'Need For Lower Priced Houses A Big Opportunity For Realty'

New Delhi: Low-income urban families need 15 million homes in a price range of 4-10 lakh, presenting an untapped opportunity of a whopping 9 lakh crore for real estate developers, according to a report by Deloitte India.
At least 30,500 housing units were launched below 10 lakh by private developers across 22 cities between June 2011 and January 2013, of which maximum (nearly 39 per cent) were in Gujarat.
There is an increased interest in supplying housing and housing finance to low-income customers but the gap between supply and need is huge, according to the report 'State of the Low-Income Housing Market' launched by Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Secretary Arun Kumar Misra.
"There is a large proportion of low-income urban families, with a monthly household income of 10,000-25,000, who can afford privately build formal housing costing 4-10 lakh without any aid from the government.
"There is an estimated demand of 15 million homes from these low-income customers, which translates into an opportunity of 9 lakh crore for developers and 7 lakh crore for housing finance companies," Deloitte said.
The housing finance, which was almost non-existent for these low-income customers 5 years ago, is now accessible with over 10 housing finance firms lending to low income customers.
The report highlighted that three cities -- Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Indore -- are leading in providing housing below 10 lakh with over 20 projects in each city.
"The western and central states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are doing better than the rest of the country. In the northern region, there is a limited LIH supply," the report said.
Out of 30,668 homes launched during June 2011 to January 2013 period, Gujarat witnessed maximum supply of 11,823 units followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh with 8513 and 4759 units, respectively.
Asked about the reason for Gujarat being ahead of other states, the co-author of the report Ashish Karamchandani said: "Developers in Gujarat had entered in the low-income housing earlier. Also, the approval time for projects is faster."

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