Colombo property values are messed up. People knee-jerk complain about the government taking over land but, honestly, they should take over more land and re-privatize it so that the landscape can begin to rationalize itself. Just look around. Property in the city center is under-developed, under-priced, and people can neither invest in it or sell. Something’s gotta give.
Let us presume you’ve never been to Colombo and look at the map above. Where would the city center be? Why around the port of course, Colombo 1, 11, 12, 13, and that lovely point where the river meets the sea, Colombo 15. Then Colombo 2, 3 and 4. For reference, let’s look at a map of San Francisco, where you can see that land near the port predictably has higher value.
Colombo Port Side
In Colombo, however, it’s nearly the opposite. Colombo 1 has a few office buildings, and empty Cargills and street after street of abandoned or basically abandoned shops. This is because Colombo was a terrorist warzone and everybody fled, but it still looks weird. Colombo 2 is Pettah, an interesting place, but where the main traffic seems to be in dried fish, red onions and people carrying the stuff on their backs. You can find anything in Pettah, but you also can’t find anything. Gentrified would not be the word. Colombo 13 and 15 are basically slum, at best low income. The roads narrow and almost cease functioning and Mattakuliya is a dead end. If you say Mattakuliya people laugh, it’s almost synonymous with the boonies, despite have at least one beach as good as Mount, tons of river front land and being technically close to the technical city center.
I won’t go into it too much, but there are very few property listings for these areas, and they’re often on the order of two or three perches, or about 750-1000 square feet. These sell for about Rs. 4 to 7 million, or less than $75,000. It is too high for low income people, too small for developers, and basically doesn’t sell. Two perch houses are incredibly inefficient for a city center, but unless everyone sells, there isn’t enough space to build.
Colombo Suburbs
Colombo 2, 3 and on are essentially suburbs, or they were in colonial days. Now Colombo 7 is essentially the center of middle class town, though in the past it was literally its name, Cinnamon Gardens. Even in Colombo 2, Colpetty, however, as you get nearer the city center it gets more rather than less slummy. Quite strange.
In fact, the highest value areas (in terms of housing) are way further out, Battaramulla, Nugegoda, and especially Nawala. Of the high income people I know or know off, no one lives in the city, with the exception of Galle Face Court.
UDA Plan for 2010. Red is concentrated development and dark blue is commercial. Yellow to brown is residential.
Pink and purple are sea front and port while white and lighter blue are planned projects. Via an article I did in The Sunday Leader
Rationalization
In time this has to change, and will change, but the current impasse is where you have a lot of small holdings in the center that can’t be developed, and the spectre of government take over looming and making investment unstable. Now, the reaction of so-called progressives these days (to everything) seems to be government bad, keep stuff the same. Which isn’t a solution. Personally, I think the government should step in and just buy out stuff now, and do it quickly, so that sane property rights and can come back.
Right now you can get property on the Beira Lake (non stinky side) for like Rs. 5 million, which would theoretically be worth much more in 10 years. Unless the government nationalizes it in five and buys it for much less. Personally, I think they should just take over and re-privatize stuff now, and/or allow these lands to be sold at market rate, enabling people to cash out quite handsomely, and developers to make out as well.
Where we are now, however, property rights in Colombo are rather dubious, and buying land is a bit of a gamble.
‘Colombo 13 and 15 are basically slum’
Err…have you ever been in Colombo 13? Not drive past it, but explored the place? Go to Mayfield Road, the areas around St Lucias Cathedral, New Chetty Street, College Street and see if that fits your idea of a slum. I am not saying it’s comparable to Colombo 7 but calling it a slum is absolute ignorance.
That true, there are great areas around the church. I have walked around though, and check out the UDA map. Those grey areas are illegal settlements, which Colombo 13 is full of. Slum is a strong word, but it is mostly stacked houses, concrete and mortar
Most of Colombo is a slum when you compare it to many other cities in the world. There has been no planning whatsoever and it has been (until recently) a remarkably dirty place filled with ugly buildings and shacks and narrow roads (the latter bits are still true). Add the heat, humidity, dust, crowds, lack of trees/vegetation and you have a veritable hell hole. Even the much vaunted Colombo 7 would be classed as a shit house suburb in countries like the US/Australia/NZ. Only Sri Lankans would glorify it.
I agree with the above article in that there has to be some rationalization. There needs to be some modicum of planning. There needs to be a movement for change and development. I’m not keeping my hopes too high, but hopefully now that the war is over, things can move in the right direction.
