market

As a response to the COVID-19 migrant crisis and in furtherance of the Government of India’s ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ mission, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) programme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme to improve the living conditions of urban poor/migrant workers. Although the initiative is a novel step, it operational aspects demand more than what is being offered for enabling private/public agencies to leverage the opportunity and turn it into a grand scale programmatic intervention.  

The common narrative of most talk shows, media articles, and investor presentations suggests consolidation in the real estate market in recent years. The general perception is that demonetization and introduction of RERA and GST compliances have made real estate a business of deep pockets where smaller developers have been or are being acquired by the large developers and there is massive consolidation in the market. However, data from Liases Foras shows a completely different story. 

As State Governments have started announcing weekend curfews and lockdown-like conditions amidst the second wave of COVID-19, rent crises are once again emerging within informal rental housing markets. In a crisis, rent does not get as much attention as food and income support, despite forming a substantial part of household budgets for informal workers. It is imperative that we learn lessons from last year’s crisis and protect the rental housing of informal workers early, effectively, and expansively.

This case study outlines a collaboration between the Indian Housing Federation (IHF) and the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, the state level nodal agency for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) in Tamil Nadu, to enhance the availability of micro housing finance for low-income communities through formal channels.

The COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected the real estate sector in India, which was already struggling with a number of issues including sluggish sales. To get an understanding of what this means for the housing market, the IHR team spoke to Pankaj Kapoor, Managing Director, Liases Foras, which conducts data-driven market research on the real estate sector in India. We asked him about the effects of the pandemic and future prospects for the sector, which is an important supplier of housing in India.