India will need to build 100 million homes this decade amid rising household incomes

Indian home builders may have to construct as many as 100 million new dwelling units this decade as rising household incomes in the world’s fastest-growing major economy buoy demand for new residences, according to a top official at one of the country’s largest developers.

About 70 million Indian households will turn eligible for home ownership over the next 10 years, which, along with people seeking to upgrade their apartments, should create requirement for as many as 100 million new houses, Abhishek Lodha, chief executive officer at Mumbai-based Macrotech Developers Ltd. said in an interview earlier this month. Macrotech’s flagship projects include the Trump Tower in Mumbai.

Narendra Modi, who was sworn in as India’s prime minister for a third straight term on Sunday, has vowed to continue pushing growth especially in the housing and infrastructure sectors. Real estate consulting firm Knight Frank expects the demand for homes created by rising income levels to translate into $906 billion of economic output over the next ten years.

The South Asian nation’s property market has heated up since the pandemic, with 2023 being the best year for home sales in at least 15 years. The momentum allowed Macrotech, which operates under the brand name Lodha, to report its highest ever quarterly sales in the three months ending March.

In 2023 about 600,000 primary homes were built in India and even a fast pace of growth in the construction sector would struggle to meet the demand for 100 million homes over this decade, he said.

Macrotech Developers, also best known for its gated communities in upscale neighborhoods, last year entered tech hub Bengaluru and expanded in the city of Pune, about 150 kilometers from India’s financial capital, Mumbai. The company is the second-biggest listed real estate developer by market value, after DLF Ltd. and its shares have risen over 43% so far this year, compared with a 40% climb in the NSE Nifty Realty Index.

Lodha said the rising demand for homes “is a fifteen-plus year cycle. We are only in year four and there is a long, long way ahead to go before India has real estate at its rightful share in its economic mix.”

Source: moneycontrol.com

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