Can affordable homes revive realty market?

CHENNAI : Will the Rs 1.76 lakh crore-financial impetus by the Centre revive Chennai’s real estate market? A report by Anarock Property Consultants feels the intervention, at a time when millions of jobs in the automotive sector are at stake, is a booster for the real estate market in the city. Prashant Thakur, director and head research, Anarock Property Consultants, says the government has made its move in the nick of time.

“The Finance Ministry’s much-needed boost to the slowing economy, gives affordable housing developers in Chennai, National Capital Region and Pune, a chance to get off the ‘red alert’ and focus on marketing affordable homes in the all-important festive season,” he says.

“Over a million job cuts were predicted in the automotive components segment and tens of thousands in manufacturing units across the country’s automobile hubs. In the main hubs of Pune, NCR and Chennai, the culling of jobs could have hit the affordable housing segment hard,” says the Anarock report. Interestingly, Chennai’s real estate market is slowly gaining ground in the affordable housing sector during the first half of this year as sales have gained momentum, recording 53% of the total sales in the entire housing segment.

The sector, which was already beset by various sentiment-dampening factors, saw affordable housing sales reduce by 12% in 2018. But, by the first half of 2019 itself, sales of affordable housing in Chennai picked momentum and accounted for a 53% share of the total housing sales, against 48% share in the previous year. Interestingly, major auto hubs in the city including Avadi, Oragadam and Sriperumbudur, together, saw sale of over 1,350 affordable units in the first half of 2019.