HOUSING: DEVELOPERS ARE WORKING AROUND THE RS 20-LAKH FIGURE.
Winds of change are sweeping across the
"The government's initiative will definitely encourage more affordable housing projects, though it will mostly be in the non-metro cities of the country," Rohtas Goel, chairman and managing director of Omaxe, says.
A Mumbai-based official with the State Bank of India's personal loan section says the excitement of the offer is already visible among the customers and real estate players: "We need to wait till the end of the offer period (June 2009) to quantify the number of home loans that are sanctioned under the concessional scheme, but there is tremendous interest. The customers are in the process of enquiring before they can approach the banks for home loans."
While the real estate players in the metros are restructuring their new projects to accommodate the interests of the sub-Rs 20 lakh housing customers, other cities are finding sudden demand for their existing properties.
"Even before the stimulus package, we had several projects that came within the parameters of affordable housing. The demand for such homes has increased since then," C Shekhar Rddy, the president of Andhra Pradesh Builders Forum, says.
Prakash Chella, the chief of the Tamil Nadu chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association, adds: "Real estate prics had not appreciated in smaller cities as it had in metros. In southrn states, flats within Rs 20 lakh are available."
Terming it as the birth of affordable housing, real estate consultancy JLL Meghraj anticipates more national players to launch affordable housing projects in 2009. "However, since different cities will have different costs for land and construction of such homes, developers will have to define 'affordable housing' on a city level," a JLLM report says.
This augurs well for the economy. The task force on affordable housing headed by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh had in its report noted that alleviating the urban housing shortage could potentially raise the rate of growth of GDP by at least 1-1.5 per cent and hav a decisive impact on improving the quality of life.
The 11th Five Year Plan estimates the urban housing shortage at the commencement of Plan period at 24.7 million units, with 99 per cent of this shortage pertaining to the economically weaker sections of the society.
Courtesy: - BS dtd: - 16th Jan. 2009