Redevelopment is necessary and land can certainly be better utilised.
However, for anything to happen, there needs to be investor interest. Having better things to offer will generate interest and thus the incentive to clean up, but new concerns have arisen over property rights and the rule of law.
Reneging on the oil hedge contracts, the expropriation act, the announcement of further land acquisition in the budget are all sending the wrong signals to investors. This is in addition to previous concerns on the same issue with houses being taken over by ministers and their associates, so in the eyes of investors things are getting worse with regard to the rule of law.
Colombo 7 is not a shit house suburb.
Maybe not in Sri Lanka – but in comparison to suburbs in many other countries, it most certainly is.
You have so missed the point – Colombo is by far the nicest city in South Asia to live in. Sure there needs to be gentrification of some areas and plot sizes that vary from 550 sq ft to deal with but this is the role of government.
There is an edginess to Colombo that I personally love. Also people smile – alot. The weather is pretty tolerable most of the year and there is no lingering pollution. I moved to Colombo from Zurich – often voted in the top 10 places to live – and would say Colombo is a much better place to live than Zurich. Sure it misses a number of the features of a big city but these will be there in time. Colombo is definitely a lifestyle destination.
It all depends what we the people want. For me personally – just clean and safe streets and development that we can handle. A city may be made up of infrastructure but it is the people that give it colour.
On the issue of land valuation within Colombo (the original title) – these are pretty much nuts when you look at the yield one derives from rent. It is often less than 4%( for both residential and commercial). Why bother when you can get 9-10% on a bank deposit? Something has to give – either rent has to go way up and there will be excess property development or land prices should come down and there will be excessive property development…incidentally there are plenty of large format pieces in and around Colombo for development and available for sale. The only issue is price.
I just drove/walked around Kotahena. It is quite nice
Same goes for Col 15; Mutwal and Mattakkuliya are neither slums nor low income. If you get off Aluthmawaththa Road, it’s a highly residential area with a lot of wealthy business/trader families living there. There are some slums, of course, but there are slums 200m from Temple Trees too.
The reason property values have gone down in north Colombo is primarily the closing down of the Fort for through traffic during the war. It made getting to offices in western Colombo really a pain, so unless you worked in the port, the FTZ, or airport area, you wouldn’t want to live in north Colombo. It made far more sense to live south of the city centre.
Which is one reason the southern suburbs have spiked in value. The other is that there is no land to be bought in Colombo city that doesn’t have buildings already on it, driving the property price up but not always adding to the value. If you look at property in the Colpetty, you’ll find houses that are utter dumps but being offered at crazy high prices ‘cos the land is valuable. Go into Cinnamon Gardens and no one sells at all, unless it’s for huge prices; they’re basically sitting on large plots of ancestral land which they won’t sell piecemeal either. So if you’re a young couple or family, you either buy an apartment in the suburbs if you’re from Colombo, or if you’re not, head out beyond the suburbs where you can buy land and build on it, and have a garden for the kids to play in.
The slums in central Colombo, etc are not at all strange. It was very similar in the UK, Europe, and the US until about three decades ago. As cities got more populated and commercialized, the wealthier inhabitants moved out to the suburbs where you could have more room for your family, a garden, etc. You had a car, and you could drive into the city. City centres were taken over by port workers and other working class types who didn’t have cars and needed to be close to work. City property values plummeted and immigrants moved in. Crime made it worse. No one who could afford not to wanted to live in east london, north Cologne, the Hamburg Hafen or anywhere near the centres. It was relatively recently that these areas were redeveloped to become the Docklands, Hafen City, etc, and the yuppies came in. That’ll probably soon happen in Colombo too with the new projects the GoSL is starting.
Firstly, Col 7 is not a suburb. Second, you should stop smoking that shit and go check out a few European and American cities for yourself. They are certainly planned out, but there are huge areas of those cities I just wouldn’t wanna live in. To spout this crap that foreign cities are some sort of wonderland is for retards.
Really David? If I am not mistaken Mercer’s 2011 Quality of Living ranking puts Colombo at something like 189 out of 221 cities. Woot.
There is nothing special about Colombo 7 to be honest; it looks worse than many low income neighbourhoods in the west and all the 8 foot+ walls make it look like a crime ridden area, where it’s so bad that everyone has to lock themselves away behind himalayan walls just to be safe. It’s just that all the other neighbourhoods are crappy in comparison to Colombo 7 which really is a statement on how sad the situation is in Sri Lanka when it comes to livability.
