I know some of the areas including Marine Drive and Edapally By-Pass do not have adequate space for constructing integrated townships and hence a number of smaller projects by local builders have been on the upswing. Apart from DLF, Skyline builders and Abad builders have a very good reputation in Kochi. Some of the other well known builders include Ultima Builders and Developers and Confident Projects (India) Pvt Ltd.
Kochi also has a number of well reputed domestic builders including Asset Homes Pvt Ltd, Ultima Builders and Developers and Skyline Builders who were the first builders from Kochi to have attained the highest popular CRISIL DA2 rating. Other well known builders of Kochi include Abad builders, Kent Constructions and Confident Projects (India) Pvt Ltd.
Kochi is a very specialized real estate market and has a good balance of pan Indian and localized builders. Big builders with a pan Indian presence like DLF and Unitech have been focusing on luxury high end segment of Kochi mainly due to the presence of a large number of non residential Indian communities in the city.
Good to know that you are interested in investing in Kochi. The city's real estate market has slowly but surely started a consolidation phase after a sluggish last couple of years. There are a number of well established pan India builders like DLF and Unitech that are offering world class infrastructure around the city.