The grand Ram temple in the city nears completion, and the consecration ceremony of lord Ram’s idol at the sanctum sanctorum scheduled for January 22, the once-sleepy Sadar area and its surroundings (15-km radius) are witnessing a surge in land prices.

“Outside the 3-km radius of the temple, the rate ranges from ₹3,000 to ₹15,000 per square feet; within this radius, even one biswa (a term in the Awadh region connoting 1,360 square feet) is gold dust. It may even go up to ₹25,000 per square feet, if available,” Vipnesh Pandey, who runs Maa Vaisnavi Developers in the city, said.

Before the Supreme Court’s November 2019 judgment cleared the way for temple construction, the price used to be 15-20% of today’s rate or even less, said Parsuram Mishra of Shri Balaji Ayodhya Property. “The judgement changed Ayodhya’s landscape forever,” he remarked.

The Stamp and Registration department figures also show increasing sale deeds. “Between April and November 2023, up to 29,325 sale deeds were registered in Ayodhya, and 70% to 80% out of these were likely for land transactions (for investment purposes),” Mr. Singh said. The Sadar Sub-Registry office alone registered 10,479 deeds. In comparison, only 5,962 land transactions were registered in Ayodhya in 2017-18.

The rapid growth of tourism and hospitality industries has attracted both investors and people from other U.P. districts, keen on biting off a piece of the economic pie. “I was working in Lucknow. The opening of the Ramayana Hotel brought me to Ayodhya. It is clear that the city will see massive growth in the years to come, for the hotel industry,” said Surya Tripathi, 28, who belongs to Ballia, and is now a manager at one of the temple town’s premium hotels. The owner, Mamta Pandey, is a resident of Gonda district.

The combined efforts of the Union and State governments — currently involved in the development of Ayodhya with 264 projects worth about ₹32,000 crore, including highways, roads, infrastructure, a green field township, an international airport, international spiritual centre, among others — is also a reason for the city’s growth. The government has itself purchased large tracts of land.