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.
The place of residence is a measure of one’s quality of living, and the availability of open recreational spaces near one’s place of residence is a direct measure of social and physical satisfaction.
The idea of creating a new city as a counter magnet to Mumbai was originally envisaged in the Regional Plan of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in 1965. The actual planning process of this new city began in 1971 after the formation of CIDCO, a Government-owned company for development of cities.
For a very long time, Pune was considered little more than a pensioner’s destination which benefited to some extent from its proximity to Mumbai. It was not considered a serious real estate market at a national or international level. This has now changed for good – the city has attained its own unique identity and is firmly in the limelight as a thriving economic microcosm, with a real estate market that has overtaken Mumbai in terms of attractiveness and investment viability.
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.
As the Modi Government completes its first year in office, there is no dearth of bouquets and brickbats for the NaMo regime in the media. On analysing the Modi government’s electoral assurances, the actions taken so far and the respective timelines being followed to achieve these, I would say that it is reasonably on track with fulfilling its short-term, medium-term and long-term promises.
Godrej Properties has announced that it has sold over 200 apartments, with an area over 400,000 sq. ft. in just three weeks at the launch of its residential project, Godrej Icon, in Sector 89A/88A, Gurgaon. Spread over 9 acres, Godrej Icon consists of 9 towers including a 32 storey Iconic tower.
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.
Tata Value Homes Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Tata Housing Development Company Limited, announced its entry into Delhi NCR’s Affordable Housing market with the launch of ‘New Haven’ in Bahadurgarh.
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.