CREDAI: Price caps in India hinder affordable housing development

Existing price restrictions in India's real estate market create serious obstacles for the development of the affordable housing segment, Shekhar Patel, President of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI), said during a roundtable at the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

According to him, despite strong demand for mid-sized apartments, the sector faces major imbalances: "The price cap for affordable housing was set about eight years ago and has not changed since, even though property prices have risen by 8–10% annually. As a result, apartments that met affordability criteria in 2018 now cost twice as much but formally cannot be classified as affordable."

Patel urged UN-Habitat and the global urban planning community to develop a new approach: "If price restrictions are necessary, they must be indexed to inflation and housing price growth."