Chennai: While urban India is adding millions of new residents every year, it has nearly 11.09 million urban vacant housing units, which await tenants, finds a study.
There are a total of 27.37 million rented households in India, of which 79.4 per cent or 21.72 million are urban rented households. Knight Frank finds that 1.09 million urban housing units are lying vacant for want of tenants. Ten states and union territories contribute to 78 per cent or 8.64 million of total vacancy levels.
Anarock Property Consultants too finds that despite the acute housing shortage in the country, the vacancy levels of homes have been on the rise. Since 2001 the number of vacant homes has risen by 71 per cent. Among the cities, Mumbai had the highest number of vacant homes with nearly 4.8 lakh units, followed by Delhi and Bengaluru with nearly 3 lakh homes each.
However, demand does not seem to be factor contributing to the vacancy levels. According to studies, cities have been receiving new residents year after year and over 223 million new urban residents will be added by 2031.
"As we move towards a more flexible work environment globally, there is need for the Indian real estate sector too to envisage itself as a service, rather than a product. The addition of over 223 million new urban residents to the cities by 2031 will not be feasible if the rental housing market is not developed," said Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director of Knight Frank India.
