Describing the government's decision to provide five per cent interest subsidy on housing loans taken by the economically weaker sections (EWS) as "a move in the right direction", an industry lobby on Sunday said it would boost demand of affordable housing.
“The prevailing high interest rate has dampened the overall demand and has severely affected the affordability, thus making housing a distant dream of a common man,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
“The five per cent subsidy approved by the cabinet on Friday for the EWS and LIG (low income groups) is thus a move in the right direction, which will serve the twin objective of providing much needed relief to the general public and at the same time boosting demand in the economy,” Banerjee said.
According to Banerjee, the cost and availability of the land is a major bottleneck in making housing affordable. "There is, therefore, an urgent need to increase the supply of land at affordable prices,” Banerjee said.
“The supply of well-developed and commercially viable land would bring down the prices in the current markets,” Banerjee added.
To achieve this, the CII urged the government to provide infrastructure status to integrated township development, increase the municipal limits of the existing cities, relax floor space index and allocate specific land in any construction plan for the weaker sections.
The CII has also suggested that government should consider either waiving off or substantially reducing the stamp duty for the EWS and also promotion of appropriate low-cost housing technologies.
“With the phenomenal increase in population and urbanisation, the shortage of housing is expected to increase from 24.7 million dwelling units in 2007 to 26.5 million dwelling units by 2011,” it said.
Monday, December 29, 2008
HUDA wins over private realtors in Panipat
The areas developed by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in Panipat continue to enjoy confidence of the masses, even as slowdown in the area’s real estate sector is taking its toll on the projects being developed by private players.
According to experts, the HUDA areas are still catching the fancy of buyers whereas the private developers are looking for prospective buyers.
Local property dealers of Panipat have informed that transactions for areas developed by private builders have virtually come to a standstill and it is only the HUDA areas that are still doing businesses.
According to Mahinder Arora of A to Z Properties in Panipat, HUDA plots are still enjoying better premium than the ones being developed by private realtors, who are caught in an awkward situation.
While the prices of plots developed by private players vary from Rs 5,000-9,000 per sq yard, plots in the HUDA area are still commanding prices upwards of Rs 10,000 per sq yard.
The main reason behind HUDA areas faring well vis-à-vis private projects is because of the advantage they possess in terms of location. Majority of the areas developed by HUDA are centrally located and well equipped with infrastructure; whereas the colonies developed by private builders mostly lie on the outskirts and score much less on infrastructure facilities.
Panipat witnessed a spurt in real estate activities since 2005 when a slew of residential projects for the city were announced with a majority of them along the GT road. Ansal, TDI, Eldeco and Parsvnath were among the key developers that announced projects for Panipat.
According to dealers, the private builders mainly banked on the investors to help their sales but now with the investors disappearing from the market and the end users apprehensive about private projects, sales of private projects have taken a hit.
As a result, most of the private builders have either stalled their construction or have attuned pace of their construction.
The local property dealers maintain that to lend spurt to their sales, unofficially the private developers have started making correction in the prices as they are prepared to offer discounts in the range of 20-30 per cent to the end users.
According to experts, the HUDA areas are still catching the fancy of buyers whereas the private developers are looking for prospective buyers.
Local property dealers of Panipat have informed that transactions for areas developed by private builders have virtually come to a standstill and it is only the HUDA areas that are still doing businesses.
According to Mahinder Arora of A to Z Properties in Panipat, HUDA plots are still enjoying better premium than the ones being developed by private realtors, who are caught in an awkward situation.
While the prices of plots developed by private players vary from Rs 5,000-9,000 per sq yard, plots in the HUDA area are still commanding prices upwards of Rs 10,000 per sq yard.
The main reason behind HUDA areas faring well vis-à-vis private projects is because of the advantage they possess in terms of location. Majority of the areas developed by HUDA are centrally located and well equipped with infrastructure; whereas the colonies developed by private builders mostly lie on the outskirts and score much less on infrastructure facilities.
Panipat witnessed a spurt in real estate activities since 2005 when a slew of residential projects for the city were announced with a majority of them along the GT road. Ansal, TDI, Eldeco and Parsvnath were among the key developers that announced projects for Panipat.
According to dealers, the private builders mainly banked on the investors to help their sales but now with the investors disappearing from the market and the end users apprehensive about private projects, sales of private projects have taken a hit.
As a result, most of the private builders have either stalled their construction or have attuned pace of their construction.
The local property dealers maintain that to lend spurt to their sales, unofficially the private developers have started making correction in the prices as they are prepared to offer discounts in the range of 20-30 per cent to the end users.
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