It’s no secret that India has a bit of a shortage problem when it comes to housing. As of early 2015, KPMG reported that there is a housing shortage of 6 crore units. This combined with the fact that low-income groups have a greater demand for homes has given rise to affordable housing.
The advantages and the lure of low-cost housing have ripple effects in the form of benefits across the board for multiple social segments. Here are some areas where affordable housing projects are ranking significantly higher than traditional projects.
The Construction Upside
The appeal of low-cost housing lies in the fact that it is highly scalable, sustainable and qualitative. It also comes with the high speed of construction, in that some of them even come up in under a month’s time. Since they are smaller housing establishments, they come in with lesser built-up area for the same carpet area, which means that the wall panels are much thinner. They come in with lower cost structures, lower building weight and come with excellent finishes of pre-fabricated GFRG panels, which means that there is no need for additional plastering, since they have already gotten concrete embedded within. For multi-storey establishments, they can be constructed using load-bearing systems.
Environmentally sound
Expanding beyond the ambit of the benefits for the buyer or the resident, low-cost housing comes with an added advantage to the environment. Since it embodies lesser energy and resources, it also has a smaller carbon footprint. These buildings are also particularly useful for recycling of industrial waste.
With the population relatively younger in this day and age, and the standard of living being rather high, there is a need to find cheaper and affordable accommodation. Given that the family size has shrunk significantly with families either choosing not to have children altogether or restricting themselves with one, the need for space is not as high as it was before.
Financially feasible
Furthermore, there is also the fact that low-cost housing comes within the affordability quotient. If your aim is to save money to buy the property, you may be able to afford your property sooner than you thought, by saving for a shorter time. If you want to take a loan, you will not be constrained by a debt burden that would be too heavy to afford, and paying back your loan with interest may not seem too daunting. It would also be a very easy way to create an investment in an asset at a fairly early stage in one’s career.
What’s more, the modalities for low cost housing are relaxed by the Reserve Bank of India, which makes it that much lesser of a cumbersome process for the purchase process to be carried out.
With the inflation and the rising rates in the cost of materials and the cost of resources to assist the process of construction, there is a need from the builders’ side to keep things real and affordable. Low-cost housing affords a win-win opportunity for both sides of the fence, as affordable homes without the compromise of quality make for comprehensive solutions for all residential and spatial needs without much difficulty.
