Chennai

Chennai, is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu in South India and is the country's fourth largest metropolitan city. This city is the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world.

In the year 2005, the city was rated as the most attractive Indian city for offshoring services according to A T Kearney's Indian City Services Attractiveness Index .This has made it one of the lucrative destinations for companies to set up more companies.

Among other accolades, the city was also declared as having the highest quality of life among Indian cities. The city's global ranking also improved from 179 in 2002-2003 to 138 in 2006-07. In terms of livability, the city is ranked 26th in the Asian continent. All the above factors make Chennai , a hot spot for living. This also poses a lucrative opportunity for global realty investors to set projects in an around the city.

Residential Real Estate
The demand for residential accommodations has been on the rise in the last few years, this can be attributed to the rise in working population, immigrants from other states who work in various industries set up in the city. A rise in demand has also led to the rise in residential properties in different parts of the city.

A number of international investors including Government Investment Corporation of Singapore have invested in the Chennai residential real estate market . Indian real estate venture capital funds including HDFC, ICICI etc are also entering into tie ups with leading realty developers for starting different residential projects in the city. This segment will continue to see a rise both in leasing and sale.

Industrial Real Estate
Being the third largest industrial centre in the country, the city is host to automobile industry base and is also known as the automobile capital of India. A major percentage of automobiles produced in the country are manufactured in the city. It is the base for nearly 50% of India's total auto components industry and 40% of the vehicle industry.

Chennai has also emerged as an outsourcing centre for large MNCs and international firms in the service sector. The concentration of outsourcing firms has lead to a high demand in the commercial and industrial real estate. The city is also host to software service providers, hardware manufacturing and financial services and industries including petrochemicals, textiles and apparels.

The growth of the software and software services industry since the mid 1990s has attracted large MNCs like Accenture, IBM, Sun microsystems and others to set up offices. It is now known for being the second larger exporter of IT enables services.

The government's initiative of setting up The IT Corridor, on old Mahabalipuram road is host to several technology parks. This will further hike the property prices in and around the city. An SEZ is being set up on the outskirts of the city and will have one of the world's largest information technology parks.

With the city being labeled as the electronic manufacturing hub more and more MNCs are setting up their manufacturing and R & D facilities in the city. Chennai is also a textile hub of the country with numerous apparel manufacturers located in the Ambattur-Padi industrial zone. With the ongoing construction of SEZ dedicated to apparel and footwear manufacturing, the prices of real estate are expected to shoot further.

Real Estate Developments
The residential properties will continue to witness rising prices as more and more people houses and apartments. As the number of companies across industries increase, the rising working population will demand more properties.

The capital and rental values in south east and south west parts of the city are expected to rise in future also as more software professionals working in the IT industry seek properties in the city. The demand for luxury apartments and penthouses is also on the rise. The demand for service-apartments is also on the rise with the growing top management population.

The industrial property is also on a high and is expected to rise further with setting up of IT parks, SEZ, setting up of new companies etc. All this has resulted in continuous investments by global companies and investors in the real estate sector.