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From New Year, onwards it could become costlier to buy property near the Yamuna expressway as commercial property rates have been raised by 20 percent whereas; the allotment rates of residential and housing properties have been hiked by more than 10 percent and institutional and industrial property rates  have been hiked by 5 percent.

On Monday, in the joint board meeting of three major development authorities of Gautam Budh Nagar, the YEIDA (Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority) passed a proposal to hike the allotment rates of land by 5 percent to 20 percent for commercial property, residential and housing properties and institutional and industrial properties and it will be come in effect from January 01, 2016.

As per the recommendations of YEIDA, the commercial property rates have been raised by 20 percent, whereas; the allotment rates for residential and housing properties have been hiked by 10 percent and institutional and industrial property rates have been hiked by 5 percent. Apart from that the Yamuna expressway region has also seen a hike by 5 percent in the allotment rats for recreation of green fields. In June 2014, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority had also hike the land rates between 10 percent to 20 percent. However; as per the statement of Arunvir Singh, CEO of YEIDA, “The increase in price is just routine affair and we are used to do it at the starting of every years, but this time we are revising the rates after 20 months”. The more he added that the hike in the allotment rates is also crucial and it is crucial to consider the increase in land costs, inflation and more.

According to Arunvir Singh, the residential plots which are falling in the YEIDA region will be dearer by almost Rs 1,420 per sq m, whereas; all the commercial plots which are falling in the YEIDA region will be charged by Rs 5,680 extra. It is sure that commercial rates will go up by Rs 28,400 to Rs 34,080, however; while recreational greens will be allotted at Rs 5,355 per sq m as in comparison of Rs 5,100 per sq m which was previous. The more he added that it is decided to use the new land rates for mixed land as per new land rates. Apart from that YEIDA has also reduced the property transfer charges in order to provide relief to property owners as earlier it was 10 percent and now it is 5 percent. These charges are levied on transfer or sale of a plot from one owner to another owner. However; till September 2014, the transfer charges were 5 percent. Meanwhile; the real estate developers are trying to come up with the brave face and they are saying that it can draw an impact on the future booking as it could be more because any kind of land price hike makes an area no longer an affordable destination. With this much rise in the land price its difficult to sell properties.

In YEIDA region, hike could be more detrimental for the real estate market, as YEIDA region is developing area, as per the statement of Getamber Anand, president of CREDAI. As per one of the real estate developer, “Yamuna expressway region will not be affordable in coming days and it will leave negative impact on the middle and the upper middle class”.

Yamuna e-way sectors

The plots along the Yamuna express way in sectors 18 and 20 had gone up for sale in 2009 but their allotment was stalled as farmers demanded higher compensation for their acquired lands. About 21,000 allottees that had purchased plots priced at Rs 4,750 per sqm, ranging from 300 sq m to 4,000 sq m will finally get possession of their land starting March 2016.

According to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the farmers of the 77 villages where the plots are located have been agitating for 64.7% enhanced compensation. In August 2014, the UP government directed YEIDA to agree to the demand on the condition that the farmers withdraw their petitions and hand over the plots to the Authority.

The Authority had already started disbursing enhanced compensation amount of Over Rs 20 crore following which possession of around 54 hectare of land in the said sectors was taken. The process   however, came to a halt when farmers again filed a plea in the Allahabad high court against the land acquisition process. Nearly Rs 6,000 crore is yet to be disbursed to farmers belonging to villages in the region between Greater Noida and Jewar.

“Redressing farmer grievances and taking possession of the plots is our foremost priority. We will do this in a time-bound manner. The formal orders from the government for disbursement of enhanced compensation are expected to come this week.” Once the process of taking possession of the plots is over, the allottees will start getting them, said Arunvir Singh, CEO of YEIDA.