Chennai, May 4 (IANS): Real estate broking company Coldwell Banker India is planning to appoint 30 franchisees by the end of 2015 and take this to 100 by 2018, a senior company official said on Monday.

According to Mona Jalota, vice president for operations and strategy, Coldwell Banker India sees good potential in the Chennai residential market and would have its franchisees in place by September.

"The Indian operations were launched around six months back. We have nine franchisees till now and one master franchisee in Bangalore," Jalota told IANS.

Coldwell Banker India is the Indian master franchisee of the US headquartered Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

According to Jalota, all the major international property consultants (IPC) are focussing majorly on commercial realty sector in Chennai and there are not many focussed on the residential segment.

"We hope to change that equation and promote the residential opportunities that the real estate market in Chennai has to offer to local residents and investors, as well as national and NRI (Non-Resident Indian) investors," Jalota said.

She said real estate prices in Chennai have remained largely stable with marginal increase of 2-5 percent.

Jalota said Chennai's residential market will exhibit steady growth in 2015. Rents and capital values are forecast to remain stable during the year, citing local property consultants.

She said the end users constituting 75-80 per cent of buyers primarily drive Chennai's residential market. This provides a strong foundation for a long-term investment in the city's residential market as it reduces market volatility.

"In the fourth quarter of 2014, Chennai witnessed the launch of 4,984 units compared to 4,175 in the previous quarter. The active vacancy in the market decreased to 56,900 units in Q4 from 57,111 in Q3," Jalota said.