Skip to main content

Housing shortage 19 million units; units lying idle 11 million: "Paradox" of India's urban growth paradigm

 
India’s urban housing shortage, which was estimated to be 18.78 million units by 2012-end, is expected to grow by a “compound annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent over the next decade, the Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) has said, adding, 95 per cent of this shortage is of the economically weaker sections (EWS) and lower income group (LIG).
A network of housing rights NGOs across India, HLRN, in a study released recently, has says that while India’s total number of housing shortage will reach 38 million units by 2030, “over 70 per cent of migrants are least likely to afford a house at market prices.”
The study, a status report titled “Housing and Land Rights in India”, further estimates that while “more than 30 per cent increase in Tier I and Tier II cities”, the Tier IV cities “will also witness an acute shortage of affordable housing as these cities will account for 60 per cent of the gap between affordability and the market rate.”
Tier- I cities are those with a population of 100,000 and above, Tier II cities with a population between 50,000 and 99,000, Tier III cities have a population between 20,000 and 49,000, and Tier 4 cities have a population between 10,000 and 19,999.
However, the report believes, “Housing shortage, in terms of the gap between demand and supply, is not so much due to the pressure of population on the city but is a consequence of unrestrained commercial development of housing for the urban elite at the expense of investment in housing for EWS.”
Pointing towards India’s “paradoxical economic growth paradigm”, the HLRN estimates that, as against such huge housing shortage today, there are 11.09 million vacant houses in the country. It adds, this is because of “Rampant speculation in the housing market.”
“Almost Rs 47 trillion was invested in the real estate sector between 2008 and 2014”, it says, adding, “Speculators tend to buy property during the construction stage, causing the developer to raise prices to enable early investors to make gains. Developers also tend to create the impression that housing units have been ‘sold out’, while real estate agents attempt to sell this stock at higher prices by creating a situation of artificial scarcity.”
“The National Housing Bank monitors housing prices in India through an index called Residex. The index indicates that housing prices in 2014 had more than doubled since 2007 in Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, and Mumbai; in Chennai, prices had more than tripled”, the report says.
“To maintain stable demand in the housing market, private developers are reducing sizes of houses without decreasing the cost per square foot. Between 2010 and 2015, the average size of a residential unit reduced by 26 per cent in Mumbai, while in Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata, sizes reduced by 22 to 24 per cent”, says the report.
As a result of the acute shortage of affordable houses, the report states, the Census 2011 estimates, 938,384 persons are homeless in urban areas, which “an underestimation”, as it “does not include those sleeping in places of work because they do not have housing”. According to independent estimates, “the total number of homeless persons in India at about 2.3 million, with 150,000–200,000 in Delhi, and over 200,000 in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.”

Comments

TRENDING

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Why's Australian crackdown rattling Indian students? Whopping 25% fake visa applications

This is what happened several months ago. A teenager living in the housing society where I reside was sent to Australia to study at a university in Sydney with much fanfare. The parents, whom I often met as part of a group, would tell us how easily the boy got his admission with the help of "some well-meaning friends," adding that they had obtained an education loan to ensure he could study at a graduate school.

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Gujarat slips in India Justice Report 2025: From model state to mid-table performer

Overall ranking in IJR reports The latest India Justice Report (IJR), prepared by legal experts with the backing of several civil society organisations and aimed at ranking the capacity of states to deliver justice, has found Gujarat—considered by India's rulers as a model state for others to follow—slipping to the 11th position from fourth in 2022.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

Of lingering shadow of Haren Pandya's murder during Modi's Gujarat days

Sunita Williams’ return to Earth has, ironically, reopened an old wound: the mysterious murder of her first cousin, the popular BJP leader Haren Pandya, in 2003. Initially a supporter of Narendra Modi, Haren turned against him, not sparing any opportunity to do things that would embarrass Modi. Social media and some online news portals, including The Wire , are abuzz with how Modi’s recent invitation to Sunita to visit India comes against the backdrop of how he, as Gujarat’s chief minister, didn’t care to offer any official protocol support during her 2007 visit to Gujarat.  

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Not just Haren Pandya, even Dhirubhai Shah, youngest assembly speaker, wanted to be Gujarat CM

Dhirubhai Shah with Keshubhai Patel  When Keshubhai Patel was sought to be replaced by the BJP high command in 2001, everyone knows that Narendra Modi became the final choice. However, someone who was part of the top circles those days now tells me something I had no knowledge of—that the choice was between Modi and a Kutch MLA, Dhirubhai Shah, who served as the 16th Speaker from March 1998 to December 2002 during the 10th Assembly, the youngest to take the office.

Area set aside in Ahmedabad for PM's affordable housing scheme 'has gone to big builders'

Following my article on affordable housing in Counterview, which quoted a top real estate consultant, I was informed that affordable housing—a scheme introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—has deviated from its original intent. A former senior bureaucrat, whom I used to meet during my Sachivalaya days, told me that an entire area in Ahmedabad, designated for the scheme, has been used to construct costly houses instead.