Colombo has a long, long way to go. At present, in general, it is a slummy hole. No grand buildings, no icons, poor shopping, pathetic infrastructure, atrocious public transport.. the list just goes on. The good thing is that because it is so shit, there is only one way to go and that is up. That’s why there was so many oohs and aahs when garbage was taken off the streets in an organised way. In other cities this is the norm, not the exception.
You can’t improve things until you actually accept that there is a problem.
I’m not defending Col 7. You should read and comprehend before hitting that keyboard. If I remember right, Mercer didn’t even list many Asian cities. On the whole, western cities are more convenient to live in, but not necessarily nicer. It’s unfortunate that you live in a slummy hole as you put it, but you shouldn’t project your own misfortunes on the larger environment. Colombo is far less crime-ridden than many American inner cities, and the latter have cleaned up fairly recently. I’ve heard Sri Lankans who visited NYC in the ’80s thinking they were in a post-apocalyptic city. Walls aren’t just about security, but also privacy. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to NYC, London, Hamburg, or any other big western city, but you can be sure that you won’t have any garden space to wall up with anything. Most doors will be triple-locked instead. I know the only animation you manage to put into your writing comes when you’re criticizing everything non-American, which is pretty pathetic. The US is generally a boil on the human race.
Mercer did list Asian cities – Singapore and cities in Japan top the region. Even Indian cities rank better than Colombo. It just goes to show how lowly Colombo is not only in the world, but in the region as well. New York is a world class city and THE financial capital of the world. It is an icon in and of itself. There are no comparisons. Comparing Colombo and New York is just silly, and it is Colombo that would be the pimple on a hairy butt. BTW, what is Colombo’s equivalent of the Statue of Liberty?
According to the Daily Mirror more than 50% of Colombo consists of slums. So it is pretty slummy. And if you’ve been out and about in Colombo and have witnessed the abominable lack of planning and aesthetics, I don’t think you will have an issue with calling it a hole. There is no need to big up Colombo because of some patriotic/jingoistic BS, I mean really. Colombo has certainly got better since the end of the war because now there are no random bombs going off and people can go out and enjoy themselves without worrying about getting blown to bits, but the city hasn’t really improved in other terms.
Hopefully things will change. But they won’t unless there is someone with a vision and the guts to do what is necessary at the helm.
Strangely, the land price have increased in wellawatha and bamba this past week.
The prices have moved up by about 500,000 per perch in most areas.
I like Colombo and my family has a house(s) in C7 and C4. I have not seen many “slum” areas you mention. That is my lack of real exploration, I guess. For living, I would rather live in Kandy or Nuwaraeliya as I love the cooler climes and the cleaner air. Also I love our tea lands.
For those who thinks Western cities are heaven, Just read about Tenderloin are in my lovely city, San Francisco, that is one “slum” area of SF, there are a few more areas, I avoid if I could.
Colombo needs better planing but from what I remember, it will be not easy. Let alone bigger stuff, even widening of roads will be a task. Perhaps they should move Colombo up, above the river :)
It’s not wise to draw conclusions from what one sees while driving through. We will know more when the 2011 (12?) Census data come out, but below are some numbers pulled together from reliable sources including the 2011 Census.
The City of Colombo is home to approximately 800,000 people now. Of them 393,085 are registered voters. Around 50 percent of the citizens live in 122,649 substandard housing units occupying around 11 percent of the land.
These units are clustered into 1,612 settlements. The highest number is found in Mattakkuliya where there are 5,206 units in 36 settlements covering 12,463 Perches. Grandpass South comes second with 3,050 units in 40 settlements covering 4,905 Perches. Milagiriya has the lowest number, 78 units in six settlements covering 204 Perches. The data are provided by ward. It appears that all wards, including the Fort, Kollupitiya and Cinnamon Gardens have these settlements, albeit in much small numbers than in Colombo North.
There is a real estate bubble around colombo these days. The prices will come down in the future
I think, you just called some areas your readers are living in as ‘slums’ and offended many…. :D
I’ve unfortunately never been to Colombo, but I’ve lived in SF since 1992. The expensive areas on that map of SF are not near our “port.” We don’t have a port, other than a small crappy tourist and commuter thing. Most of it is light green on that map anyway.
