kolkata areas like joka barasat have seen 3040 rise in real estate activity over the last two years after developing rajarhat new town a neighbourhood of kolkata builders such as godrej properties salarpuria group merlin group and hiland group are focusing on the citys outskirts joka barasat madhyamgram kona expressway and jessore road for residential projects these upcoming areas have seen a 3040 increase in real estate activity over the past two years according to industry body credai bengal affordability and availability of land are the key factors that are driving growth in these areas the affordable segment is becoming the focal point for developers there is consid erable demand for such projects and every private developer in the city is working on a blueprint to build projects on the outskirts said sushil mohta president credai bengal according to a recent cushman wakefield report 49 of the total residential units last fiscal were in southperipheral submarket such as sonarpur rajpur baruipur as the region has seen stable demand in the affordable and midsegments mohtas merlin group has acquired land parcels on bt road garia baruipur joka and various areas in rajarhat to develop around 10 million sq ft in the next two years mumbaibased godrej properties too is developing a 3million sq ft residential project in joka kolkata connectivity makes the project lucrative according to godrej the lo cation offers excellent connectivity to all key areas in kolkata including alipore park street salt lake and tollygunge the project will also benefit from the rapidly developing social infrastructure and proposed developments like the joka metro station will provide a major impetus to the area said pirojsha godrej md ceo godrej properties growth in demand however has been invisible in these areas according to sanjay jhunjhunwala ceo mani group supply has been more than demand as every developer is bringing up more than one project in the periphery as the percentage of turnover in these lowcost housing segments might be between only 10 and 12 but it assures positive cash flow because unlike city projects these arent expensive and endusers end up buying these he said mani is developing a 50acre township in durgapur iq city that will have 2900 residential units priced between rs 25 lakh