Nirmalya Dutta, who has been hunting for an apartment for some time, was all set to go house hunting around southern Bengaluru's Electronic City. However, the broker asked him to pay a refundable deposit of about Rs 2000 to schedule a visit to the apartment in Ajmera Infinity. “The amount will be refunded after the property visit is done,” the broker told him.
In another case, Shreya Ghosh said that she, too, was asked for a deposit while trying to check out an apartment at a Sobha Group project in JP Nagar, in south Bengaluru.
Several brokers in the city have begun charging such deposits to show potential tenants properties. Others have begun charging for services that were previously free.
The rationale
Brokers say that the refundable deposit is to ensure that only serious tenants show up to visit apartments.
With a mismatch in demand and supply of new inventory, rentals in Bengaluru have gone through the roof. Adding to the woes, there has been an influx of employees after major companies ended work from home, leading to demand quadrupling in the city.
"Probably due to the crazy demand, it is a way of time management for realtors, so that they only entertain serious tenants looking for apartments. However, we do not charge anything for brokerage tours,” said Sunil Singh from Realty Corps.
Apartment visits by prospective tenants were always free in Bengaluru. But Singh said several brokers have now started charging a non-refundable Rs 500 to show five listings.
Owners, too, have started charging money for visits, says Shweta Suresh, who faced such an experience. “I had approached the landlord through an online property listing platform,” she added.
Tenants forced to move far from offices
Currently, techies and other employees in the city are clustered around three major IT hubs --- Whitefield in the east, Hebbal in the north, and Electronics City in the south.
With demand surging for apartments close to the IT corridors, inventories have already been exhausted in these sought-after locations.
A 2 BHK in a standalone building, earlier priced at a monthly rental of Rs 25,000, is now going for Rs 35,000-38,000 in Whitefield. For apartments in gated societies, local brokers say inventories are not available for less than Rs 50,000.
The going rate for 3 BHKs has crossed Rs 80,000 in prime areas such as Sarjapura in the south-west, Indiranagar and the startup hub of HSR Layout.
“Several tenants who work towards the IT corridor in Whitefield are being forced to shift towards the south to JP Nagar. For people working towards Electronics City and companies located across Indiranagar, BTM layout has become the preferred location,” Kiran Kumar, Vice President of Hanu Reddy Realty, added.
JP Nagar is about 20 km away from Whitefield, but the recently launched purple metro line connects it seamlessly to a large extent while avoiding major traffic bottlenecks at junctions like Silk Board.
Considering the incomplete junction on the purple line between Baiyappanahalli and KR Puram, for which the trial run is anticipated next month, a metro ride will take roughly an hour. However, the travel time on the road for the same distance will be about 2-3 hours at least.
Areas such as BTM Layout are also witnessing a similar influx of employees from the southern IT corridor, which is about 12 km away.
This has also started pushing up apartment rentals in the south. The rent for 2BHK apartments in JP Nagar and Jayanagar has increased to Rs 40,000 from Rs 30,000 previously.
Brokers say that in the coming months, demand will slowly spill over to the suburbs around IT corridors.
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