Mumbai Witnessing Demand Supply Gap in Affordable Housing
Despite a large demand for affordable housing, residents of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region are seeing a lack of affordable housing, revealed a new report from Knight Frank and NAREDCO. The ‘report revealed that 67 percent of the housing demand in the region is for houses priced under Rs 25 lakh, while only 22 percent of the supply falls within that budgetary range, showing a wide gap in the demand and supply for affordable housing. Despite only 20 percent of the housing demand for houses above Rs 50 lakh, over 44 percent of the housing supply is for big-ticket residences. “Mumbai’s biggest challenge is in terms of providing housing for its inhabitants. Unfortunately, the majority of the city is forced to live in either substandard housing options in the core city or in peripheral locations. The estimated demand over the next five years is 8,50,000 housing units which will be an uphill task if a proper strategy is not put in order,” said Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director at Knight Frank India. While over 10 lakh apartments were introduced to the housing market over the past decade, there is still a lack of affordable housing due to the unavailability of urban land, poor transport and social infrastructure, low financing prospects for homeowners, and trouble for new projects. Of those looking to buy a house, only 36 percent of respondents had a budget for a house over Rs 25 lakh; 38 percent of respondents would prefer a house under Rs 15 lakh, while 26 percent would want a house in the Rs 16-25 lakh price range. As a result of a lack of affordable housing, 36 percent of the respondents live in rented accommodations with nearly everyone who had been living in the city for less than 10 years living in rental accommodations. Homeownership only improved to 75 percent among people living in the city for more than 15 years.
Tags : affordable housing Mumbai Metropolitan Region report Knight Frank NAREDCO Shishir Baijal Chairman and Managing Director Knight Frank India