The Indian real estate sector is going through interesting times, with developers increasingly looking at projects for mid and low income housing segments as well as value for money projects, catering to those who can afford slightly more.
Housing, say experts, should be viewed as any other industry where options have to exist at all possible price points. Currently, there is a dearth of housing options at the lower end of the spectrum and this situation should change. Affordable housing projects have become the high focus area as builders have realised that therein lies the largest market, with the fastest absorption rates.
The Reserve Bank of India's recent rate cuts, which are expected to make home loans easier and cheaper are aimed at easing the interest burden in the Rs. 20 lakh category of housing loans and is expected to give a boost to the affordable housing market.
Reputed builders who concentrated largely on mid-toupper end homes are now launching budget home schemes in the western suburbs beyond Borivali,in central areas like Thane and Kalyan and in the nodes of Navi Mumbai. While such projects are not coming up in prime locations, many of these are being developed within a radius of five to six kms from the nearest suburban station like Thane,Vasai-Virar, Kalyan,Panvel,and Kalamboli.Developers like Rustomjee Group,Lodha Group, Akruti City, Neptune Group, Acme Group, Nirmal Lifestyle, Puranik, Prajapati Constructions, Godrej Properties are actively launching projects catering to the affordable segment.
Affordable housing, says architect Ramakrishnan Iyer, can be categorised into various segments where affordable can be purely in the sense of absolute terms, and the cost criteria comes into play. There could also be projects above Rs 30 lakh, affordable in term of value for money which incorporate features like green building criteria. These factors are cost saving in the long run and would strive to bring down maintenance costs and transport costs. The Lodha Group's Casa Univis project launched this week at Ghodbunder Road,Thane, seeks to target the midincome professional. Spanning across a sprawling 55 acres of land, the project, under the new Casa sub-brand, will feature 26 towers of 18-27 storeys; offering multiple residential configurations - 2 BHK, 3 BHK Optima, 3 BHK Ultima and 3 BHK Luxe apartments. The apartments will have fully air-conditioned residences, video door phones, and even walk-in wardrobes, in a project that will have several amenities including a school and clubhouse, at a value-for-money price. At an invitation price of Rs 2997, a luxurious air-conditioned 2BHK residence would work out to just Rs 30 lakh.
According to Abhisheck Lodha, director, Lodha Group, with the Casa subbrand,the Group looks forward to making available valuable and premium quality lifestyle residential offerings. "We believe there is a substantial market of opportunities and the key is to offer differentiated products and patterns," he adds.
Players like Rustomjee Group are planning 5,000 homes in the next two or three years, all in the affordable segment. Boman Irani, director, Rustomjee Group, says there is a huge need for affordable housing and no recession can halt a person who is providing what the market wants.
According to property consultants, Jones LangLaSalle Meghraj, the government should release land held by its various agencies for development which would help ease the rates on what is currently available. It should also offer to put in place baseline infrastructure to increase accessibility to underdeveloped and neglected areas to make them attractive.
Experts also point out that it is important to tie up funding with banking institutions before marketing low income projects.
Urban planner R K Jha explains that while constructing in peripheral areas, it is important to ensure that there is good transport system to the nearest station, and other essential facilities. If this does not happen simultaneously along with real estate development, both customers and developers will lose interest.The momentum has to be kept alive through better facilities in these locations.
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