The 5 best real estate options!

The real estate scenario is looking quite upbeat. Real estate consultants are forecasting rising rates and home owners are definitely a pleased bunch, especially since the Budget ensured that interest on home loans still remains one of the best ways to save taxes.

Real estate consultants say Finance Minister P Chidambaram's decision to levy a 10 per cent service tax on construction would lift prices of residential housing by 4-5 per cent.

The stratospheric rise in real estate prices over the last year may compare closely with the stock market indices which are at their all-time highs. The analogy seems perfect given the difficulty involved in picking out stocks that could still yield good returns at these rarefied levels.

Real estate consultants have apprehensions of an escalation of prices, but unlike stock market players they say there are still some multi-bagger locations that may yield bumper returns to investors.

Then, of course, there are the momentum plays whose value has appreciated a great deal in the last few years. Here are a few samples -- suburban Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Gurgaon and Hyderabad.

However, barring one or two locations, the chances of deriving a great deal of appreciation from properties in these areas are not very good.

We asked real estate consultants to choose five best options in real estate to put your money in and suggest the best investment options for the following budgets -- Rs 10 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 50 lakh. Here are their picks:

1. Oh Kolkata!

Surprise surprise, this is the number one choice of location where consultants feel one may derive maximum appreciation. The primary reason for this, they say, is that the demand is led by actual home seekers unlike other locations where the demand is built up by investors who buy properties and sell them at higher rates, which only jack up prices unreasonably. The ensuing bubble is not sustainable at all, they say.

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