Increasing crime and dependent Property Rates

For semi-urban and rural India, cities have gradually come to signify prosperity, better quality of life, and higher income underlined by a modern lifestyle and facilities. Of all the parameters that are perceived to qualify a successful life in the present context, living in a city is perhaps one of the most significant and sought after. The biggest irony of the present times is that, cities that attract economic power and foster growth are now the hub of crime and violence which drastically hinder development.

The India growth story has an ugly twist in its tale. Last 12 years which coincided with India’s rise as an economic power have also witnessed an alarming rise in the country’s crime profile. The rising crime in Indian cities may be attributed to widening inequality, poverty, improper urban planning, ever-increasing burden on urban infrastructure, proliferation of slums and poor neighbourhoods, and the not-so-perfect judiciary and legal system of the country.
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Understanding the relationship between property values and local crime risk is useful for measuring the willingness of individuals to pay to reduce their exposure to crime risk. A number of papers have documented an inverse relationship between property values and local crime rates.

When it comes to real estate world and property dealing, surroundings is a major factor that is looked into and considered at the first place. Crime tends to have a negative effect on property values.  While there is no empirical evidence to suggest the affirmative, various researches done on the particular issue suggest that individuals have a strong distaste for living in close proximity to an area with high crime rate. It is estimated a single offender depresses property values in the immediate vicinity to a large extent. Studies also suggest that decreasing crime does, in fact, benefit lower valued properties disproportionately, reducing the inequality among properties. 
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In any case, if you are buying in an area you don't know too much about, you need to do your research. Afterall for crimes such as robberies and theft, the actual crime rate in an area doesnt matter much, it has more to do with the perception of whether an area is safe.

Would you buy a house a pretty bad crime had been committed? And how much importance do you give to an area's crime levels when buying or choosing where to rent?
In the present scenario, these have to be seriously thought about.