The New Realty

Agalaxy of top notch real estate developers has lately descended with a bang on the affordable housing segment. Most have launched separate brands to differentiate their foray thus Tata Housing Development Company has Tata Value Homes, Shapoorji Pallonji Group has Joyville, Mahindra Lifespace has started Happinest. Even lesser known ones like Puravankara and Mumbai's Sunteck Realty have taken similar steps, with the former setting a wholly owned subsidiary, Provident Housing. "There has been a perceptible shift towards affordable housing with organised players increasingly venturing into this space," says A.S. Sivaramakrishnan, Head, Residential Services India, at real estate services giant CBRE South Asia.

Until now, most of these companies operated in the premium and luxury residential segment, building and selling houses and apartments priced between Rs50 lakh and Rs10 crore, depending on the city where the projects were based. Under their new brands, they will mostly be selling one or two bedroom hall kitchen