Source: Business Line  
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR)
 
Mangalore Jan 14:  South India has beaten its northern counter-part in the country, in the fast growing real estate segment. Among the emerging new growth centres, Mangalore city in Karnataka and its neighbouring city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala have been named among the top two tier-III cities by global realty consultant 
 
The two coastal towns are followed by Nashik in Maharashtra at the third position, while Rishikesh-Haridwar in Uttarakhand and Raipur in Chhattisgarh being named at the bottom of the list of top ten tier-III cities in terms of real estate development.  
  
The city in particular and Thiruvananthapuram have both scored high on all five parameters namely real estate, people, business environment, physical and social infrastructure, informs Knight Frank, the UK-headquartered realty consultant in its study report on ‘Emerging Growth Centres in India’.  
  
In their report they have noted that the presence of the expanding IT/ITeS sector, conducive business environment coupled with good physical and social infrastructure have provided these cities the much needed edge.  
  
Further the study by Knight Frank informs that its study revealed that while the southern cities of Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram have some degree of IT penetration owing to the spill-over of demand for IT/ITeS space emanating from neighbouring established markets, other cities did not have much organized office development.  
  
According to the study Thiruvananthapuram had a potential of 150,000 IT professionals working in the four phases of Technopark, and due to this the impact on the economy of the city and its suburbs will be substantial. Besides, the influx of high-income IT professionals in that city has also resulted in demand for high-end apartments, retail chains, star category hotels and multiplexes.  
  
Coming to Mangalore city Knight Frank informs that it also offers great competitive edge to the investors through low cost of real estate and manpower. “Rapidly improving infrastructure, widening of national highways and the growth in the IT/ITeS sector are factors contributing to the boom of real estate in and around Mangalore.” it informs.
  
In the said study of 10 cities in the country, the residential sector emerged as the most active real estate segment.