Usually, the metropolitan cities are known to be the most popular residential hubs and attract the
largest number of developers and homebuyers. This is primarily a result of the advanced
infrastructure, connectivity and commercial prospects that these cities offer. However, this trend is
now changing. The real estate sector in major non-metro cities like Lucknow, Ahmedabad,
Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, etc. is steadily growing in recent years. In fact, about 20% property
buyers now prefer properties in these cities.
This shift is mainly an outcome of the large-scale congestion in metropolitan cities reducing the
availability of land for housing development. These regions offer good infrastructure and other
amenities which has lead to population saturation due to a large influx of migrants. This naturally
gives rise to problems like congestion of streets and high property rates due to rising demand. The
non-metro cities, on the other hand are far less populated, offering a cleaner and more comfortable
living environment. Moreover, lately the industrial and commercial sectors have been growing in
these cities as well. This not only promotes the growth of the commercial sector, but also creates
ample employment opportunities. Here, an advantage of the non-metro cities over the metropolitan
cities is that competition is lower. As these cities are less populated, the demand for jobs is lower
and there are lesser competitors in the business and industrial sector.
The main reason why people used to choose metro cities over the non-metro ones is that they
offered a number of amenities which were rare in the non-metro cities. However, with the
development spreading, these cities are catching up & are now defined by facilities at par with their
cosmopolitan counterparts. For example, the IT industry and the corporate sector have been
growing in Bhubaneswar. Connectivity and social infrastructure in these cities are also undergoing
rapid improvement, narrowing the gap with the metropolitan cities. However, the property rates are
lower due to more availability of land. Many who had moved to the metro cities are now moving
back to non-metros as they get to enjoy a similar lifestyle at a lower cost. It is expected that
properties in non-metro cities would become great investment assets in the future. The best time to
buy properties in these locations is now, while prices are low.
