How Safety Plays A Key Role In Keeping Pune's Real Estate Popular

When talking about the city of their residence, most people who live in Pune would have all nice things to say. Many of them would mention how safe the city is when compared to other major cities in India. At the end of the day, the whole idea of having a house is having security, is it not? The safety that Pune provides is among the reasons why property market in Maharashtra's cultural capital is popular not only among Indians but also among non-resident Indians (NRIs) and foreign investors.

However, it is also true that prosperous areas attract criminals, too. According to state police data, from 6.82 per cent in 2012 to 50.70 per cent in 2013, the percentage of robbery cases in overall crimes in the nine major cities of Maharashtra saw a drastic increase. From 9.65 to 18.5, the percentage of burglary, too, went up. Data also show that with 14.82 per cent, Pune followed Mumbai (39.22 per cent) as the second-largest contributor to the total crime cases registered in the state. (The rate of crime is incidences per lakh of the population.) One must take note that these are the number of cases that were registered; the actual figures could be much higher.

Further, in three years, these numbers have gone up remarkably.

This is why developers and residents in Pune hailed the state police announcement last week in which it mandated housing societies in the state to have CCTV (closed circuit) surveillance systems in place and covered parking and basement areas with adequate lighting. Maharashtra Director-General of Police Praveen Dixit, who is famous for promoting the use of technology in making the system perform more efficiently, told media putting in place these measures would cut down criminal activities to a large extent.

The announcements did see a small number of developers protesting citing the huge impact it would have on their budgets.  These equipment cost heavily and maintaining them is pricey, too. However, most developers have welcomed the move. Why?

Building quality construction and by that building a reputation is crucial for real estate developer at a time when home buyers are far more informed. This is especially true of Pune, where most home buyers belong to the high-end segments. In a city like Pune, where there is cut-throat competition in the sector with thousands of players vying for buyers' attention, developers have to improve their work quality to increase sales. Building safe homes is surely a key concern for those looking to sell better.