Owners of properties in flood-prone areas of Bengaluru stuck

B.S. Nesara, chairman, Concorde, said that many factors are considered while making a decision on buying property, including the location or the micro market, proximity to schools, workplace, social infrastructure, availability of potable water, and public mobility options like the metro. 

For Neelufur Ahmed, who invested a huge amount in building her house in Sai Layout in Bengaluru, it’s a choice between a rock and a hard place. Though she has this fear that her house will get flooded every time it rains, she has no option but to keep on living there.

“Those who are willing to buy our property are willing to pay only the land cost. We’ve invested nearly a ₹1 crore on the house,” she said.

This is the dilemma of many property owners affected by repeated instances of flooding. They can neither abandon their property that they’ve spent their life’s savings on, nor can they find someone willing to buy it and take on the same fate. 

Ms. Ahmed added that the ₹10,000 compensation offered by the government of Karnataka after the floods is simply not enough to cover the cost of their losses.

A resident of Kendriya Vihar Apartments, which had to stay elsewhere for over a week owing to flooding, hoped that this was a temporary phenomenon and the government would find a permanent solution to the problem.

But real estate consultants and developers say that the recent flooding is not going to dent the property boom in Bengaluru, barring in those areas that have borne the brunt of flooding repeatedly. 

Suneel Krishna from Samruddhi Properties said, “The demand for some areas, which were flooded, might come down because people will hesitate, but prices will not come down. Real estate in north Bangalore is booming.”