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.
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.
Track2Realty: Residential sales declined by approximately 30% y-o-y by the end of 2014 in the seven leading cities of the country, largely due to high price points, sticky interest rates and cautious buyer sentiments. The decline, which was noted across all major cities, was particularly steep in the DelhiNCR (National Capital Region).The slowdown was reported in the premium/luxury as well as the high-end/mid-end housing segments.
Track2Realty: Housing sales across India’s seven leading cities declined by approximately 30% on an annual basis by the end of 2014—according to the latest CBRE report, India Residential Market View – H2 2014. The general decline in the housing market was particularly steep in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), signaling the need for property prices to get rationalized in tune with average per capita income rates of home buyers.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The built environment of Mumbai real estate for long has been busy with fixing the shortfall of the affordable housing. The debate has more often than not been centered on the three key processes that could lead to the availability of mass housing in a peninsular city where the availability of land remains the primary concern.
Track2Realty: The definition of affordable means different for different people depending on the socio-economic class, income levels etc. In India, the term applies most pertinently to housing created for the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) of society so that they, like the middle class, can also benefit from the financial and emotional security of home ownership.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Affordable housing has always been a wishful thought in Mumbai real estate and the call for the same has been reignited post the Government of India calling for a vision document to ensure houses for all by 2022. However, Mumbai is not like the rest of the country and the sky high land prices due to unavailability of developable and licensable land calls for a rethink over what precisely is feasible to create affordable housing stock in the city.
Track2Realty: Affordable housing is not only essential to the well-being and health of the people but also for the smooth running of economies. Yet all over the globe, in advanced and developing economies alike, a majority of the cities are struggling to give their citizens decent, affordable housing.
Track2Realty: Amit Enterprises Housing (AEHL) has launched its mid-range homes project Astonia Classic at Undri. The project consists of exclusively 2 BHK flats, which are being offered at a concessional price of Rs. 50-52 lakh during the inaugural phase.
Track2Realty: Despite the significant residential unit inventory and fresh housing supply, most of the urban housing projects across major Indian cities are unaffordable for our economically weaker sections (EWS). This is primarily because developers are by-and-large focused on launching luxury, high-end and mid-end housing projects that are considered ‘safe’ from the perspective of risks and returns in the capital market.