Affordable house supply shrinks; buyers not happy with available options: Survey

Bengaluru, 21 October: More than half of the homebuyers in the affordable housing segment are unhappy about the currently available home options owing to lack of accessibility of the location, small unit size and poor quality of construction.

In a report, real estate consultancy firm ANAROCK said that around 53 per cent of home buyers are not satisfied with the supply of homes available under the affordable housing.

“The top three reasons why prospective affordable homebuyers' disenchantment with the currently available affordable housing supply are bad project location accessibility, questionable construction quality and poor design, and constricted unit sizes. Of the dissatisfied affordable home seekers polled in our survey, a whopping 92% respondents identify project location as the biggest grouse, while 84% state low construction quality and inferior design elements as major deterrents. 68% respondents find the available unit sizes too small to be attractive,” Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Group said in a report.

The survey also found out that supply of affordable houses has reduced in major cities. According to ANAROCK data, supply of affordable housing in major cities dropped from 26 per cent of total launches in 2021 to just 17 per cent in 2024 (first nine months of 2024). Prior to the pandemic in 2019, affordable homes made up 40 per cent of new projects, the report said.

Bigger homes continue to dominate buyer preferences despite increased prices in the last one year.

"Over 51% of the current survey respondents prefer 3BHK units and just 39 per cent will settle for 2BHK options. City-wise analysis indicates that the demand for 3BHKs is particularly high in Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, and Bengaluru, where over 50 per cent respondents prefer it over other flat sizes. Conversely, over 40 per cent participants in Kolkata, MMR and Pune name 2BHKs as their preferred option."