DLF unveils Rs 15,000 cr low-cost housing plans

Buoyed by robust sales in mid-income housing, real estate giant DLF said it will invest Rs 15,000 crore over the next three years to develop various residential projects across the country in Rs 15-40 lakh range. DLF, the country's biggest real estate developer, had last year announced its plan to enter into mid-income housing segment, realising the huge untapped demand in this category. "We will be investing Rs 5,000 crore a year over the next three years on mid-income housing projects," DLF Home Developers vice president A Harikesh said."Mid-income homes will be our focus area and will witness significant growth in the coming quarters," he added. DLF's investment plans for affordable housing coincides with announcement by public sector banks to boost the segment by cutting homeloan interest rates, putting caps of 9.25 per cent for Rs 5-20 lakh and 8.5 per cent for loans of up to Rs 5 lakh. Harikesh said internal accruals, advances against sales and capital raised through private equity would take care of the planned investment.DLF Home Developers, the wholly-owned subsidiary of DLF, would construct about 40,000 housing units in the mid-income category, sizes of which would vary between 1,000 sq ft and 1,800 sq ft, he added.DLF has launched mid-income housing projects in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata and Pune.The company would launch similar projects in Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ambala, Goa and Lucknow within next six months.
"The price would vary from city to city but majority of the units would be in the price range of Rs 2,000-3,000 per sq ft," he said. He noted that the demand for its affordable housing is largely coming from endusers.DLF currently has a land bank of over 750 milion sq ft of saleable area.