Builders plan over 1 lakh affordable housing units
It’s boom time for affor dable housing. In the Del hi-NCR region alone, over one lakh apartments are likely to be built in this segment in the next couple of years, with builders betting on a spurt in demand following sops announced by the government in this year’s Budget.
Supertech, Signature Global, Gaursons, Raheja Developers, BDI, Tulip and many others are planning to launch residential projects in this category.
Supertech plans to launch 40,000 affordable housing units in NCR in the next few years. By 2020, the company will complete 25,000 units, Supertech chairman RK Arora said.
Signature Global, another big player in the affordable housing segment, is planning to launch around 30,000 apartments in the next one year. Promoter and managing director Prdeep Aggarwal said the company has already launched 7,500 apartments and is in the process of launching another 20,000-odd apartments in Delhi-NCR by the end of the next financial year.
Similarly, Gaurson and Raheja Developer are planning to launch around 10,000 apartments each in NCR in the next couple of years.
Many companies are converting their existing housing projects in Greater Noida, Raj Nagar Extension, Yamuna Expressway, Tronica City, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, Gurgaon, Daruhera, and Bhiwadi into affordable ones by capping the maximum unit size at 60 sqm (643 sqft). The developers are working to keep prices in the range of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 35 lakh, depending on the area and size of the apartment.
Supertech’s Arora said the group has decided to carve out land from its existing land parcel on Yamuna Expressway, Noida Extension and Gurgaon to exclusively launch affordable housing projects.
Arora said various measures like according infrastructure status and extending tax benefit under Section 80IB to affordable segments would enable developers to sell at very competitive prices.
Signature Global’s MD Aggarwal said the sops announced in the Budget has completely changed the market dynamics, creating a very favourable ecosystem for affordable housing. There are incentives for builders, and also for buyers who can now get interest subsidies on home loan equivalent to a discount of Rs 2.40 lakh in capital value, over and above the tax benefit on interest payment.
Manoj Gaur, MD of Gaursons, said by making carpet area as opposed to superbuilt area the measure of an `affordable’ flat, a 60 sqmt or 643 sqft flat becomes a liveable option for even the middle class. This will increase demand manifold, he added.
