Low-cost housing spurs realty market in Surat

Affordable housing is one segment which has still gained ground in Surat amid recession in the realty market. This had helped to prop up by 12 points the Residex of National Housing Bank (NHB), a housing index by the wholly owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India, in the last quarter of 2012. In Surat, recession is not an issue compared to other cities in the country.

Industrial development and opening up of new areas in service sector have propelled the demand for affordable housing, said Jivan Patel, Director of Planning, Surat Municipal Corporation. Except for the metro cities, it is a pan India phenomenon. Low income group housing is witnessing a steady demand every where.

In Surat, developers keep providing good functional area with no frill housing. They have no problem in selling the houses, said Neeraj Tomar, head, Ahmadabad operations, Jones Lang LaSalle. Surat Builders Association president Velji Sheta said that on one side you have a market which is saturated in some areas but the southern part has seen a lot of industrial growth. This has propped up the market.

Experts believe that the demand for housing will keep growing in developing cities like Surat where basic infrastructure facilities like road, water and drainage are good. Low income group housing is placed at the bottom of the pyramid. But this is a basic need for a majority of the people. Hence, the realty market in this segment will always do well, particularly for another one year at least, they said.