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heap housing offers lifeline to Indian developers - Naveed Yaseen - 07-16-2009 09:04 AM
NEW DELHI: ‘No frills, Simple homes’ reads the banner hanging in the Delhi headquarters of Unitech, India’s leading property developer.
It’s a mantra that has been taken up by realtors across the country with a new-found passion for affordable housing that owes little to their social conscience and everything to their bottom line.
The global economic downturn ended a four-year property boom in India that had largely been driven by the luxury housing segment and saw a near three-fold increase in residential prices in major cities.
Now developers are turning their attention to middle and lower income buyers and low-cost housing that offers lower profit margins but enjoys much greater demand.
“We made a mistake by only focusing on the top two-three per cent of India’s population,” acknowledged Unitech vice president Vikram Datta. “Now we have to reach the masses by entering into budget and affordable houses,” he said.
According to a May 2009 survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, there is a nationwide housing shortage among lower and mid-income families of around 20 million units.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=188312