'Affordable housing contributed over 50% to sales in Q3 FY17'

Mumbai: With the demand for affordable housing increasing, the segment witnessed a significant growth in fiscal 2017 and it contributed over 50 percent to the total sales during the October-December 2016 quarter, a recent survey revealed.

According to a study by property portal PropTiger, the affordable housing segment, which includes units below Rs 50 lakh, continued to have a higher share in total residential sales and contributed over 50 per cent to the total sales in Q3 FY17 across top nine cities of India.

The study covered nine cities -- Mumbai, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

It said of the total launches during the October-December 2016 quarter, nearly 60 per cent were affordable units.

"This is mainly owing to growing demand, government support and increased participation from private players. Also, cities like Bengaluru, Noida, Pune and Gurgaon have shown a big appetite for affordable housing units," it said.

PropTiger.Com Business Head Consulting and Data Insights Anurag Jhanwar, "with new policies, the government aims to provide a fillip to the building of 30 million homes for the economically weaker sections and low-income groups by 2022. This spells immense opportunity for private developers to explore affordable housing to fuel sales."

He also said the involvement from private players would play a significant role in bridging the current deficit of low-cost housing in urban areas.

"The affordable housing segment is currently plagued by a demand-supply mismatch and it is imperative that the PPP model be given an impetus to achieve desired scale. With renewed focus from the government, we expect this segment to gather momentum going forward," he added.

Further, launching attractive schemes for slum redevelopment and rehabilitation, ensuring adequate availability of land, streamlining land records, including mass housing zones in City Development Plans (CDPs) and providing a single-window clearance mechanism would address supply side constraints, Jhanwar noted.