Affordable housing segment nearly doubles in H1 2016: Report

Mumbai, Aug 18 (PTI) With the focus shifting to affordablehousing, the number of launches has nearly doubled to 17,130units during January-June 2016, a recent study has said. As per the study by Cushman & Wakefield, the top eightcities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR,Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune, recorded new launches of61,847 units during the period out of which those in theaffordable segment were 17,130 units. The total number of launches recorded a 17 per cent growthin the first half to 61,847 units from 52,782 units in thecorresponding period, it said. While the number of units launched in the affordablehousing segment increase by 97 per cent from 8,698 units in H12015 to 17,130 units in January-June this year, mid-incomesegment witnessed a growth of 10 per cent from 32,997 units to36,267 units. The high-end segment witnessed a decline of 29 per cent inthe new launches to 7,525 units from 10,662 units, while 925units were launched in the luxury segment against 425 in thecorresponding period in 2015, said the report. "It is heartening to see that demand for this segmentwhich was neglected for a very long time, is now being cateredto as this formed a very large segment of latent demand. Theuptake of affordable housing in the market, will have acascading impact on the overall economy at large," Cushman &Wakefield Managing Director (India) Anshul Jain said. The rise in the launch of affordable housing can beattributed to a steady demand for this segment of housing inkey cities of Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai, he said. "Going forward, we expect to see more affordable housingprojects to come up given that there is a cost benefit increating these units. The time taken from ground breaking tocompletion is lower than that for the mid or high endapartments," Jain added. He also said sales can happen a lot faster in this segmentthus helping developers realise their costs earlier thanusual. "Further with the government defining the affordable spaceas 30 sqmt in Tier 1 and 60 sqmt in tier II and announcementof benefits for development of such apartments, we expect thissegment of residential housing to grow," he said. According to the report, city-wise the number of launchesin the affordable housing stood at 4,155 in Bengaluru, 4,170in Pune, 2,985 in Delhi NCR, 2,445 units in Ahmedabad, 2,000in Kolkata, 1,266 in Mumbai and 109 in Hyderabad. PTI PSK NRBABIRDS