Mahindra Life launches affordable housing proj in Mumbai

Mahindra Lifespaces Developers, the real estate arm of Mahindra Group, Thursday launched its second affordable housing project under its 'Happinest' vertical at Boisar near here.

"Our intent is to provide good quality housing at affordable rates. We have decided to undertake two pilot projects - one in Chennai, which we have already launched in August and the second one is in Boisar (in Maharashtra)," company's MD and CEO Anita Arjundas toldreporters here.

The company, this year in June, had launched a new business vertical called 'Happinest', focused on developing affordable housing projects.

Spread across over 14 acres, the Boisar project offers 1RK, 1 and 2 BHK apartments in the range of 351 sqft to 695 sqft and would have a total of 1,400 units.     The apartments will be priced between Rs 9.1 lakh to Rs 17.5 lakh.

In the first phase, where construction will commence from next week and is scheduled to be completed in a year, the company will build nearly 359 units.

When asked whether the company is looking at other locations to launch similar projects, Arjundas said, "There is a huge demand for affordable housing.

We are evaluating opportunities and we may come up with such projects in Maharashtra itself considering the increasing demand for affordable housing and development of infrastructure and industries in the state."

The company expects the business to contribute nearly 20-25 percent of its revenues in the next few years.

"It is premature to give any specific timeline, but we expect to have 20-25 per cent of our total revenues from this segment in the next few years. But for achieving this target, we will have to create larger volumes through speedy execution," she added.

'Happinest' endeavours to meet the housing needs of families with current combined monthly income of Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000, Arjundas said.

The company has tied up with credit scoring agencies like Inventure and micro home finance companies like Mahindra Finance and Muthoot to reach out to right customers.