Property prices are usually assumed to fall as you move away from a city centre, but land records from Jamui in Bihar tell a very different story. Even villages sitting 5 to 10 kilometres outside the town's municipal limits are commanding rates that would make many city buyers blink. Last month, the costliest plot sold inside Jamui town itself went for Rs 90 lakh per decimal. Jitendra Kumar, a real estate agent who deals in land transactions across the district, says the idea that village land is automatically cheap simply does not hold up in Jamui. According to him, the district's land market is far more layered than it looks from the outside, because even a small shift in location can swing the price by lakhs of rupees.
Prime pockets inside Jamui town command the steepest rates
Jitendra Kumar explains that residential pockets inside Jamui town, such as Mahisaudi Chowk, Maharajganj Chowk, Kachahri Chowk and VIP Colony, see the highest land rates in the district. Plots in these localities typically go for anywhere between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 80 lakh per decimal. Looked at more broadly, the average rate across Jamui town settles around Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh per decimal. But Jitendra points out that prices don't fall off a cliff the moment you leave the town for the surrounding countryside, which runs contrary to what most buyers expect. People tend to assume that land automatically gets cheap once they cross into a village, he says, but that assumption simply doesn't hold everywhere in Jamui.
Khaira, just 5 km away, has rates that rival the town itself
Land in Khaira, barely 5 kilometres from Jamui town, is enough to catch anyone off guard. Jitendra says that a buyer looking to purchase a plot directly on the Jamui-Khaira main road should be ready to pay up to Rs 45 lakh per katha. Converted to decimals, that works out to nearly Rs 12 lakh per decimal, while the same land translates to a rate of Rs 2,754 per square foot. In other words, roadside land in Khaira is turning out to be pricier than several posh neighbourhoods inside Jamui town itself, which is exactly why the plots along this stretch draw so much attention locally.
Move a little away from the main road and prices drop sharply
That steep price tag, however, applies only to plots sitting directly on the Jamui-Khaira main road. Jitendra explains that the moment a buyer moves even slightly inward from that road, the numbers change dramatically. Land within 100 to 200 feet of the main road is available for Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per katha, which comes down to roughly Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7 lakh per decimal. This makes it clear that proximity to the main road has an outsized effect on land value, and a difference of just a few feet can translate into a gap of lakhs of rupees.
Deep in the countryside, land stays cheap but is fit only for farming
Head fully away from the main road into the interior parts of the village, and prices drop further still. Land here is available for Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh per katha, which works out to roughly Rs 3 lakh per decimal. Jitendra is clear, though, that this kind of land is completely cut off from the town and the market, and can realistically be used only for farming, not for building a home. For those who want to settle down, meaning land with easy road access where a house can actually be built and lived in, the cost climbs back up to Rs 30 lakh to Rs 45 lakh per katha. Taken together, Jamui's example shows that distance from the town alone doesn't decide land value, proximity to the main road matters just as much, which is why prices for land within the same village can differ by several times over.
