Published & Updated as on - 2010-03-19
The
government has drafted a new policy aiming to ensure adequate and affordable
housing for all in the rural areas, Lok Sabha was informed today.
"A National Rural
Housing and Habitat Policy has been drafted by the ministry after wide
consultation with the stakeholders including state governments, bankers etc...
The draft policy is at consultation stage with the Planning Commission,"
minister of state for rural development Pradeep Jain Aditya said in written reply
to a question in the Lower House.
"The goal of the
proposed policy is to ensure adequate and affordable housing for all in the
rural areas," he said.
The draft policy also aims to
facilitate development of sustainable and inclusive habitats in rural areas by
expanding government support, he said.
It seeks to promote
community participation, self help and public private partnership within the
framework of Panchayati Raj, he added.
The minister,
however, replied in negative to a question whether the government has
formulated or proposes to formulate a national rural housing policy and housing
guarantee scheme on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Source: Business Standard 8/3/10
Affordable
housing to drive realty mart: Fitch
The
global rating agency Fitch today warned that hardening of interest rates could
jeopardise the prospects of the real estate sector in the coming months.
Any
significant increase in property prices and a tightening monetary policy, could
have an adverse impact on the future demand," Fitch said in a report on
the domestic realty market, two days ahead of the Reserve Bank's monetary
policy review.
The apex bank is slated to announce the third
quarterly credit policy on Friday, in which it is expected to strike a balance
between the conflicting needs of contain inflation and promoting growth.
The
central bank had in its half-yearly review of the monetary policy raised the
standard asset provisioning requirements for banks from 0.4 per cent to 1 per
cent.
The Fitch report also said affordable homes would
drive the housing sector in the coming months, while the commercial real estate
will have to wait for some more time for recovery.
"The
affordable entry segment should continue as the primary growth driver in the
Indian residential sector for 2010," the rating agency said.
"The
commercial segment continues to remain under pressure. We expect demand for
commercial space to improve in the second half consequent to the expected
resumption of hiring in key sectors like IT/ITeS and financial services,"
Fitch added.
The rating agency said as retailers move back
into the expansion mode, there could be a pickup in volume and rents to
stablise in the second half of the year.
With the global
economic crisis, the overall demand in the real estate sector had plunged in
the first half of last year resulting into a significant drop in property
prices.
Though there were some recovery seen in housing
segment on government's stimulus packages and shift in strategy of the
developers' to focus on mid to affordable segments, commercial and retail
segments are yet to see any rise in demand.
"Fitch
expects growth in 2010 to be driven by government support (especially for the
affordable segment), improved access to debt and capital markets and recovery
of the real estate demand," the rating agency said in a report.
However,
the profitability of developers might be affected with their current focus on
low-margin, high-volume strategy, though cooling commodity prices could provide
some cushion.
"The cost of land would be critical to
the overall profitability of the project, especially in the low-margin
affordable projects," Fitch said.
To be successful,
developers are either to be selective in acquiring land or enter into joint
venture development contracts, where there is hardly any exposure to the market
movement in the land prices.
Source: Business Standard 27/1/10 |
