MHADA to release over 4000 affordable homes in Mumbai
There is good news in the offing for seekers of affordable housing in Mumbai. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is set to release 4,468 affordable houses during its annual lottery in May-June this year. However, owing to the housing board’s exhausted land bank within city limits, of the total houses, only 17 per cent of the houses are scattered across different areas of Mumbai while the remaining homes are located in distant Virar.
Majority of houses in Virar
Of these 4,468 houses, 785 will be in Mumbai and will cost between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 80 lakh, while the reaming will be in Virar within the price range of Rs 24 and Rs 47 lakh. Of the 785 houses to be available in Mumbai, 182 homes would be in Goregaon for those from the economically weaker sections (EWS) while 66 homes in Mankhurd and 232 homes in Malvani will be for the low-income group (LIG) segments. About 249 houses would be released in Gavanpada in Mulund while merely 56 homes would be available the Sion Pratiksha Nagar complex, both for the middle-income group segment.
The remaining 3,683 LIG and MIG apartments would be in MHADA’s Bolinj project in Virar. This year’s annual lottery would hold the dubious distinction for the lowest number of public housing stock being released by MHADA within BMC limits. Also this year, not a single home will be available in the high income category which comprises of modest two bedroom apartments.
According to MHADA officials, the housing board’s housing stock in Mumbai has been almost reduced considerably with no land available to construct anymore homes within the city.
MHADA has been trying to buy land stock in peripheral areas because land in Mumbai at the present rates is unaffordable. Much of MHADA’s land stock is now in Virar where about 6000 homes are under construction by MHADA as part of its massive affordable housing project. However even this housing stock is set to be hit as recently the Vasai-Virar municipal corporation reserved 6327 sq mts of the total land for a crematorium.
According to a MHADA official, this would mean loss of 560 potential houses that could have been constructed on this land. MHADA is trying to get the urban development department to delete the reservation so that the affordable housing stock is not affected.
Annual lottery to be held in May-June
“The annual lottery would be mostly held in May-June this year. A month before that, we will hold a lottery for 66 houses for the differently-abed category in keeping with a Bombay High Court ruling which increased the per cent of homes reserved for them from 2 to 3 per cent,” said Ravindra Waikar, Minister of state for housing, Maharashtra. Forms for the lottery will be available from April and the entire operation will be online.
MHADA aims to meet demand for affordable housing
With real estate prices in Mumbai skyrocketing, MHADA flats are in great demand in the city. Mumbai has 104 MHADA built residential colonies, covering 1,560 hectares and comprising 2,25,000 flats. Under DCR rules FSI for redevelopment of such societies has been raised from 2.5 to 3.
Till date, 12.82 lakh applicants have tried their luck for the 18,694 houses put on the block. However in the past two years, the number of applicants has dipped because of unaffordable pricing. In 2013, 76,372 people applied online for 1,200 MHADA homes. In 2012, 3-4 lakh applications were received for 2500-3000 homes. Last year, the development authority was forced to lower its prices to attract buyers, as there were very few takers.
Redevelopment of MHADA colonies would open up large land supply for residential real estate and also address the issue of dilapidated buildings also. MHADA colonies redevelopment could result in additional creation of 352 million sq ft of residential space.
New RBI Guidelines to boost affordable housing
In another positive development for the affordable housing sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently eased norms for home loans of up to Rs 10 lakh. The new RBI guideline will largely benefit the economically weaker sections (EWS) or the low income group (LIG) segment where the stamp duty registration is anywhere between 12 -16 percent of the cost of unit which was earlier excluded from calculating the loan eligibility.
Source: indianexpress
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