Various state governments have been trying to promote skyscrapers.

- Prashant Thakur

Senior Director & Head - Research,  ANAROCK Group

How do you look at the demand trend for high-rise buildings in residential and commercial segments?

Amidst the growing need of cities to go vertical, the share of high-rises (G+20 floors or more) has scaled newer heights over the last few years. Vertical cities have the potential to decongest urban sprawl and the top 7 Indian cities are doing just that as most of them have nearly exhausted their capacity to grow horizontally. While MMR and NCR bucked this trend long ago, it is cities like Pune and Bangalore that are worth a mention and seen to be picking momentum.

What are the key demand drivers of high-rise buildings?

Lack of space in densely populated cities is one of the major demand drivers. For instance, a city like Mumbai which is land starved is very densely populated since people from all over the country come in for work opportunities. Hence, there has always been a growing need for the city to go vertical. Other cities also followed suit. However, there is some change in trend due to the pandemic. For instance, we saw independent floors gain traction with buyers in markets like Faridabad and Gurgaon. These are usually G+ 3/4 floors.

How was the performance of high-rise buildings market in 2021?

As per ANAROCK Research, of the total 1,130 projects launched in 2021 across the top 7 cities, nearly 275 projects were high-rises (G+20 floors). In terms of the units, of total 2.30 lakh units launched in 2021, nearly, 93,400 units were part of high-rise buildings.

How do you look at policy support from the government in the construction of skyscrapers?

Various state governments have been trying to promote skyscrapers. For instance, last year in 2021, we saw Gujarat government promote skyscrapers as tall as those in Dubai and Singapore. In this regard, the state government approved the 'tall building policy' which will allow construction of buildings with 70 floors or more. As per the old laws, only buildings up to 23 floors or within 70 m height were permitted. As for the height of the building, the new permissible height is 100 m or more. The cities where tall buildings can be built include Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, and Gandhinagar.

What is your outlook on high-rise buildings sector in the coming years?

It remains to be seen how the demand for high-rise continues in the coming years because the pandemic in many sense has altered homebuyer preferences immensely. For instance, as stated earlier, we are seeing consumer demand for independent floors growing in cities like Gurgaon and Faridabad. Likewise, we are also seeing demand for plotted developments on the rise, particularly in the southern cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. Mumbai, on the other hand, may continue to see growing demand for high rises amid paucity of land.

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