IT is mixed sentiments for some players in the real estate industry as IT sector in Bangalore trundles back on purchase mode but Hyderabad displays a cautious sentiment owing to the current political situation.

The IT customer is back on track, Sunil Mantri, Chairman of the Sunil Mantri Group, a leading real estate firm in the IT city, said.

An IT employee who was worried about his job and cuts in salary and had gone slow on purchasing decisions, is now back trying to purchase, he said.

The real estate sector is a very sensitive sector. Investments in these sectors are long term and not easy to exit unlike fixed deposits and stocks that can be exited from easily.

Hence, employees who were worried about losing jobs and rollback of packages were not in the purchasing mood right from end of 2008 to September 2009. But post September the confidence has returned, he said.

The last four months have been good. We have seen a 40 per cent increase in purchase in the last four months. Out of which 50 per cent would be from the IT sector, said Swaroop, senior vice president, Prestige.

However, while the IT city of Bangalore has given the sector reasons to smile, Hyderabad was a cause for worry.

We are going slowly in Hyderabad on our projects, Sunil said as buyers were cautious and the mood not too upbeat. The group has four projects with 5,000 units planned till 2014-15 has decided to roll out these projects in phases.

Hyderabad, which was one of the hottest markets till last year, had gone on a slowdown track after the Telangana issue.

We are looking at a turnaround and things looking up from 2010, says Managing Director of Jones Lang la Sale Meghraj, a global real estate service firm.

IT employees are beginning to look at purchasing and enquiries have been coming and sale taking place in Bangalore, he said. However, properties that were exclusively developed for IT-ITeS sector like luxury apartments were no longer happening as before.

In Hyderabad, there had been an oversupply and until these are absorbed, we do not expect any fresh projects, he said.

Moreover, Hyderabad had been harder hit than Bangalore during the recession, as it was more IT-ITeS dependant. IT-ITeS was its only USP, but in Bangalore, it was not the only market driver for the real estate sector.

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