Bengaluru records fourth highest residential price growth globally: Knight Frank Report
Bengaluru: Bengaluru has emerged as the fourth most expensive city globally in terms of annual residential price growth, trailing only Seoul, Dubai, and Tokyo, as of March 2025, according to a new report by property consultancy Knight Frank.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, the city’s prime residential prices rose by 8.3%, the highest among Indian cities. On a quarterly basis, Bengaluru also posted a robust 7.2% increase in housing prices, the report cited by Deccan Herald noted.
The consistent rise in prices highlights strong end-user demand, particularly in the premium housing segment, driven largely by domestic buyers, the report said.
“As interest rates soften and buyer sentiment strengthens further, we expect prime residential demand to remain resilient and forward-looking,” DH quoted Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India, as saying.
Seoul, leading globally, recorded an annual surge of 18.4%, followed by Dubai at 16.4% and Tokyo at 15.5%. These were the only cities to experience double-digit growth.
Other Indian cities also made it to the list: Mumbai ranked fifth globally with a 7.6% annual increase, while Delhi placed 15th with a 3.9% rise, as of March-end.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
