Telangana Records Its Costliest Land Sale

An e-auction of land parcels in Kokapet, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, created a new record for Telangana, with an acre being sold for Rs 100.8 crore.

Happi Heights Neopolis and Rajapushpa Properties Pvt. made the highest bid for 3.6 acres of Neopolis Layout in an online auction. Rajapushpa will shell out Rs 362 crore for the property.

Seven land parcels covering 45.33 acres were put up for sale. The average price yielded was Rs 73.2 crore per acre, and the lowest was Rs 67.3 crore. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority raised nearly Rs 3,320 crore from the auction against its own estimate of raking in about Rs 2,000 crore.

In July 2021, in Phase I of the Neopolis auction, when 49 acres were sold by the government, the highest bid did not cross Rs 60 crore, and the average was around Rs 40 crore.

Arvind Kumar, special chief secretary for urban infrastructure and development in Telangana, attributed the higher rates to multiple factors.

It is a greenfield project with state-of-the-art infrastructure. "36- and 45-metre roads are unheard of, actually," he said. Then, there is a dedicated 240 KV substation, seamless connectivity to the Outer Ring Road trumpet junction, clear title, and a strategic location—it is adjacent to the ORR and just 30 minutes from Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

"The land parcels are meant for high-rise buildings with an unlimited floor space index," Kumar said.

Some critics have said the steep rise in land prices can threaten Hyderabad's attractiveness as an affordable real estate market as there is always competition with cities like Bengaluru.

Kumar does not agree. He said, "It is a price discovery by the market." With the residential sector already bullish, the prices fit into the prevailing rates, with an average of Rs 73 crore per acre, he said.

Buoyed by the success of the Neopolis Layout sale, the government has announced another greenfield workstation or city at Budwel, where registrations are now open for 14 plots totaling 100 acres. The auction will happen on Aug. 10. There are three plots of less than five acres, nine between five and eight acres, and two of more than 10 acres.