Apartment size in the new launches across top Indian seven cities has shrunk over the past five years. Apparently, in an effort to fit in their projects into the bracket of affordable housing, developers across the major Indian cities have been offering smaller houses over the last five years.
As per a recent report, apartment size in Bengaluru dropped by 21% with the average apartment area coming down from 1,750 sqft to 1,375 sqft. Pune recorded a dip of 19% in apartment size while MMR and Chennai witnessed 17% and 15 % respectively, Anarock report said.
As we all know, the Union government has been going an extra mile to ensure housing for all by 2022. For the same, government as well as RBI have been offering various incentives in order to promote affordable housing.
To meet the need, developers across the country is seemingly in a rush to offer smaller houses that can be somehow squeezed in the bracket. It is noteworthy here that affordability in any category depends on the location, builder’s brand value and property specifications, but size is the primary criterion.
Going by the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation’s definition, dwelling units between 300 sq. ft. and 500 sq. ft. valued at less than 5 lakh are considered affordable for the economically weaker sections. The figures changes for low-income group and middle-income group with upper limit Rs 45 lakh in metros and not more than Rs 30 lakh in non-metros.
As per the report, 46% of 22,120 dwelling units launched in the second quarter of 2018 in the top seven cities qualified for the affordable housing segment. Out of these houses, 6,530 units were priced at less than Rs 20 lakh per unit and the remaining were between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 40 lakh. In fact, between the first and second quarter this year, there was a 100% increase in supply in the affordable housing segment, the report said.
The report seems to suggest that the term affordable is being misused by most developers to show that they align with the ‘housing for all’ mission.