Concrete Thoughts

A new realty – Affordable housing

One of the biggest dreams of every Indian is to have their own house. This is also the biggest investment and form of social security. However, property is expensive in India, especially in the urban areas where a majority of the population is using a very small part of the city land areas.

Around 30% of India’s population lives and works in urban and occupy less than 2% of the land available in the country. In Maharashtra, close to 60% of the overall population lives in urban locations. A closer look at Mumbai reveals that over 50% of its citizens live in slums that occupy less than 4% of the land available in the city (read more here).

With rising urbanization and an expanding middle class, along with a housing shortage estimated at 62.5 million units, the economy is being pushed in a direction to bring out solutions in the form of affordable housing. According to the Pronab Sen Committee on Slum Statistics, over 65 million people live in slums and the demand for houses is expected to increase to 88.8 million affordable units within the next 2-4 years. The deficit in urban areas will touch 18.9 million units and an estimated investment of $1.7 trillion is required to meet the housing shortage (More detail can be found here).

The construction sector, along with the government is now looking for solutions that can provide quality housing at economical prices. The solutions have been both in the form of products and practices. Products that save on labour, construction length and, most importantly, total money, have been a part of the industry discussion and have found a special mention at various construction platforms across the country. This is especially true in urban cities where the turn-around-time for construction is getting shorter as the need is increasing with every passing day.

Also, with the topographical challenges in India finding alternate economical, sustainable, and durable construction methodologies and technologies are a high-priority if we need to make the affordable housing effort a reality.