Affordable housing hub?

Aug 03, 2012 - Reza Noorani |

Age Correspondent

A recent survey by real estate research firm Jones Lang LaSalle showed that Mumbai tops six other cities in the country for the number of upcoming affordable housing projects, with around 15 projects planned by major developers in the outskirts of the city.

According to the survey, Mumbai has more than 350 existing and ongoing affordable housing projects, while Delhi, which came second, has only 175. Areas like Karjat, Palghar and Boisar are seeing some mega housing projects in the price bracket of up to Rs 10 lakh.
Big-ticket developers like Tata Housing, HDIL, DBS Affordable Homes and Nirman Home have planned multiple projects across these areas. Tata Housing has even launched a company Value Homes Limited that caters exclusively to the low-cost housing segment with prices between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 35 lakh depending on the size of the flat.
“We have launched Smart Value Homes Limited, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Housing, exclusively to focus on value and affordable homes in 2007. The idea was to help India meet the housing shortage through a sustainable and viable business model. We launched two Pan-India brands under Smart Value Homes — Shubh Griha Value Homes and New Haven Affordable Homes,” says Brotin Banerjee, MD and CEO of Tata Housing.
However, the location of these projects is a major issue. Compared to cities like Ahmedabad and Bengaluru where affordable homes are located within 20 kms of the city, in Mumbai the distance has gone up to 70 kms.
“The land rates in Mumbai have increased tremendously. Adding to that is the increasing cost of constructing the building has forced developers to go further away looking for land,” says Pankaj Kapoor, managing director of Liases Foras, a leading real estate and resea-rch firm. “A person, who is working in Mumbai, can spend up to two hours only to travel to these places. This definitely reduces an individual’s quality of life,” says Mr Kapoor.
The survey was conducted across seven cities — Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.

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