About 36,000 affordable housing units on offer in India’s Gurgaon

Tribune News service

Almost two years after the Affordable Housing Scheme was launched in India’s Haryana, scores of developers have come up with a wide range of housing options in an ‘achievable’ price range of Rs17-24 lakh. About 36,000 apartments of 400-600 sq feet are up for sale in the district.
Many of these projects have already commenced with civil structures going up as a high as 12 floors and the delivery is scheduled for 2018-19.
Some of the front runners are developers like Global Signature, Tulip Infratech, GLS/Pivotal, and Supertech.
Theses developers are not only through with the process of holding draw of lots after acquiring licences from the town and country department, but they have also kicked off construction at their sites.
Most of the affordable housing options are coming up in the newly developed sectors 58 to 115 under the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex 2031. Some projects are also floated under the Sohna Urban Development plan.
So far, the directorate of town & country planning department has issued 35 licences for an area of 202 acres in Gurgaon district. Of these, nine licences are issued in Sohna for constructing 11,700 apartments on 65 acres of land.In Gurgaon, the epicenter of the affordable housing scheme, the developers are pushing hard to grab the opportunity.
“Developers have come to realise the vast potential that remained untapped in the affordable housing segment. With the government’s strong emphasis on affordable housing and tax incentives extended, as well as the cautious approach by end-users in other segments, developers are betting on this segment,” Shveta Jain, executive director of residential services at Cushman & Wakefield, said.
President of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) and CMD of Tulip Infratech Parveen Jain said the developers in Gurgaon have applied for licences under affordable scheme for more than 400 acres of land, whereas the state government has been able to grant licences for only about 200 acres.
“The policy has attracted overwhelming response in Gurgaon as it offers a 2-BHK apartment for `20 lakhs, which is lesser than what private developers offer in their regular projects. Seeing the response, the state government must not only hasten the process of issuing more licences under this category, but also lay special emphasis on the civic infrastructure in the larger interest of the buyers,” he said.
Developers like Signature global have already launched five projects, offering about 5,000 units. Supertech, GLS and Pivotal too has seven affordable housing projects. Supertech has announced that it will invest heavily in this segment. Raheja has offered over 1,600 apartments in Sector 14 in Sohna.