The shortage of urban housing across the country will increase to an estimated 3.41 crore units by 2022, mainly on the back of demand-supply gap and rising levels of income among the working class seeking to purchase houses.

According to the ‘White Paper - Indian Housing Industry’ by research and consultancy firm RNCOS, it is expected that the urban shortage will reach to 34.1 million units by 2022.

The shortage of urban houses stood at 18.8 million units in 2012 and it is expected to grow at an compound annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent for 10 years till 2022.

“The increasing urban population is leading to wide demand-supply gap, which in turn leads to increase in housing shortage. The rising income level of the working class is one of the other factors that are further driving the demand for affordable housing particularly in Tier I and Tier II cities.

“Besides, migration of working class people from rural to urban areas is also generating the demand for affordable housing further,” the report said.

RNCOS said the total urban housing shortage is mostly exhibited by the economically weaker sections (EWS) and lower income group (LIG) segments.

“In year 2012, around 95 per cent of total urban housing shortage was for EWS and LIG segments, which is expected to decrease in coming years backed by supportive government policies and more investment in this sector,” it added.

Talking about available housing stock, the survey pointed out that with big and medium-level players launching various residential projects in various cities and for different income groups, the housing stock is expected to cross 128 million units by 2022 from 78.5 million units in 2011.

The report further said the potential annual demand for housing units in urban areas is expected to reach 38.4 million units by 2022 from 22.2 million units in 2013 on the back of rising population, rapid urbanisation, increasing household income and innovative solutions by the real estate companies.

RNCOS said the urban housing sector faces a number of challenges such as lack of dedicated financial mechanism restricting capital flow to realty sector, lesser profits in affordable housing, improper utilisation of land, lesser long-term assistance to investors, big number of slum dwellers in Tier-1 and Tier-II cities and rising consumer base.

Green buildings

The report also highlights the importance of environment friendly ‘green buildings’ in urban areas.

“Green buildings are eco-friendly and more efficient. In India, the increasing pollution, discharged waste in water and rising carbon dioxide in the air have created huge demand for green buildings,” it added.

The study mentioned that Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) of CII crossed the 2 billion square feet of registered green building footprint and India became the second country in the world to achieve this milestone.

“More than 90 per cent green building projects in India are going the IGBC way. Currently, 1,745 eco-friendly building projects with over 1.21 billion square feet of green footprint are registered with the IGBC. By 2022, IGBC estimates to cross 10 billion square feet in India,” RNCOS said.

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