Construction of about 6.29 lakh homes valued at Rs 5.05 lakh crore are either completely stalled or languishing under heavy delivery delays across the top seven cities in the country.
Of this, close to 39 per cent (approx. 2,47,930 units) is in the mid-range segment where units are priced within Rs 40-80 lakh, followed by 32 per cent (approx. 2,01,350 units) in the affordable housing segment (priced Rs 40 lakh). Premium homes (Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore) account for 18 per cent (approx. 1,11,050 units). The luxury segment (units priced Rs 1.5 crore) has just 68,300 delayed/stuck units in the top 7 cities.
NCR tops the list of cities with 52 per cent share of the stuck/delayed stock. An estimated 3.28 lakh homes worth Rs 2.50 lakh crore are stuck or delayed in NCR, followed by Mumbai with 1.49 lakh homes valued at Rs 1.52 lakh crore. Pune occupies the third position in terms of number of units stuck or delayed at 50,130 units valued at Rs 29,390 crore. Bengaluru stands in the fourth position with 41,780 units valued at Rs 33,080 crore, according to a report by property consultant Anarock Property Consultants.
"Given the huge funding crunch in the construction industry, the outlook for people who bought units in completely stalled projects is disastrous, while the prospects for buyers in heavily delayed projects are bleak at best," Anarock said.
The overall value of the 1.74 lakh homes which are totally stuck across the 7 top cities currently exceeds INR 1,40,613 Cr. 66 per cent of these units fall in the price bracket of under INR 80 lakh. The Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) fund has come to the rescue of several projects, while the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) has also ‘adopted’ some others specifically in NCR, the report said.
“For our earlier 2019-end tally of stalled and heavily delayed projects, we had considered projects launched in 2013 or before. Now, more than one and half years later, we have included projects launched in 2014 as well. Thus, there is a rise in the numbers - as of H1 2021-end, we have nearly 6.29 lakh units that are yet to be completed across the top 7 cities,” Prashant Thakur, Director & Head - Research, Anarock Property Consultants said.
There are many possible reasons, including Covid-19, funding issues, and litigations, he said.