Impact of Metro on Rents

[dhruv]

Here is a snippet from the book "Undercover Economist".
When the plan was proposed to make the metro facilities more comfortable (ie everybody could get a seat, adding more routes etc) in London the landlords in the center of the city weren't very enthusiastic about the proposal.
The reason was that as the metro travel will become more passenger friendly, many people who are working as well as renting places in center of the city to avoid the daily discomfort of metro, will then prefer to rent a house in suburbs which is a lot cheaper and commute daily to the workplace using metro, thus reducing the demand for houses in central London and thereby reducing the rents (and property values also).

Now coming to Bangalore, do you remember the folks who protested against Metro project using "Appeal to Nature" argument citing the removal of the sitting places with few plants on MG Road etc etc. Could it be even remotely possible that the landlords in central Bangalore orchestrate those protests? And after the metro is completed, will the rents (may be property values also) in central Bangalore go down? Did the real estate people already consider the impact of metro on rents, before pricing the properties?

[rcharan]

"And after the metro is completed, will the rents (may be property values also) in central Bangalore go down?"
As far as I know, in Delhi, property prices shot up like anything in the areas where Metro touches upon. Initially there was huge hue and cry over the possibility of prices going down, since there would be lot of noise pollution, but I reckon it died down later on. Moreover, Delhi has lot of malls/markets developed either at the station or in near vicinity of station, which added to the increase in price.

[RGV]

We are way overpopulated (as compared to London) for prices to come down