The expensive areas on that map are all mansions, high-rise offices/flats, and associated retail.
I don’t think Mercer listed any Indian cities, and if he did, none above Colombo. So the only two Asian cities you mention are First World cities, which brings us to your own goal: ” Comparing Colombo and New York is just silly,” which begs the question why you in fact did so. Also, having a Statue of Liberty doesn’t make a city any better than another :D
No one’s bigging up Colombo; but that doesn’t mean you have to run it down to feel good about yourself. Colombo is certainly a nice place to live if you have a positive attitude. If not, even the Statue of Liberty’s just a butch woman in a silly hat. It’s upto you, really.
telling the government to take over land is dangerous. Government is there to govern the land not a property developer.
Omr, You certainly have a unique point of view. But it doesnt negate the fact that most of them seem truely retarded. Comparing Colombo to New York is so very stupid and a thing only someone with severe learning disabilities would do. Compare like with like, Say to most cities in India (Mumbai for instance) and you will be pleasantly suprised.
i’ve lived sydney, melbourne , brisbane for more than 13 years. those 3 cities are in top 10 and melbourne hold no.1 position. and now live in colombo. i would not definitely call colombo 7 as slumbs of western cities. it look more like toorak of melbourne which is the richest suburb there. colombo not too bad to live.
mmmm…Tenderloin :)
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Colombo is not only a sh1thole, it is an ugly sh1thole. It may be better than slumhole Mumbai or Kolkatta, but is still a sh1thole. This has nothing to do with planning. People who lived in mud huts cannot build modern cities. Simple as that.
This is funny. Sri Lankans talking about building world class (or at least livable cities), is like a bunch of monkeys talking about building a swimming pool. It ain’t gonna happen. No way.
Ha haaaa. You are crazy dude. I work in this sh1tty area called “Kotehena”?. Here is what you really get when you walk in Kotahena.
(1.) Narrow dirty roads without any pavements.
(2.) Roads full of dog sh1t, chewed beetle and human spit and of course pot-holes.
(3.) People in rags selling stuff
(4.) One big shower and the entire area gets flooded
(5.) Dozens of beggars
(6.) Ugly houses (most small) with 7 foot walls
(7.) Not a single park in Kotahena. It is not even a proper city or suburb.
Kotahena is certainly “nice”, compared Addis Ababa, but is still a shithole.
Colombo property values are messed because Colombo itself is completely messed up. The debate whether Colombo is a hellhole or not is done and dusted. Verdict is an overwhelming YES: It is a hellhole.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=18975
Colombo among 10 worst cities in the world
February 21, 2011, 9:58 pm
* The Economist Intelligence Unit looks at 30 factors including healthcare, culture and environment, and education and personal safety
Colombo, Sri Lanka’s financial capital, is among the ten worst livable cities in the world, according to a recent survey carried out by the reputed The Economist Intelligence Unit.
According to latest livability index compiled by The Economist, the worst city to live in the world is Harare, Zimbabwe, followed by Dhaka, Bangladesh, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Lagos, Nigeria, Algiers, Algeria, Karachi, Pakistan, Douala, Cameroon, Tehran, Iran, Dakar, Senegal, and then, the best of the worst 10 cities on the index, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The following were the top 10 most livable cities as ranked by The Economist Intelligence Unit: 1. Vancouver, Canada, 2. Melbourne, Australia, 3. Vienna, Austria, 4. Toronto, Canada, 5. Calgary, Canada, 6. Helsinki, Finland, 7. Sydney, Australia, 8. Perth, Australia, 9. Adelaide, Australia and 10. Auckland, New Zealand.
The Economist Intelligence Unit survey ranks cities based on 30 factors such as healthcare, culture and environment, and education and personal safety.
In 2010, it was The Economic Intelligence Unit that said Sri Lanka was the 8th fastest growing economy in the world.
The Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka is now directly under the Ministry of Defence and attempts are being made to clean up and beautify the city of Colombo and enforce traffic laws strictly. Authorities are also trying to contain a Dengue outbreak.
For the people say Colombo is “developed”, just look at Colombo RIGHT NOW. It is a mud pool. Most of the areas are flooded to the point that even cars cannot travel.
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Colombo 5 is Priced from 3.5million to 5Million a perch (Jawatta Rd,Havlock Road on expensive side)
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Colombo 8 Priced from 3.5Million to about 5 Million a perch (Cotta Rd, Paliment Road, Tickell Rd on expensive side)
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