Greater demand for dwelling units by 2018

Demand for housing in Mumbai is going to outstrip supply in next four years. The commercial capital of the country is going to witness an extra demand of around 231,000 housing units across all segments by 2018-end while the supply is likely to be around 203,000 units.

Of the total demand, majority (46%) is likely to arise in the Middle income group (MIG), followed by 33% in the Lower income group (LIG) and 21% in the Higher income group (HIG), said a Cushman & Wakefield report carried by the newspapers.

The supply seems extremely skewed towards the HIG (63%), and likely to exceed demand significantly. As a result, due to excess supply in one segment, the overall demand-supply gap seems reduced but a large portion of the MIG and LIG demand will remain unaddressed,” said the report.

Paucity of land in the island city has led to residential housing developments in the suburbs and peripheral locations of Mumbai. With increasing demand, land costs have risen sharply and the developers are finding it difficult to launch the LIG and MIG projects at many locations.

Though the developers have launched projects targeting the MIG in far-off and peripheral locations, the overall physical and social infrastructure at these places has not supported these residential developments and the demand has remained subdued, the report says, highlighting how poor infrastructure is a hurdle in expansion of realty sector in the metropolitan region.

Total new demand for urban housing in India is expected to be nearly 13 million units by the end of 2018 on account of the burgeoning population in urban centres. This is addition to the already existing unmet demand. Of the total additional demand, the top eight cities are likely to constitut