Evolution of Condominium Market in Sri Lanka: A Review and Predict

In the country’s growth, real estate sector has played a key role. When considering the residential real estate sector in Sri Lanka, it includes the different types of properties such as single houses, storied houses, annexes, twin houses, lined houses, condo/apartment units and so on. Among them, condominium as a quite type of property shines in modern Real Estate industry particularly in Colombo where there is a booming trend in the sector at present. It is not something just happen suddenly. The current upward trend in residential condominium sector took a long period of evaluation. In fact, it is nearly 6 decades long. In 60’s and 70’s the government launched housing apartment projects as a strategic measure to solve the burning housing issues of low and middle-income communities in Colombo where lands are limited in supply. During the last few decades, this type of properties; apartments/flats/high-rise housing solutions have been developed under different projects at different scales. Accordingly, it has been evolved throughout the succeeding decades along with the gradual change of human needs and wants and the socioeconomic backdrop of the country. It can be graphically presented as “from housing apartments/flats” into “housing schemes” and then into “residential condominiums” which is a fully market-based product. Currently, there are over 900 apartment complexes in the country having over 15, 000 residential units while another 200 condominium projects are in pipeline with over 13,000 residential units. They are going to be completed within the next three-four years to come. Among that bulk, 90% of condominiums are located within Colombo and its suburbs. Through this evolution of the Condominium sector in Colombo, a prime market for “vertical growth” has been emerged and the private sector has become the main actor in the market. Under this backdrop, this paper aims to identify the patterns of evaluation of the condominium sector in Colombo and to analyze the current trends and to predict the future of the sector in Colombo.