look up online. Simply enter the area in which you want to buy property and you would be shown the options available to you. You can also contact the seller of such properties by using the information given on the website.

Monday, 6 October 2014

What is the Property Market in Dehradun Like?

Most experts believed that prices of real estate would increase once the general elections are concluded in the middle of 2014. They believe that a lot of the corpus set aside for the elections would end up in this sector. Moreover, buyers were mostly waiting for the election period to get over because they can be certain about the policies that are being adopted by the upcoming government along with those that may be scrapped. It has been around 3 months since the elections have been concluded and a new central government has ascended into Lok Sabha, yet the hesitation among buyers of the real estate market has not been conquered.

The past trends of general elections have expressed that the realty sector witnesses a rise in prices post elections. This is mainly because expenses and money meant to be used in the elections end up as investments in the realty markets. A lot of politicians prefer investing in real estate because they need not reveal their identity in it. There is a lot of money that is pumped into the system during general elections which is used for canvassing along with other arrangements. The money is later on channelled into real estate that leads to an increase in property and land prices.

As a matter of fact, the state of Uttarakhand has already started witnessing such increases. The state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh back in 2000. It was named as Uttaranchal but was later renamed as Uttarakhand. The real estate and property market has gone up only recently and the prices of land have shot up for property in Dehradun, Nainital and Haldwani. Many builders have already started up many mega projects in this area. There have been many criminal offences for property in Dehradun and other areas in Uttarakhand since the past year. Because of the want for buying property, turf wars have also broken out in the city.

Most builders opine that the spurt in growth of real estate has been because of the money being pumped into this sector after the elections. Moreover, NRI interest in the area is also quite high as recorded by an index. The index suggests that property in Dehradun is fifth most coveted for in the country, after metropolitan areas of Mumbai and Chennai. The city is looked upon as perfect for retirement because of its picturesque views and proximity to the religious town of Hardwar. However, recently a number of industries have come up in the state for which a lot of people are relocating here. They are looking for properties to buy in this area. With the rupee remaining devalued compared to dollars, most NRIs in areas such as Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the US are thinking of buying properties here. The infrastructure in and around Dehradun is also being bettered which would make life smoother here. Moreover, the presence of good boarding schools has also attracted a lot of people for buying properties here. Properties in areas such as Sahasradhara Road are much in demand.

The speciality of property in Dehradun is that most of them are bungalows and villas. The villas are built over 2-3 cottahs and they have 4 to 5 bedrooms built in them. The starting price of such villas is around Rs 70 to Rs 80 lakhs. The concept of apartments is yet to catch up with the populace of the city because the demand for property is not that high. The number of people flocking to the city for jobs is still lesser than that in Delhi or Mumbai and hence residents of the city can afford to buy good houses to live in. There are hardly any apartment complexes in the city and most people prefer living in the bungalows, villas and independent houses. Also, most of the buyers in Dehradun are end-users who would prefer to buy properties for use of their families rather than selling off when the prices increase. Since end-users would be buying the properties, they want spacious accommodations where they can have a garden, a backyard, space enough for children to play in and a sizeable car park. For such a lifestyle, it would be best to own a bungalow over an apartment, where the space is very compact and congested.

If you are not a native of Dehradun, then buying property in the city would become difficult for you. You should definitely look up property selling websites to find the best alternatives for yourself. There are quite a few good websites that list properties available in Dehradun with their pricing, amenities, location and size of plots. The contact information of the builder along with the floor plan of the bungalow is provided. Once you go through the specifications, you can get in touch with the seller or builder directly.

Prior to contacting a builder, you should think up your budget and list of amenities that you want in the apartment. Corresponding to that list, you should contact for more information. Make sure you go through the news pieces, discussions and online forums where properties are discussed. You should watch out for the property discussions that are centred on specific markets. You can also contact the website directly for assistance on the property that you are interested to buy in Dehradun.

Throughout the country, property prices are quite high but stagnant because buyers are expecting them to fall any day. In fact, price correction has already started in cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai although they are stagnant in other cities. However, the rental rate’s appreciation is quite dynamic and rate of rent for rental properties is increasing every day. This is because more numbers of people are migrating to large cities for a limited span of time. They need to live in a safe accommodation but cannot afford to or do not need to buy it. Even areas along the periphery are fetching good rates for rent because of high demand. As long as the property has proper infrastructure in place, the demand for such properties shall be there always.