Affordable housing, though a widely-used term in India, actually means different things to different sets of demographics. The definition of ‘affordable’ is heavily influenced by the socio-economic variables that drive a certain city or location.
Housing.com has launched its branding product ‘BRAND FALCON’ for real estate developers. A first-of-its-kind in the real estate industry, BRAND FALCON is aimed at providing India’s top developers with a powerful and effective medium to communicate their brand story to the consumers.
Over the past two decades, Pune has seen rapid growth of the IT culture. In the beginning, this culture was limited to employees of the city’s many IT/ITES parks – today, it has touched almost everyone who lives in Pune. The cyber revolution in this city is inescapable – those who do not own computers populate internet cafes.
With nearly a hundred malls in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), it has become the default mall capital of India. No other city comes close to the number of operational malls that are found in Delhi-NCR.
The Indian subcontinent has always been prone to earthquakes. However, it is only the recent earthquakes in Nepal which have made home owners and prospective buyers wonder about the earthquake resistance factor in Indian real estate. Two quakes, a week apart, ripped the beautiful mountainous country to debris and several Indian states and cities felt the impact, as well. In some places, there were even incidents of damage to old structures and ill-planned buildings.
Omkar Realtors and Developers has launched one of its towers (Tower A) in its flagship ultra-luxurious residential development Omkar 1973 Worli. Tower A offers limited edition done-up boutique sky apartments priced at Rs 15 plus within the size range of 3000 – 4500 sq. ft.
With the reviving economy having infused a renewed sense of confidence among HNI home buyers, there has been a significant surge in demand for luxury homes asset class in the metropolitan cities of India. Many more developers are now venturing into the premium segment, which has resulted in a massive spurt of luxury projects. In fact, many of these properties are being touted as so exclusive that sales are by invitations only.
The concerns about soaring rentals and unaffordable housing in Mumbai notwithstanding, the surprising fact is that residential property prices across Mumbai city and its suburbs increased only by 7% in 2014, and by a negligible 0.3% in 2013.
It is an interesting reality that most developers will not consider a purchase inquiry as legitimate unless the lady of the house in attendance. This fact speaks volumes, and deserves in-depth analysis. The plain fact is – when it comes to choosing and buying a home, the ‘male prerogative’ – in any case a rapidly dying concept in today’s world – takes the back seat.
Viewed dispassionately, the current government’s ‘Housing for all by 2022’ promise seems a bit unrealistic at the moment, as the modalities and concrete steps needed to be undertaken to achieve this goal have not been spelled out. Making 2 crore urban houses and 4 crore rural houses available is a huge undertaking in itself, and will require not only sustained government interest and investment but also substantial private sector investment and involvement.