Budget 2022: Affordable housing gets major boost

Housing & Urban Development Corporation | Life Insurance Corporation of India increased stake in the company to 5.22 percent from 1.53 percent via offer for sale, on July 27.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 announced the completion of 80 lakh homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and allocation of Rs 48,000 crore under PMAY urban and rural.

As many as 80 lakh homes are expected to come up by 2023.

These announcements are expected to help boost the affordable housing market.

"Announcements such as 48,000 crores for PMAY, 80 lakh homes under PMAY, single-window environmental approvals, better co-ordination between the Centre and states for approval processes and uniform registration of deeds will help boost the affordable housing market," said Ramesh Nair, CEO, India and Managing Director, Market Development, Asia, Colliers.

The Housing for All by 2022 initiative was launched by the Modi government within five months of assuming office. It’s all about ensuring a home for every Indian by 2022. To boost affordable housing and achieve the vision of Housing for all by 2022, the government (Central and State) have undertaken several initiatives, such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana  (PMAY) that aims to build one crore homes in urban and rural India by 2022.

As per statistics made available by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, against the total assessed demand of 1.12 crore houses, 1.14 crore houses have been sanctioned under PMAY (Urban). Of these, a total of 91.5 lakh houses were grounded for construction and 53 lakh houses were completed / delivered, as on December 12, 2021. A total of 17.35 lakh beneficiaries have availed subsidy on housing loans through Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), out of which 6.15 lakh beneficiaries are from the Middle Income Group.

A total of 6,368 houses in Light House Projects are being constructed involving a project cost of Rs 790.57 crore, the ministry said.