Ahmedabad heads for housing crisis

City may fall short of 167,000 houses by 2015.

In all the upcoming projects like GIFT and special economic zones (SEZs) that promise to create thousands of jobs, there is a missing caveat.

While the state government is developing mega projects for the mega city, not many realise the other repercussions on Ahmedabad�s real estate. If experts are to be believed, the city is going to face an acute shortage of residential properties in the coming years.

According to a study by Indicus Analytics, a New Delhi-based research firm, Ahmedabad is set to witness a shortage of 167,000 houses by 2015.

The study further states that the excess demand will be driven by two factors-- easier credit availability and changing family structure in urban India.

Home loan owners will go up from 4 million currently to 10 million-odd by 2015, it states.

Rajesh Vaswani of Venus Infrastructure Pvt Ltd is not surprised. �The speed at which such projects are being announced, each of them will give rise to a demand of at least 5,000 houses. Such projects would attract a lot of migration from smaller towns and other cities to Ahmedabad for jobs, which in turn will result in rise in demand for houses,says Vaswani.

Vaswani cautions by adding that at present there are 10,000 houses being built by local developers in Ahmedabad which will be delivered by 2010 as against a shortage of 65,000-70,000 houses.

Favourable home loans, nuclear families and changing consumption pattern will definitely lead to a gap in supply and demand for houses in the coming days, he says.

The sentiment is echoed by Anuj Puri, country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), a real estate consulting firm.

Growing urbanisation is causing the urban population in India to grow at a rate of 2.5 per annually and same holds true for Ahmedabad. The demand for new houses in India between 2007 and 2015 is going to be 24-25 million. Developers will, however, only realise the urgency once the current supply begins to exhaust,� says Puri.

JLLM reports that there will be a consistent growth of 10-15 per cent in property rates across all sectors in Ahmedabad. However, the exact rate in certain locations will depend on the incidence of market drivers there.

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