Although housing finance has grown by 30 per cent over the previous year, the country continues to be plagued by a housing shortage and meeting funding requirements would require innovative strategies, according to participants at a banking conclave here. National Housing Bank (NHB) chairman & managing director S Sridhar said India’s urban areas face a deficit of 24.71 million in 2007.Citing government data, Sridhar said that the estimated housing requirement for the country during 2007-12 is 73.96 million units. In urban areas, more than 97 per cent of the total housing requirement is for the poor and low-income segment. In rural areas, more than 90 per cent of the total housing requirement is for households below the poverty line. To create this capacity, Rs 1,20,000 crore would be required annually. Sridhar said that to reduce the shortage even by half, banks would need to dedicate 30 per cent of their total advances to housing loans. As this is not possible, new methods of raising money need to be looked at. Sridhar said that NHB’s objective would be to develop a market-based housing finance system, focusing on “unserved” and “underserved” segments, and reduce the housing shortage by 30 per cent in the next three years. He added that the bank also aims to catalyse a flow of Rs 75,000 crore of institutional credit into housing during this period. The bank has already come up with several initiatives like the reverse mortgage loan for senior citizens and Productive Housing in Rural Areas.
